Cape Town - Organisations supporting sex workers have expressed happiness that, years after lobbying the government, their pleas for the decriminalisation of sex work will be initiated.
This after the government initiated consultations with various interest groups hoping to advance the debate.
Justice and Constitutional Development Deputy Minister John Jeffery held a closed-door meeting in Cape Town last week with representatives of the pro-decriminalisation sex work sector.
“The issue of decriminalisation may be a contested one, but is also one that needs to be debated and a decision taken, as the issue has been one which has been delayed for far too long.”
Among the groups he spoke with on Thursday last week was the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Task force (Sweat).
Spokesperson Megan Lessing said the talks focused on why sex work should be decriminalised and also how the process should proceed.
“Everybody has a stake in this conversation and wants to be part of the debate, however it must be emphasised that the sex workers are the only ones affected by the decision and should be given big consideration when the consultation process begins.”
Other participants at the meeting included Cosatu and the Commission for Gender Equality, CGE.
Jeffery intends to have a series of similar meetings with other stakeholders who are in favour of the so-called Nordic Model, pioneered in Sweden in 1999 and adopted by a growing number of countries around the world, including Norway, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Canada, France, Ireland and Israel.
When they meet the deputy minister, human rights advocacy NGO, Embrace Dignity will argue the case for why South Africa should not legalise the sex trade, but rather adopt a demand-focused legal framework, the Nordic Model, which they call the Equality Model.
The Equality Model exempts those who sell sex from criminal liability and affords them services while penalising the buyers of sexual acts, including brothel owners and pimps, who they see as the pillars of the sex trade.
Jeffery will also meet with religious organisations and traditional leaders as well as with relevant government departments to ascertain the implications of changing the legislative framework and the public.