Considering the exploitation of migrants who sell sex: a case study of Brazilians in the Iberian sex industry

Abstract

Although migrants who sell sex often go through a range of situations which might be considered exploitative, such situations are not always linked with trafficking. Most of the problems seem to be a result of three overlapping issues: problems which result from prostitution’s status as a forbidden or at best a grudgingly tolerated (yet still repressed) activity, problems that affect workers in low-status occupations and problems that affect (undocumented) migrants. The situation of Brazilian migrants who sell sex in the Iberian countries clearly illustrates this. While focusing almost exclusively on implementing (largely infective and potentially harmful) trafficking policies, Spain and Portugal have not addressed the issues which are considered by migrants as the most significant: police harassment and exploitation, unhygienic and unsafe working environments, lack of access to public services such as healthcare, lack of access to housing, as well as prejudice and stigmatization and the consequences thereof. By relying almost solely on a de jure and de facto law enforcement approach, comprehensive and well established international labour and migration instruments which could benefit all migrants who sell sex are ignored