Beyond Decriminalization: Sex-work, Human Rights and a New ...

BEYOND DECRIMINALIZATION: Sex Work, Human Rights and a New Framework for Law ReformMany of the massage parlours visited during the project had showers in the rooms. However, somemassage parlour sex workers reported that the showers are intended for clients, but they are not madeavailable to sex workers.Public healthA final health-related theme that also figures prominently in the New Zealand legislation involvesthe role that the government must play in monitoring public health. One relevant provision in theB.C. Health Act specific to occupational health and safety at personal service establishments statesthat, “no person shall operate or cause to be operated a personal service establishment unless he maintainsand operates it, and uses and maintains the instruments and equipment required for the service,so as to prevent a health hazard occurring.” 107Under s. 26 of the New Zealand PRA, medical health officers and qualified inspectors have thepower to enter and inspect premises where they have reasonable grounds to believe that a business ofprostitution is being carried out, and where they are seeking to determine whether the operators orworkers are following the safer sex practices mandated by s. 8 108 and s. 9 109 of the PRA. 110Analogous provisions exist in the B.C. Health Act. Under s. 61, 111 public health officials havenumerous broad-ranging powers of inspection to determine whether a health hazard exists on apremise. For example, they are able to enter premises and question residents, inspect records, and takephotographs. One additional measure in the Communicable Disease Regulation 112 within the HealthAct, gives authority to medical health officers to close down public gathering places in order to controlthe spread of communicable disease, and this could include, for example, a massage parlour thatdemonstrates a poor record of occupational health.There are many advantages to be gained by the inclusion of prostitution in the protections offeredin the WCA and OHSR. But again, it is important that the application of any laws to sex workers beundertaken only with careful consultation with those workers.Section 3: UnionizationThe right to establish or join a trade union is protected by the Universal Declaration of HumanRights 113 and the International Covenant for Economic, Social and Civil Rights. 114 The Universal Declarationof Human Rights says quite simply that, “Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unionsfor the protection of his [or her] interests.” However, there are currently various legal barriers to theunionization of sex workers.A union is an organization or association of employees that act collectively to address commonlabour issues on behalf of workers. One central purpose of a union is the regulation of relationsbetween employers and employees through collective bargaining, which means bargaining as a group,rather than as individuals. The law governing unions in B.C. is set out in the LRC which guaranteesthe right of provincially-regulated employees to join a union, and sets out the rights and duties ofemployers, unions and unionized employees. Also it sets out the law on forming a union – the process107 Ibid., s.3.108 PRA, supra note 18, s. 8.109 Ibid., s. 9.110 Ibid., s. 24.111 HA, supra note 104, s. 61.112 Communicable Disease Regulation, B.C. Reg. 4/83, s.18.113 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, GA Res. 217 (III), UN GAOR, 3d Sess., Supp. No. 13, UN Doc. A/810 (1948), art.23.4.114 International Covenant for Economic, Social and Civil Rights, 19 December 1966, 999 U.N.T.S. 171, arts. 2, 3, 8.1(a), Can. T.S.1976 No. 47, 6 I.L.M. 368.131