GENEVA — The U.S. edition of popular German news site TAG24 this week published a profile of performer and activist Lotus Lain on the occasion of her appearance before the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva, Switzerland, in support of sex worker rights.
In the article, TAG24’s Kaitlyn Kennedy explained that Lain, representing Free Speech Coalition and DecrimSexWorkCA, was among the U.S. civil society representatives at the 139th session of the international committee.
Since the U.N.’s Human Rights Committee monitors state parties' implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Kennedy wrote, Lain's “primary objective was to call into question the U.S.’s approach to sex work and sex trafficking.”
Because Lain was listed last in the lineup of speakers, the article reported, “When time ran out, the committee members left without hearing her story.”
“Sex workers and sex trafficking victims, we're always thought of last,” Lain told TAG24. “We're really not ever even thought of. The fact that we were just barely brought to the table and placed at the bare end of the table was just so symbolic, and then getting cut off even more so.
“What the world needs to understand is that the way that we persecute these crimes actually criminalizes the victims themselves rather than helping them and supporting them,” Lain added. “If they wanted to actually support victims and prevent trafficking, there would be a lot more supportive, preventative programs put in place before trafficking was even able to happen.”
To read “‘Stop Discounting Us’: Lotus Lain on the Fight to Decriminalize Sex Work,” visit TAG24.com.
