A Community-Led Research Project
SWAN’s research project to explore and understand the barriers to justice for migrant and immigrant sex workers in Metro Vancouver.
The project sought to learn how im/migrant sex workers respond to and deal with violence in the workplace, and why they do or do not report this violence.
“SWAN undertook this project, funded by the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General of British Columbia, to explore and understand the barriers im/migrant sex workers in Metro Vancouver experience in accessing justice. In this project, we seek to learn how im/migrant sex workers respond to and deal with violence in the workplace, and why they do or do not report this violence.
The findings are indicative of the many barriers to accessing the criminal justice system im/migrant sex workers’ experience, and show a variety of concerns and disadvantages to reporting these kinds of violence. Sex work stigma and related factors such as impacts on one’s personal life and worries about information sharing were the top reported concerns that impact whether women tell others about their experiences of violence.
Everyone deserves to work without violence and receive equal protection under the law.
This research shows that im/migrant sex workers experience violence, but are not able to access their rights to protection. Our goal in sharing the research findings with the women we support, is that they will feel more empowered to make informed decisions about reporting violence and victimization. However, this cannot happen without victim services, police and law/policy makers
taking steps to better meet the needs of this population.”
Read the full PDF report here.
Funded by the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General of British Columbia.
