The human rights of sex workers in Portugal from 2020 to 2022

How COVID-19 re-sparked sex work debate on a national and international level

Resumen

The legal, social and economic effects of the Coronavirus call for an analysis around law projects to change the current criminal law in Portugal on sex work. In the current social and economic crisis, Portugal is facing challenges in protecting the rights of those providing sexual services. In 2020 and 2021, respectively, two law projects were presented, one by a group of sex workers, and one by an independent member of parliament. The first aims to criminalize clients of sex workers, who are not criminalized under the present law, and the second aims for partially decriminalize procuring, which is currently a crime in Portugal. The evolution of this ongoing debate on enacting legislative alterations around the further criminalization or decriminalization of certain aspects of sex work will be analysed in this paper, with a focus on criminal law, human rights, and gender from an intersectional perspective. More specifically, labour and health rights will be approached, as well as the difference between human trafficking, forced prostitution, the exploitation of prostitution and sex work per se. Lastly, some pathways for a new regulatory model for Portugal, as well as for an international human rights ethics code for sex work will be proposed.