5 - Fear of Trafficking or Implicit Prejudice? Migrant Sex Workers and the Impacts of Section 19

Summary

Introduction

The passing of the Prostitution Reform Act (PRA) 2003 was celebrated by sex workers in New Zealand as well as internationally. As outlined in previous chapters, the legislative change meant that all the laws which criminalised sex workers’ activities were repealed and sex workers were then able to openly work without fear of arrest, and also able to exercise their human rights. Five years later, a review committee reported that the decriminalisation of sex work had been largely effective and that sex workers were better off in terms of their health, safety and access to human rights than they were prior to 2003 (Prostitution Law Review Committee, 2008). However, there was a missing group, whose experiences were not taken into account in the review – migrant sex workers.

While the PRA decriminalised sex work for permanent residents in New Zealand, temporary migrants were excluded due to a late amendment to the legislation. Shortly before the Act was passed, a Supplementary Order Paper was introduced by then Minister for Immigration, Lianne Dalziel, proposing to restrict the ability to freely work as a sex worker to permanent New Zealand residents and citizens. There had been little focus on fears of trafficking early in the law reform process, but towards the end of the parliamentary debate, Dalziel was approached by the United Future party and the Ministry of Justice with concerns in this area (Dalziel, 2003). The rationale for the amendment was, in Dalziel's words, ‘to ensure that in decriminalising the laws on prostitution, we do not unwittingly allow people to be brought into the country for the purposes of prostitution’ (Dalziel, 2003). This resulted in the addition of Section 19 to the PRA. Section 19 relates to the Immigration Act 2009 (previously 1987), and states that no one who holds a temporary visa may provide commercial sexual services, or operate or invest in ‘a business of prostitution’. The consequence of this is that anyone coming into the country on a temporary visa (whether visitor, student or work) cannot legally work as a sex worker. Thus, they can be refused entry to New Zealand if it is thought that they intend to work in the sex industry, or deported if they are found to be working in this area.