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Public talk to ask 'Should prostitution be decriminalised?'

Catherine Healy, National Co-ordinator of the New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective, is to give a public talk at the University of Kent on Monday 21 January.

Hosted by the Safety First Coalition, London, and the University's AHRC Centre for Law, Gender and Sexuality (Centre LGS), the talk will take place at 4.30pm in Keynes College Seminar Room 16 on the University's Canterbury campus. The title is Should prostitution be decriminalised? There is disabled access to Keynes College and the seminar room. The talk is free and open to all.

Catherine Healy is a founding member and national co-ordinator of the New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective and is frequently sought by national and international organisations for advice on issues affecting sex workers. She was widely consulted for the publication of A Guide to Occupational Health and Safety in the New Zealand Sex Industry recommended by the Justice and Electoral Select Committee. She collaborated with researchers from Otago University, Christchurch, on soon-to-be-published major research into the effects of decriminalisation.

In 1993 she was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal for her services to women. In 2003, she played a major role in the decriminalisation of prostitution in New Zealand.

Joanne Conaghan, Professor of Law at Kent Law School and a researcher at Centre LGS, is among those looking forward to Catherine Healy's talk. She said: 'This is an issue of particular topicality. The government is currently in the midst of a policy review with regard to prostitution, in recent years wavering between decriminalisation and the Swedish-style criminalisation of sex-work clients.'

Sarah Lamble, researcher at Kent Law School added: 'As the trial begins this week for the murder of five sex workers in Ipswich, we are reminded of the urgency of this issue.'

For further information about the talk contact Sarah Lamble at the University of Kent (S.R.Lamble@kent.ac.uk).

Contact: mediaoffice@kent.ac.uk

Story published at 12:49pm 17 January 2008