These players are currently represented before international and European bodies responsible for reviewing the regulation of prostitution. A and others v. France , involving applicants sex workers ; they are also present before the bodies of the Council of Europe, drafting a resolution to "Protect the human rights and improve the lives of sex workers and victims of sexual exploitation"; and at the UN, through Mrs.
Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right to health, who recently published a Guide on the Human Rights of sex workers in March By providing substantial financial support to these players, Open Society is at the core of the discussions.
Its presence raises fears that European and UN bodies will soon recognize prostitution as legal work. The Open Society defines a "sex worker" as a person earning money in exchange for consensual sexual or erotic services, and prefers the term "sex work" to "prostitution" because they find the latter "demeaning and stigmatizing, which contributes to their exclusion from health, legal, and social services.
For the majority of "sex workers", Open Society notes that they choose this "work" as the best option open to them to "fight against poverty and destitution", prostitution appearing to be the "best option they have. Like the European Parliament, Open Society therefore recognizes that people in prostitution want to do other things, and are subject to economic and other forms of coercion.
The Open Society's action to impose its ideal consists in financially supporting the actors who promote "sex work" as a legitimate job, notably those who are currently involved in discussions on the implementation of new regulatory standards on prostitution at the ECHR, the Council of Europe and the UN.
