Austria: Discriminations against Sex Workers
Cultural Rights (Articles 13, 15)
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Cultural Rights (Articles 13, 15)With respect to § 1 Article 13 the author notes that Austria did not ratify the the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. Both ratifications would support the integration of trafficked persons (several with academic background) into Austrian society. With regards to § 1 Article 15, there are negative spill-over effects of prostitution laws to another disadvantaged social group: Prostitution laws ignore that many persons with disabilities need enabling conditions to develop their sexual life. If their social contacts are restricted (e.g. due to immobility), they may not be able to develop their sexual self without the aid of sexual assistants. However, if sexual assistants would visit them, in several provinces this would be illegal prostitution. For, in the province of Vorarlberg, sex work is prohibited altogether; in other provinces (e.g. Tyrol) sex work is confined to brothels and prohibited elsewhere. Thereby, de facto persons with disabilities are denied sexual autonomy. This violates the positive obligation of states to support persons with disabilities in this respect under § 1 Article 15 (General Comment 5/1994 at §§ 37 ff). Already Rule 9 of the United Nations’ Standard Rules of 1993 on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities asks states to give persons with disabilities the opportunity to develop sexual life. A specific problem arises for persons with disabilities, who are under guardianship. The author acknowledges that for persons incapable of exercising sexual autonomy special measures are to be taken to protect their rights and interests. However, persons with disabilities should be protected from paternalistic approaches, which restrict their autonomy despite their capacity of exercising it. For, although they may have problems in organizing their finances, they may very well make their own informed decisions about their sexual life. However, their guardians may impose their own moral convictions upon their wards and deny them access to their own money for the purchase of sexual services. Austria does not provide remedies against such a denial of sexual autonomy. Another problem concerns sex work of persons under guardianship. Some provinces (e.g. Upper Austria) want protect them against sexual exploitation and prohibit registration of persons with disabilities for sex work, if they are under guardianship. This prohibition does not make exceptions for persons, who have the mental capacity to make decisions about their sexual life. Yet, if these persons nevertheless practice sex work, the alleged “protection” turns against them: They are fined under the Administrative Penal Act, rather than supported as potential victims of sexual exploitation.
Austrian policies towards voluntary sex work should change in agreement with the international consensus that sex workers and other marginalized populations should not be stigmatized and denied the protection of the law. The author therefore recommends that Austria uses the United Nations Human Rights Based Approach and revises at all levels the legal regulations related to sex work accordingly. Respect for the human rights of women in sex work needs to become a founding principle of Austrian prostitution policies. To this end, Austria needs to repeal all laws that de facto criminalize sex work, implicate its immorality or in any other way do not respect the sexual autonomy of women. In particular the obligation to register as a prostitute, undergo regular health checks and HIV tests violates the dignity of women and needs to be revoked. Instead, Austria should more vigorously address the crimes of sexual exploitation and trafficking, and provide adequate redress for victims, regardless of their residency status. In the regulation of commercial prostitution, the focus should be on the empowerment of sex workers to reduce their vulnerabilities. Thereby, sex work that is visible to the public might be regulated, but not through policing that leads to de facto criminalization. Sex work that is invisible to the public should be respected as private life, whereby safeguards against unlawful police intrusions are needed. Austria should also reconsider the current interpretation of Article 9 Federal Constitutional Law and allow that all ratified international human rights agreements, including this Covenant, become part of the domestic legislation, and that individuals may directly invoke the provisions of these agreements before national courts. Approved by Sex-Worker Forum of Vienna Christian Knappik, executive manager, Sex-Worker Forum Verein: Sexworker Forum, ZVR-Zahl 699583522, Pannaschgasse 5-7/14, A-1050 Wien, Austria Aoife Nic Seáin O’Neill, public relations officer, Sex-Worker Forum, admina_aoife@sexworker.at 
© Sexworker Forum Wien, 2013 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Austrian legal information system (link: www.ris.bka.gv.at) NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT The author’s homepage links to: AIDSHILFE Vienna, LEFÖ Vienna, LENA Linz, SOPHIE Vienna, and SXA Graz. Jurisprudence is cited from the national legal information system (supra note) and population data are from Statistik Austria (www.statistik.at). For supplementary information about sexual exploitation of children, the author refers to ECPAT Austria (www.ecpat.at). In addition, the author refers to the European Community sponsored research TAMPEP (http://tampep.eu) and the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (www.nswp.org). NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Farley (2004), Violence Against Women, 10, pp 1087 ff NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Harcourt/Donovan (2005), Sexually Transmitted Infections, 81, pp 201 ff. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Vandepitte et al (2006), Sexually Transmitted Infections, 82, Suppl 3, pp 18 ff. For Austria, a similar estimate is due to TAMPEP (link: supra note). NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT United Nations Development Programme (2012), Sex Work and the Law in Asia and the Pacific, New York, Joint publication of UNDP with UNAIDS and UNFPA. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Task Force Menschenhandel (2008), Prostitution in Österreich, Office of the Federal Chancellor, Vienna NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Federal Chancellor (supra note 7) estimates 3,000 illegal prostitutes for Vienna (other estimates: 6,000, compared to between 1,500 and 2,500 registered prostitutes, depending on the reference year), which extrapolates to 5,000 to 10,000 illegal prostitutes in Austria. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT The lower estimate is the difference to the above upper estimate for illegal prostitution, while the upper estimate takes care of the different shades of grey. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Where sexual behavior is not commercial, e.g. not visible in the public, it is private life. Austrian Constitutional Court confirmed this repeatedly since 1978 (VfSlg 15.632 of 14.10.1999, see also 8.272 of 1978, 8.907, 10.363, 11.926). Administrative Court confirmed this, too (VwGH 2004/09/0219 of 20.11.2008, 2009/13/0011 of 25.01.2012; related: 2005/09/0181 of 22.11.2007); see also European Court of Human Rights, Dudgeon v United Kingdom of 22.10.1981 (c.f. Wildhaber/Breitenmoser, Internationaler Kommentar zur Europäischen Menschenrechtskonvention: Kommentierung des Artikels 8, Cologne 1992, margin no 114). In Common Law, too, the intrinsic private life character of sex work is accepted, see Chamallas (1988), Southern California Law Review, 61, pp 777 ff). NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Coercive medical interventions are permitted in exceptional circumstances, only. In these cases, certain international guidelines have to be respected; see this Committee, General Comment 14/2000 at § 34. Austria does not respect the relevant guidelines of UNAIDS and ILO, see section 5.1 below. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT The factual restriction of legal sex work in Tyrol is demonstrated by the following figures: In 2009, in Tyrol with a population of 0.7 Mio there were eight brothels and legal sex work was confined to these brothels, while in Salzburg with a smaller population of 0.5 Mio there were 37 brothels. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Della Giusta/Di Tommaso/Stroem (2009), J. Population Economics, 22, pp 501 ff. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Seshu (2003): The Violence of Stigmatization, UNAIDS Issue Paper NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (2007), Prostitution, which Stance to Take, Strasbourg NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against, CEDAW/C/AUT/CO7-8 of 01.03.2013 at §§ 10 ff NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT This Committee, E/C.12/AUT/CO/3 of 25.01.2006 at §§ 8 and 19 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Shaheed (2011): United Nations Independent Expert/Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights, A/HRC/17/38/Add.2 of 16.05.2011 at § 21 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT This policy of Austria is based on a ruling by the Constitutional Court in 1975 (VfSlg 7.608). NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Explanation: CIRI (Link: www.humanrightsdata.org) assesses governments’ respect for 15 groups of internationally recognized human rights on an annual basis, from 1981 to 2010, and for 195 countries of the world. Based on the U.S. Department of State’s Country Reports about human rights, at least two country experts of CIRI independently code the situation, following a detailed set of instructions. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT European Court of Human Rights, Rantsev v Cyprus & Russia of 07.01.2010, whereby Article 4 ECHR uses the mentioned ILO definition of forced labor. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT The list of item 41a of the State Party Report might be complemented by referring to sections 104, 104a, 214, 215, 215a, 216, or 217 Penal Code. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT United Nations Human Rights Committee, General Comment 28/2000 at § 12 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Bettio/Nandi (2010), European J Law and Economics, 29, pp 15 ff NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT International Labor Organization (2012), Global Estimate of Forced Labor, ILO SAP-FL, Geneva NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Di Tommaso/Shima/Strom/Bettio (2009), European J Political Economy, 25, pp 143 ff NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2011). The Role of Corruption in Trafficking in Persons, UNODOC, Vienna NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT See the reasoning concerning witness D.B. by ICTY Appeals Chamber, Prosecutor v Kunarac, Kovač & Vuković, IT-96-23 of 12.06.2002 at §§ 151, 218. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT The criminal statistics is from Federal Ministry of the Interior, Crime Report 2011 to the Parliament (homepage of Parliament) and from Statistik Austria (court cases).
NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Planitzer/Probst/Steiner/Unterlerchner (2011). Entschädigung für Betroffene des Menschenhandels in Österreich, Vienna NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT CEDAW/C/AUT/CO7-8 of 01.03.2013 at § 2 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Cusick et al (2009), Critical Social Policy, 29, pp 703 ff; Weitzer (2010), Sexual Research & Social Policy, 7, pp 15ff. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Source: “News” of 20.01.2012. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Homepage of Federal Ministry of Social Affairs: 744 € = 558 € social assistance + 186 € rental aid (year 2010) NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT In 2010 Austria spent 100 million € for 19,000 asylum seekers (source: TAZ of 25.07.2010); this is 439 € per month for each asylum seeker (100 million € / 12 month / 19,000 beneficiaries). NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Source: Altinisik (2010), Zivilrechtliche Aspekte der Flüchtlingsbetreuung, doctoral thesis, Univ. Innsbruck NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT For income data (definition of poverty) and single mothers: Statistik Austria (topic “Armutsgefährdung”); for migrant women: Upper Austria Chamber of Labor, Frauenmonitor, Linz 2011; for general information: Gächter (2009), Handbuch Armut in Österreich, Vienna NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT For more information about the social stratification of sex workers see the resources of TAMPEP (link: supra note 2). NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Statistik Austria (2009), Volkswirtschaftliche Gesamtrechnungen, Revisionen 2008/2009, Wien, p 15. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT According to Administrative Court, judgment VwGH 2011/01/0006 of 31.05.2012, the price of sexual intercourse is 20 €; blow jobs and masturbation cost significantly less, resulting in 15 € average. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Shih (2009), Humanitarian Work: The Production and Consumption of Jewelry Made by Trafficked Women. MA thesis, UCLA, Los Angeles. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Sources: “Kurier” of 03.08.2010 and “Der Standard” of 03.08.2010. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT The perpetrator cannot assume consent of the victim to such sexual acts. In Italy, Corte Suprema di Cassazione confirmed (3rd Chamber, case 8286 of 17.12.2009, published at 03.03.2010) that the consumption of sexual services offered by a sex worker without paying her is a criminal act of sexual violence. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Administrative Court ruling VwGH 2006/12/0169 of 14.06.2007 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Constitutional Court, in judgment VfSlg 19.159 of 23.09.2010, declared the provincial prohibition of advertisements for brothels in Tyrol as unconstitutional and in VfSlg 18.023 of 04.12.2006 declared the municipal prohibition of prostitution within the city boundaries of Oberwart, Burgenland, as unlawful. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT The questionable character of such legislation is well known: “To put it crudely, but accurately, the law is perverted”, see Packer (1968), The Limits of the Criminal Sanction, Stanford, pp 328 ff NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT In Tyrol women with swingers’ lifestyle, who placed advertisements seeking fellow swingers, were fined for soliciting illegal prostitution. Administrative Court confirmed the fines, admitting that prostitution was not proven (judgments VwGH 2011/01/0209 of 19.09.2012, 2010/01/0062 of 19.04.2012). NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Where street prostitution was restricted to unsafe places or completely prohibited (which restricts it to places, where police does not care for security), women became significantly more often victims of murder. More generally, expert testimonies confirmed that sex work is safer indoors, than outdoors (Superior Court of Ontario, Bedford v Canada, 2010 ONSC 4264 of 28.09.2010). NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT For Vienna, police admitted that pimps have factual control over the largest brothels, but there would be no way to stop them (source: “Der Standard” of 31.10.2012). Literature confirms criticism of large brothels, as a concentration of capital in the hands of few translates into power, also vis-à-vis authorities; Langley, Encyclopedia of human rights issues since 1945, Greenwood Press, 1999, p 66. NOTEREF _Ref333676600 \h \* MERGEFORMAT This is recognized in New Zealand, where since 2003 small owner-operator brothels comprising four or fewer sex workers do not need a license (see UNDP, supra note 6). NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT European Commission consultation document (2009), Financial Inclusion: Ensuring Access to Basic Bank Account, MARKT/H3/MI D NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT CRC/C/AUT/CO/3-4 of 05.10.2012 at § 64; CRC/C/OPSC/AUT/CO/1 of 03.10.2008 at §§ 29 and 31 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT UNAIDS (2006) International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, Geneva; ILO (2010), HIV & AIDS Recommendation R200, Geneva NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Kurier” of 20.05.2010 and “Falter” of 09.06.2010 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT ECtHR: Yazgül Ilmaz v Turkey of 01.02.2011; Duval v France of 26.05.2011; Y.F. v Turkey of 22.10.2003; Juhnke v Turkey of 13.05.2008 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT CEDAW/C/AZE/1 and A/53/38/Rev.1 at § 65. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Background paper concerning article 6 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW/2003/II/WP.2 of 13.05.2003 at § 17 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT By sections 178, 179 Penal Code, a person, who does not know about the own HIV infection, may nevertheless be penalized for negligence, see Mayerhofer, (2000), StGB, Vienna. Also, unsafe sex with the consent of the informed partner may be penalized. However, there is no prosecution of safer sex (Supreme Court of Justice, ruling 11Os171/97 of 25.11.1997). Moreover, Regional Criminal Court Vienna accepted, that a HIV positive women practicing unsafe sex had no criminal intent, as due to retroviral therapy the virus count was too low to cause infection risk (source: “Der Standard” of 01.06.2012). NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT CEDAW/C/AUT/CO7-8 of 01.03.2013 at §§ 29-30; CAT/C/AUT/CO/4-5 of 14.05.2010 at § 20 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Interpellation: Schwentner et al to the Federal Minister of Women’s Affairs, 5874/J XXIV. GP of 24.06.2010 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT The opening hours are from the homepage of the Health Office (20 hours per week, namely Monday to Friday between 8 am and 12 am). According to „Die Presse“ of 01.06.2010 and of 11.07.2010, in 2010 between 2,200 and 2,500 women in sex work regularly consulted the Vienna Health Office, whereby of seven doctors only three to four were on duty per day. This means that in average doctors spent between 1.5 minutes (=3 doctors times 20 hours times 60 minutes / 2,500 sex workers) to 2.2 minutes (=4 times 20 times 60 / 2,200) per gynecological check. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT “Kurier” of 20.05.2010 and “Falter” of 09.06.2010 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Grover (2010), Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health, A/HRC/14/20 of 27.04.2010 at § 39 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Office of the Federal Chancellor: Legal Services, document IV-51.749/2-1/81 of 16.04.1981 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Ward et al. (1999), Sexually Transmitted Infections, 75, pp 340 ff NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Varghese et al. (2002), Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 29, pp 38 ff NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Sanders (2006), Social Science & Medicine, 62, pp 2434 ff NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Wolffers & Van Beelen (2003), The Lancet, 361, p 1981; link from WHO: www.who.int/hiv/topics NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT A/HRC/16/69 of 20.12.2010 at § 38 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Robert Koch Institut (2009), Epidemiologisches Bulletin, 49, Berlin NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT ECtHR, Kiyutin v Russia of 10.03.2011 at § 34 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT CESCR: E/2002/22 of 2001 at § 842; E/2002/22 of 2001 at § 799 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT CRC/C/150 of 2005 at § 563; CRC/C/143 of 2004 at § 349; CRC/C/150 of 2005 at § 641; CRC/C/132 of 2003 at § 79; CRC/C/121 of 2002 at § 269; CRC/C/146 of 2005 at § 168; CRC/C/121 of 2002 at § 311 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT CEDAW/C/AUT/CO7-8 of 01.03.2013 at §§ 29-30 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT CEDAW/C/GRC/CO/7 of 01.03.2013 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT CEDAW/C/NLD/CO/5 of 05.02.2010 at §§ 30-31 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Hungarian Constitutional Court, judgment 28/C/2005 of 10.01.2011, AB-Bulletin 20/1 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Supreme Court of Taiwan in an interpretation of 06.11.2009 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT UNAIDS (2008), UNGASS progress reports: Guatemala. Geneva NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Crago (2009), Arrest the Violence – Human Rights Abuses against Sex-Workers in CEE/CA. SWAN and Open Society Foundation, Budapest NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT ECtHR, Khelili v Switzerland of 18.10.2011 about data protection; Kaiser v Switzerland of 15.03.2007 about unlawful detention; there are also concerns about police harassment: CEDAW/C/CHE/CO/3 of 07.08.2009 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT ECtHR, Ömer Köseoğlu v Turkey of 10.06.2008; ECtHR, Halat v Turkey of 08.11.2011; according to AI, torture of sex workers is common: Amnesty International (2011), Not an Illness nor a Crime, London NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT National Human Rights Advisory Board (2012). Bericht des Menschenrechtsbeirates zu Identifizierung und Schutz von Opfern des Menschenhandels, Vienna, 2012, see p 27 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Austrian Ombudsman Board (2005), Bericht an den Wiener Landtag, Vienna, p 31 (case VA W/666-POL/04, BPDion P92/f/05). A related case is Constitutional Court, VfSlg 18.302 of 05.12.2007 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Sample judgments by Administrative Court: VwGH 2009/13/0011 of 25.01.2012; 2004/09/0219 of 20.11.2008; 2006/09/0044 of 15.05.2008; 2006/09/0045 of 15.05.2008; 2005/09/0181 of 22.11.2007; 2005/01/0039 of 26.03.2007; 2005/09/0033 of 29.05.2006. These cases concern Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Vienna and Tyrol. NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Administrative Panel of Tyrol, case number 2005/22/1335-23 of 29.12.2005 NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Gruskin et al. (2007), Reproductive Health Matters, 15, pp 4 ff NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT Istanbul Protocol, UN document HR/P/PT/8/Rev.1 of 2004 Yüklə 178,95 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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