SEX WORKER RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS
On March 14, 2014 human rights defender and transgender advocate Monica Jones will fight for her rights in court in Phoenix Arizona as her case goes to trial. In May 2013, Monica Jones was arrested for "manifestation of prostitution" (a vague and harmful law often used against members of the transgender community) after she protested rights-violating police stings known as Project ROSE. Her case has already drawn an outpouring of attention from around the United States and together we can shine an international spotlight on her trial date by
supporting a simultaneous action at the United Nations in Geneva.
Two members of SWOP Phoenix and the Best Practices Policy Project intend to
travel to Geneva to personally and directly educate the United Nation's Human Rights Committee
about human rights violations perpetrated by Project ROSE and the Phoenix police, and their impact on Monica and so many others. The advocates will tell the UN how the vague anti-prostitution
laws in Phoenix’s criminal code create an environment in which police profiling
of communities of color, trans and immigrant communities occurs with impunity. They will provide details about Monica's case to the committee and call on the Committee to pressure the U.S.
government to improve its human rights record. This unique opportunity has emerged because the United Nations Human
Rights Committee will review the U.S.’s human rights record in Geneva,
Switzerland on March 13 and 14, the same date as Monica's trial. This hearing before a global audience presents a key opportunity
for human rights advocates to expose the ways the U.S. violates its obligations
under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Condemnation from international
human rights bodies can spur positive change in the United States and we have already used the
UN system to pressure successfully for sex worker rights. In direct support of Monica's action we will bring human rights home in defense of sex workers and transgender communities. Furthermore, because of the alignment of dates, we can ensure that the issues that Monica cares so deeply about are heard by multilateral agencies, US government officials, are covered in the international media, and that we create a firestorm of social media in the days leading up to and on her day in court. To achieve this
advocates must travel to Geneva to
facilitate the awareness, dialogue and global condemnation of the rights violations faced by Monica and so many others. Please donate to help send two activists to the UN!
What We Need & What You Get
In order to make sure that human rights
defenders’ voices are heard at the United Nations, we are seeking to raise $2000 to cover transportation costs to Geneva. We are also seeking $250 to get a camera to document actions in Phoenix as Monica prepares for her trial date. Thank you for your support!
We are offering perks drawing from the community spirit of rights activism in Phoenix and across the United States. We
will send you personal thanks. We will chalk your name or slogan in
front of the court and send you a digital photo of it for your FB page
or to print and put up in your cubicle (or where ever it is that you are
making the money to donate to us). We are offering the much anticipated Stand with Monica t-shirts, which will soon be available hot off the press for the very first time. Our colleagues in the film world at A Kiss for Gabriela and Mandona Films have offered some of the most sought after documentaries about sex worker organizing as perks.
More about the case and our UN reporting
Advocates from SWOP Phoenix and BPPP submitted a report in December 2013 to the UN Human Rights Committee documenting ongoing civil
rights violations in Phoenix, Arizona, based on information collected by sex
workers and allies.
Advocates found that, as in many places in the United States, vague anti-prostitution
laws in Phoenix’s criminal code create an environment in which police profiling
of communities of color, trans and immigrant communities occurs with impunity.
Harsh state sentencing laws and limited access to strong legal defense mean
that people arrested for prostitution almost inevitably serve time in jail and
can additionally face felony charges. In Arizona, prisons are so deplorable
that those imprisoned “are
in grave danger of suffering serious and preventable injury, amputation,
disfigurement and even death,” according to the ACLU. In 2009, Marcia Powell,
arrested for prostitution, died after being left for hours in a cage in the
desert by the Arizona Department of Corrections.
Due process violations are also rampant
in Phoenix as a result of Project ROSE, a social work program that uses the
cover of kindness to coerce sex workers into a diversion program, where scores
of sex workers and people the police profile as sex workers are arrested in
mass police “sweeps.” Arrestees are handcuffed and transported via police
car to the Project Rose center (in a church), where they speak with police and
with a prosecutor working with Project Rose. Arrestees do not have the
opportunity to speak to a defense attorney during this process, even if they
request one. Many people arrested in these sweeps now face criminal charges and
jail time, including human rights defender Monica Jones, who is now resisting
unjust laws and transphobic, racist policing by fighting her case in court.
Other Ways You Can Help
We
know that so many of you out there who would like to support Monica's
cause do not have the financial means to make a contribution. We
understand, and we know that you need to take care of you and your
family first. But you can make a bunch of noise online and at your events about our campaign raising awareness of it and the rights violations that are happening in Arizona every day. We are seeking media coverage of the issues so if you are a journalist, we want to hear from you. We have received an outpouring of in kind donations to help support Monica's campaign and if you would like to join us by offering your volunteer services or similar then we want to hear from you.
