Sex workers in China face many challenges making their voices heard. Because of the legal and social environment of widespread discrimination and stigma, sex workers are also particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses. Asia Catalyst is currently working with a partner organization in China to document sex workers’ experiences in “Custody and Education” (C&E) detention facilities, where sex workers and their clients can be held for up to two years without trial. We welcome the important new report from Human Rights Watch, Swept Away: Abuses Against Sex Workers in China, which not only provides a rare opportunity to hear the voices of sex workers themselves, but also highlights arbitrary detention as one of them many abuses they face. HRW rightly notes that although the Chinese government announced that it plans to “stop using” the Re-education Through Labor (RTL) administrative detention system at some point in 2013, it has remained silent with respect to C&E and forced drug detoxification centers.
The full report in English in PDF format is available here: “Swept Away: Abuses Against Sex Workers in China.”
Summary and Recommendations in Simplified Chinese (中文) in PDF format is available here:
