In February 2026, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) published a report concerning the Netherlands using the terminology of “sex work” to describe the system of prostitution. The report also advises the Dutch government to further expand its sex trade, including lifting the ban on “home-based sex work” and increase the number of licensed brothels.

In response, sex trade survivors from around the world sent an open letter to the CEDAW Committee, urging it to remove those recommendations and all references to “sex work.” While the Committee did remove the references to “minor sex work,” the report remains otherwise unchanged as of September 2026.

This is a direct appeal to the CEDAW Committee from the women who have survived the brutal system of prostitution, and know it to be anything but “work.”

Join survivors in contacting the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and demand that the CEDAW Committee amend its report on the Netherlands. Email: [email protected] and [email protected]

This is a film commissioned by SPACE International (www.spaceintl.org), the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women International (www.catwinternational.org), and Frontline Women’s Fund (www.frontlinewomensfund.org).

Video produced by Lakshmi Anantnarayan.