New dawn for world's oldest profession? Russians activists ask government to end PUNISHMENT for sex work

Russian activists have asked the Ministry of Justice to consider following the example of some other European countries and legalize prostitution. The world's oldest profession has been banned in modern Russia since its formation.

Moscow daily Kommersant reports that the human rights centre Memorial, the political organization OVD-Info and the Civil Assistance Committee have all suggested changes to the Code of Administrative Offenses. In particular, there have been proposals to abolish the official punishment for providing sexual services.

On January 30, a new draft of the Code was published. It was due to be completed in March and submitted to parliament in April, but the deadlines have been pushed back two months. The document includes changes to many aspects of law – some as mundane as fines for breaking the speed limit – but human rights activists want to make more radical changes.

Speaking to Kommersant, director of the ‘Silver Rose’ movement Irina Maslova said that the administrative punishment (a monetary fine) for sex work only exists to facilitate corruption and stops sex workers from finding law-abiding jobs. Maslova alleges that cases rarely go to court, as women give a bribe to the police to make the situation go away. If a case does go to court, and a worker is found guilty of prostitution, they are placed on the police database and are subsequently unable to find gainful employment.
“There were cases when sex workers did not have loans approved for the same reason. Moreover, it also affects their children — after vetting their relatives, they are often not accepted into higher education institutions or into the [state] services,” she said.

National parliament (Duma) deputy Vitaly Milonov spoke out against the suggestion and equated the activists to organized crime groups.

“These are not Human Rights defenders – this is a gang with their madame-keeper. This is not a Human Rights organization – this is an organization formed based on criminal activity by a group of individuals. You should not accept amendments from this organization, but shackle them, handcuff them and interrogate them for creating a criminal group,” he said.

On the subject of punishing sex workers, Milonov said, “Naturally, I believe that an administrative punishment should be primary for engaging in prostitution, and criminal proceedings should be secondary.”

Removing penalties for sex work is not the only suggested change to the Code of Administrative Offenses. Activists also proposed abolishing the offense of spreading ‘gay propaganda among minors’ – a controversial law from 2013 which has seen a backlash from abroad – as well as changing the criteria for the deportation of migrants, amending the law on ‘drug propaganda’, and removing the phrase ‘social group’ from the article about incitement to hatred.

Prostitution has been either legal or tolerated during much of Russia’s history. Laws specifically outlawing sex work were not introduced in the USSR until 1987, although it was frowned upon by Soviet society. After the Soviet collapse, the modern Russian state made it illegal.