Ivana Radačić

There are still relatively few studies on job satisfaction and the quality of work ‎among sex workers, partly due to the ideologies surrounding sex work. In this ‎paper we move away from dichotomous thinking and investigate the professional experiences of indoor independent sex workers in Croatia against the ‎background of criminalised context and gendered socio-economic realities. ‎We look into sex workers’ motivations, perceptions and experiences, their ‎control and safety strategies.‎ The study shows that despite many structural constraints on the sex workers’ agency, all participants exercise some degree of autonomy and control ‎over their working lives. The factors that seem to be the most relevant in terms ‎of their ability to set up their own conditions, which in turn influences their experiences, are their economic situation, motivation and self-perception. Negative experiences mostly stem from criminalisation and stigmatisation of sex ‎work, which affects women primarily, and creates more risks to their health ‎and safety. The results of the study call for integrative policy approaches, ‎which presuppose full decriminalisation of adult voluntary sex work.

The Elgar Encyclopedia of Human Rights is the most comprehensive reference work in the field of international human rights protection. Comprising over 340 entries, presented alphabetically, and available online and in print, the Encyclopedia addresses the full range of themes associated with the study and practice of human rights in the modern world. The topics range from substantive human rights to the relevant institutions, legal documents, conceptual and procedural issues of international law and a wide variety of thematic entries. The Encyclopedia has a distinct focus on international human rights law but at the same time is enriched by approaches from the broader social, sciences making it a truly unique and multi-disciplinary resource.

While there is no European consensus on the most appropriate prostitution policies, in most European countries selling sex itself is not criminalised. Exceptions are most of the former communist/socialist countries of the Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including Croatia, where it is a misdemeanour/administrative offence against public order and peace, despite recommendations by human rights bodies to decriminalise sex workers. The legitimacy of protecting public order through criminalising selling sex has remained largely unchallenged and there is a lack of empirical studies examining the application of those provisions from a human rights perspective. This article addresses the gap and provides a human rights analysis of the case-law of the municipal misdemeanour courts in the two largest Croatian cities (Zagreb and Split), in the period from 2014 to 2019 concerning the offence of ‘falling into prostitution’. We show how laws criminalising sex workers are not only ineffective, but are also harmful for public order. Not only does the indeterminacy of the offence and its different interpretations fail to fully respect the principle of legality, police and judicial practice show discrepancies with the human rights standards, which impacts primarily women in vulnerable situations, thus raising the questions of gender (in)equality and intersectional discrimination.

Različite ideološke pozicije određuju modele, odnosno politike usmjerene prema reguliranju prostitucije, tj. prema osobama koje se prostitucijom bave, organiziraju prostituciju ili traže usluge u toj domeni društvenog života. U...

The New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective (NZPC) is a unique example of a sex workers’ rights organisation which is an important actor in prostitution policy. The NZPC has had a significant impact on prostitution laws, managing to achieve the decriminalisation of sex work in New Zealand, which distinguishes it from many other studied organisations. Indeed, the literature on sex workers’ rights organisations notes their relative failure in terms of their impact on prostitution law and policy, identifying the following hurdles: the lack of a common identity and solidarity among sex workers, their stigmatisation, problems with organisational leadership and membership, lack of resources and challenging relationships with allies. This article analyses the role of the NZPC in prostitution policy in New Zealand, particularly in the adoption of the decriminalisation model, and examines the key factors for its success in light of the literature on sex workers’ rights organisations.