The English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) is a campaigning group which supports the decriminalisation of prostitution, sex workers' right to recognition and safety, and the provision of financial alternatives to prostitution so that no one is forced into prostitution by poverty. The group works against the social stigma that is associated with prostitution, and the poverty that is sometimes its cause. It provides information, help, and support to individual prostitute women and others who are concerned with sex workers' rights,

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

, legal, and economic rights. The organisation was founded in 1975, and its first spokeswoman was

Selma James Selma James (born Selma Deitch; formerly Weinstein; August 15, 1930) is an American writer, and feminist and social activist who is co-author of the women's movement book ''The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community'' (with Mariarosa ...

Origins

The ECP was formed as part of the highly politicised prostitutes' rights movement that emerged in Europe in the mid-1970s. The 1975 prostitutes' strike in France and the subsequent formation of the French Prostitute Collective inspired the formation of a similar organisation in England.

International

The ECP and the US PROStitutes Collective (US PROS) are part of the International Prostitutes Collective, which has a network of sex workers in many countries of the world. The ECP is said to work closely with the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective who spearheaded legislation in New Zealand to decriminalise prostitution. A recent government review found that after five years, there had been no increase in the numbers of women working.

Safety First Coalition

In the aftermath of the Ipswich serial murders of five young women in December 2006, the ECP initiated the Safety First Coalition to decriminalise sex work, and prioritise safety. Members include the Royal College of Nursing, the

National Association of Probation Officers Napo (formerly the National Association of Probation Officers) is the trade union and professional association that represents probation staff including probation officers and other operational and administrative staff and Children and Family Co ...

, bereaved families, some anti-poverty campaigners, church people, residents of red-light areas, medical and legal professionals, prison reformers, sex workers, anti-rape organisations, drug rehabilitation projects.

Policing and Crime Act

The English Collective of Prostitutes campaigned against the

Policing and Crime Act 2009 The Policing and Crime Act 2009 (c 26) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act makes provision about police reform, prostitution, sex offenders, sex establishments and certain other premises. It amends the law on aviation sec ...

, which originally included proposals to criminalise anyone involved in the sex industry, whether or not there was force or coercion; target safer premises; seize and retain money and assets, even without a conviction; increase arrests against street workers; arrest men on "suspicion"; imprison sex workers who breach a compulsory rehabilitation order. The ECP argued that these measures would force prostitution underground, exposing sex workers to greater danger and preventing them coming forward to report violence and access health and other services.

Trafficking

The ECP argues that discredited academic work has falsely labelled most sex workers as victims of "trafficking". Its website provides critiques of such work.

Decriminalisation

In 2015, the ECP organised a symposium in the House of Commons, presenting evidence to parliament in support of the decriminalisation of sex work.

Universal Credit

In 2019 Laura Watson from the ECP gave evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee which was examining the link between sex work and poverty caused by the introduction of Universal Credit. She said that payment delays had led to "increased destitution and homelessness" and pushed some women into " survival sex".

COVID-19 pandemic

In the spring of 2020, during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Niki Adams of the ECP warned that some sex workers were continuing to see clients during England's first national lockdown as a result of financial need, potentially exposing themselves and others to COVID-19, and asked for emergency cash payments for sex workers in need. In the autumn of that year the ECP renewed its request for emergency payments as a result of the country's second national lockdown. In January 2021, at the beginning of the country's third national lockdown, the ECP reported that increasing numbers of women were turning to sex work for the first time as a result of poverty.

Local issues

The ECP has been involved in local campaigns aimed at making life safer for prostitutes following incidents in certain areas, for example, the

Ipswich murders The Ipswich serial murders, commonly known as the work of the Suffolk Strangler, took place between 30 October and 10 December 2006, during which time the bodies of five murdered sex workers were discovered at different locations near Ipswich, S ...

of 2006 in which all the victims were prostitutes. It also objects to the actions of Reading Borough Council and the Thames Valley Police, which have been targeting prostitutes working in the Oxford Road area of Reading, Berkshire, for several years.

References

External links

International Prostitutes Collective
;News
Keith Dovkants, "Soho brothel to re-open after judge throws out police case", ''London Evening Standard'', 18 February 2009.

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20121002051512/http://news.sky.com/story/650952/jam-jerusalem-and-prostitutes "Jam, Jerusalem and Prostitutes", Sky News On-line
"Should Sex Laws Be Tougher", BBC Two, 19 November 2008.

"Critics hit out at sex law plan", BBC News, 19 November 2008.
{{DEFAULTSORT:English Collective of Prostitutes 1975 establishments in England Organizations established in 1975 Prostitution in England Sex worker organisations in the United Kingdom