South Africa is making moves to decriminalize sex work! The South African Department of Justice recently published a draft bill entitled the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill, 2022, which intends to repeal all legislation that currently criminalizes the sex trade in South Africa. At the request of African sex worker organizations, New Moon Fund joined members of the Sex Worker Donor Collaborative in expressing support and sending a letter of support for the bill as it stands:
To: Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
From: New Moon Fund, a Sex Worker Donor Collaborative member
RE: The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill, 2022
Minister,
We are writing to you on behalf of New Moon Fund, which is dedicated to advancing the rights and welfare of sex workers. We represent a cadre of sex worker activists, direct service providers, and policy specialists that care deeply about the proposed amendments to the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) bill.
As sex worker advocates, we recognize that sex workers in South Africa are in full support of
the Bill as it stands. As sex workers ourselves, we too are in full support of the Bill as it stands
and have major concerns about the proposed amendments.
- We are clear that sex work can only be considered to be decriminalised if BOTH the selling
and buying of sex are decriminalized and reject any suggestion that either be removed from
the bill.
- We fully support the expungement of all existing criminal records related to the any offenses
related to the contents of this bill.
- We support the notion that once this bill is passed there needs to be a further process of
making this real for all sex workers by tackling issues such as bylaws that will continue to
criminalize sex workers.
We are willing to make verbal testimony to parliament if requested. Thank you for your time and
consideration in this pressing matter.
Sincerely,
Melodie Garcia & Savannah Sly, Co-Directors
New Moon Fund