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Choosing between access and sex workers’ rights in Portugal
By: []
Date: 2021-09
The framing of prostitution as a form of patriarchal violence by, especially, faith-based organisations has also made for a difficult environment in which to organise. Nevertheless, since 2011 some NGOs, sex workers and scholars have come together in a network, the Network on Sex Work (Rede sobre Trabalho Sexual), which represents a major breakthrough in the development of a pro-sex workers’ rights alliance within Portugal. But, some NGOs within the network still remain reluctant to publicly champion the cause due to their close relationship to the government and their involvement in anti-trafficking programmes.
Neoliberal actors in anti-trafficking
To better understand the contextual position of some of these NGOs, it is useful to consider that international anti-trafficking instruments leave it up to each state to determine the best way to address sex work through domestic legislation and policy. This is a necessary compromise, since governments have never been able to agree on a shared approach. From an anti-trafficking standpoint, the main goal of these instruments has been to develop the infrastructure required to support an anti-trafficking system. But in many countries, civil society organisations have used their presence to try and turn the fight against human trafficking into a fight against prostitution.
This has also happened in Portugal, although the fight against trafficking started slowly in the country. Civil society voices in Portugal are nowhere near as strong as they are in places such as the United States, and until recently human trafficking was considered a low priority by civil society and government alike. The impetus for change has primarily come from international pressure, especially the European Union.
Competing views on the sale of sex emerged as the Portuguese government began to develop its anti-trafficking system, creating a potential flashpoint. At the same time, the neoliberal construction of the system situated the state as the core agency in setting anti-trafficking rules and constructing trafficking subjectivities. State institutions now define what it means to effectively participate in anti-trafficking and set the terms of entry for organisations wanting in. To prevent potential conflict government officials carefully select the organisations they work with, and the partners they’ve chosen are ones they trust to not strongly advocate for changes in prostitution policy or against the current security-led approach to trafficking. For the NGOs concerned, the opportunity to join forces with the government is seen as highly attractive primarily because of the amount of capital that comes with it. The end result: a neoliberal bargain which has seen the Portuguese state elevate and incorporate civil society voices who have tacitly agreed to not be ‘too political’.
The most prominent example of this neoliberal bargain is the Family Planning Association (Associação para o Planeamento da Família), the main NGO working in anti-trafficking in Portugal. Since 2008, the association has run shelters, training activities, and awareness campaigns. It has also played a major role in coordinating local anti-trafficking networks set up with the help of the state and the EU. In recent times it has also expanded its programmes to facilitate the identification of ‘trafficking victims’ by the police and their subsequent repatriation, thereby consolidating its key position within the larger anti-trafficking system. The Family Planning Association has been part of the Network on Sex Work since 2011, but its involvement in anti-trafficking activities and funding has meant that it has become increasingly reluctant to champion a public position on sex work. Whenever it contributes to official anti-trafficking programmes it adopts a deliberately neutral position, despite having formally declared its support for sex worker rights in 2014.
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