Anti-prostitution pledge
The Federal government of the United States requires certain non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive federal anti-HIV/AIDS or anti-trafficking funds to adopt an organization-wide policy opposing prostitution and sex-trafficking. This requirement, known as the anti-prostitution pledge, has been in place since 2003.
The policy has been criticized as counterproductive, as it hampers enlisting those involved in the sex industry in the fight against AIDS.[1]
Initially the requirement was only applied to foreign-based NGOs, but in 2005 the Bush administration began applying it to U.S.-based organizations as well, resulting in legal challenges on First Amendment grounds. These challenges were ultimately successful before the Supreme Court, with the 2013 decision in the case Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International. The requirement remains in effect for foreign-based NGOs that receive U.S. funds.
Legislation and implementation
U.S. President George W. Bush announced the five-year $15 billion President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in January 2003; Congress passed it in May 2003 under the name "United States Leadership against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act (Global AIDS Act)". The act identifies prostitution and sex trafficking as contributing to the spread of HIV and explicitly advances a new U.S. policy goal: the eradication of prostitution.[2] The act states:
- "No funds ... may be used to promote or advocate the legalization or practice of prostitution or sex trafficking."
- "No funds ... may be used to provide assistance to any group or organization that does not have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking."
- nothing in the anti-prostitution clause "shall be construed to preclude" services to prostitutes, including testing, care and prevention services, including condoms.
In December 2003 Congress passed the
- "No funds ... may be used to promote, support, or advocate the legalization or practice of prostitution."
- "No funds ... may be used to implement any program ... through any organization that has not stated in either a grant application, a grant agreement, or both, that it does not promote, support, or advocate the legalization or practice of prostitution.[3]
The anti-prostitution pledge language in both acts was authored by Representative Chris Smith, Republican from New Jersey.[4]
The
While the language of the legislation does not distinguish between foreign and U.S.-based organizations, the pledge was initially only enforced for the former, as the
A document issued by the
Rationale and reactions
In a February 2002 National Security Presidential Directive, President George W. Bush wrote: "The United States opposes prostitution and any related activities, including pimping, pandering, and/or maintaining brothels as contributing to the phenomenon of trafficking in persons. These activities are inherently harmful and dehumanizing. The United States Government's position is that these activities should not be regulated as a legitimate form of work for any human being."[8]
In February 2005, a group of non-profit organizations including
This was countered in August 2005 by a letter to the President supporting the policy, signed by over 100 groups, including the Christian Medical Association, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, National Association of Evangelicals, Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Sex Industry Survivors, The Medical Institute, The Salvation Army, World Hope International and World Relief.[10] Supporters of the pledge requirement argued that prostitution is inherently harmful and needs to be abolished, rejected harm reduction approaches,[11] and held that legalized prostitution increases demand for sex trafficking.[6]
In May 2005, the Brazilian government turned down $40 million in anti-HIV/AIDS funding from the U.S. government because of the anti-prostitution pledge. Brazil's AIDS commissioner Pedro Chequer was quoted as saying "Sex workers are part of implementing our AIDS policy and deciding how to promote it. They are our partners. How could we ask prostitutes to take a position against themselves?"[4]
The anti-prostitution pledge has been criticized as counterproductive, because projects that work with and support prostitutes are often seen as instrumental in fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS. The Brazilian anti-AIDS program, which employs prostitutes to hand out information and free condoms, is considered by the United Nations to be the most successful in the developing world.
Ronald Weitzer has described the anti-prostitution pledge as a symptom of what he calls the "moral crusade" against sex trafficking, resulting in a broad attack against all forms of commercial sex acts.[14] The language of the policy juxtaposes the words "prostitution" and "sex trafficking"; it has been pointed out that it is important to clearly distinguish between these two concepts,[15] and that all relevant organizations already strongly oppose sex trafficking.[16]
The 2012 final report of UNDP's Global Commission on HIV and the Law denounced the anti-prostitution pledge and included the recommendation
3.2.8 Repeal punitive conditions in official development assistance—such as the United States government's PEPFAR anti-prostitution pledge and its current anti-trafficking regulations—that inhibit sex workers' access to HIV services or their ability to form organisations in their own interests.[19]
Lawsuits
In response to the 2005 decision to apply the policy also to U.S.-based organizations, two lawsuits were filed, alleging that the policy compels or prohibits speech in violation of the First Amendment, and also prohibits actions that are exclusively privately funded.
In the first case (DKT v. USAID), the non-profit DKT International prevailed in District Court but lost on appeal, at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit. The February 2007 appeals court ruling was based on the assumption that the government would allow speech regarding prostitution as long as it is done through an affiliate that doesn't receive federal funding.[20]
The second case (AOSI v. USAID) involved the plaintiffs
In September 2012, the Brennan Center for Justice obtained a ruling forcing the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel to hand over the original February 2004 memorandum which had argued that the pledge, as applied to U.S.-based organizations, was unconstitutional.[23]
In a 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court
See also
- Mexico City Policy, forbidding U.S. funding of organizations performing abortionservices
References
- Washington Post. 20 June 2013.
- ^ US Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003 HR 1298. 22 U.S.C. §§ 7601-7682. 108th Congress. Retrieved 5 September 2008
- ^ Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003, 22 U.S.C. §§ 7101-7110 (2003). Retrieved 5 September 2008
- ^ a b "Just Say Não". The Nation. 12 May 2005. Archived from the original on 16 April 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2008.
- ^ a b Implementation of the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003 – Eligibility Limitation on the Use of Funds and Opposition to Prostitution and Sex Trafficking. Archived 10 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine, (9 June 2005). Retrieved 5 September 2008
- ^ a b c d e U.S. Backs Off Stipulation on AIDS Funds, The Washington Post, 18 May 2005
- ^ Letter from Justice Department to Judiciary Committee Archived 8 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine, 24 September 2003
- ^ NSPD-22, 25 February 2002. Quoted in An Administration Priority Archived 21 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine, U.S. Dept. of Justice
- ^ Letter to President Bush, 18 May 2005
- ^ "Over 100 Groups Urge Bush to Enforce Anti-Prostitution Policy to Aid Sexually Exploited Women and Children". Medical News TODAY. 8 August 2005.
- ^ "Christian Medical Association Lauds Anti-Prostitution Pledge Ruling". Christian News Wire (Press release). 28 February 2007.
- ^ "Where Prostitutes Also Fight AIDS". The Washington Post. 2 March 2006.
- ^ Implications of U.S. Policy Restrictions for Programs Aimed at Commercial Sex Workers and Victims of Trafficking Worldwide, Center for Health and Gender Equity, November 2005
- S2CID 146993779. Archived from the original(PDF) on 28 June 2011.
- S2CID 30106001.
- ^ PMID 17676943.
- ^ The Anti-Prostitution Pledge Archived 19 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Salon.com, 2 May 2007
- ^ Ex-AIDS chief in escort flap called hypocritical, The Boston Globe, 29 April 2007
- ^ "Final Report" (PDF). Global Commission on HIV and the Law. July 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
- ^ U.S. Court of Appeals (2007 February 27) District of Columbia Circuit Decision in DKT v. USAID No. 05-CV-01604 Archived 17 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 September 2008
- ^ AOSI v. USAID resources, Brennan Center for Justice
- ^ Alliance for Open Society International v. U.S. Agency for International Development, Appeals Court decision, 6 July 2011
- ^ "U.S. must show anti-prostitution pledge memo for HIV groups: court". Thomson Reuters News and Insight. 19 September 2012.
- ^ "Agency for Int'l Dev. v. Alliance for Open Soc'y Int'l Inc., No. 12-10, 2013 BL 163176 (U.S. June 20, 2013)".
- ^ Roberts, John (20 June 2013). "Agency for International Development, et al., v. Alliance for Open Society International, Inc., et al". Legal Information Institute. Cornell Law School. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
- ^ "Supreme Court upholds prostitution pledge for AIDS funding". WSLS 10 News. Associated Press. 29 June 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
External links
- Implications of U.S. Policy Restrictions for Programs Aimed at Commercial Sex Workers and Victims of Trafficking Worldwide, Center for Health and Gender Equity
- AOSI v. USAID resources, Brennan Center for Justice
- "Friends of the court" document in support of plaintiffs in AOSI v. USAID
- Taking the Pledge, video of sex worker and anti-HIV activists describing the effects of the funding restrictions (Network of Sex Work Projects)