The Victorian (Australia) Government’s Prostitution Control Act 1994 (since 2010 known as the Sex Work Act 1994) was meant to regulate brothels, control prostitution, bring it “above ground,” eliminate stigma, implement workplace rights and protections, and improve the situation for women.

The Government of Victoria is publicly admitting that the law miserably failed on every one of its goals and more. The sex trade has exploded since legalization and the sex trafficking of women, especially from Asia and the Pacific Islands, is evident. Tragically, as a solution to these failures and to the racialized sexual violence women in brothels endure, Victoria is calling for the decriminalization – a worse form of legalization – of the sex trade and its profiteers.

This global petition, signed by over two hundred sex trade survivors and advocates, including author and feminist activist Gloria Steinem, is condemning the proposal to decriminalize the system of prostitution in Victoria.

The petition is still collecting signatures:

Link to English Form

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The petition is calling on the Government of Victoria to enact instead the Nordic/Equality Model law as the progressive and human rights-based solution to its failed 1994 law.  The Nordic/Equality Model is a legal framework that solely decriminalizes people bought and sold in prostitution, offers them with services, including exit strategies, while holding sex buyers and other perpetrators accountable. We urge the Government of Victoria to join the growing number of jurisdictions worldwide that strive toward equality for all.