Analiz oprosa rks 2014

2014 Kirovograd regional branch of the charity organization "All-Ukrainian League "LEGALIFE"

RESEARCH ON VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS OF SEX WORKERS

BY LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS IN UKRAINE

This research is a part of “Sex Workers' Rights are Human Rights” project implemented by Kirovograd regional branch of the charity organization "All-Ukrainian League "LEGALIFE" in 2014. It became possible with the financial support of the FOUNDATIONS OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE (FOSI). Opinions and stand points expressed in this document are the standpoints of the Kirovograd regional branch of the charity organization "AllUkrainian League "LEGALIFE" and cannot be interpreted as opinion or standpoints of the FOUNDATIONS OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE (FOSI).

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

HIV+

An HIV positive person/ person with an HIV positive status

IDU

Injecting drug user

SW

Sex worker(-s), this term is recommended by people who provide sexual services for money/goods all around the world and who want sexual services be treated as work.

IMF

Internal Military Forces (officer who fulfill functions of law enforcement institutions)

PGS

Patrol-Guard Service

ATD

Anti-Trafficking Department

DPD

District Police Department (also known as ROVD)

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Purpose: to assess the level of legal protection for sex workers in Ukraine and evaluate the impact of current project on legal protection for sex workers.

Research Objectives: 1. to identify any specific social and demographic characteristics of sex workers in Ukraine; 2. to assess general level of legal protection for sex workers in Ukraine; 3. to identify main types of human rights abuse against sex workers by the law enforcement representatives; 4. to assess sex workers' commitment to stand for their rights and explore the most effective ways for legal protection of sex workers; 5. to evaluate impact of current project implementation on protection of sex workers' rights in Ukraine.

Research Subject: sex workers providing sexual services in regions of Kirovohrad, Vinnytsa and Rivne and in Mariupol of Donetsk region.

Sampling Strategy: random sampling Sample Representational Parameters:  respondent provides sexual services on regular basis;  respondent provides sexual services in regions of Kirovohrad, Vinnytsa and Rivne and in Mariupol of Donetsk region;  respondent provides sexual services from the street or on call.

Data Collection Instruments: questionnaire, see Appendix 1.

PART І

Social and Demographic Characteristics of Sex Workers The analysis of the collected data shows that the majority of sex workers participating in this survey are over 30 years old (76.7%), while 23.3% of respondents are under 30 years old.

Diagram 1.

Age of the respondents

30-40 years old; 76,70%

under 30 years old; 23,30 %

The youngest respondent was 16, while the oldest was 51 years old. Hence, based on this survey, average age of sex workers in Ukraine is 33-35 years old.

The analysis of personal data provided by the respondents demonstrates a number of tendencies:  The younger the age of the respondents, the higher percentage of women using injecting drugs (IDU) and living with HIV or AIDS (PLHIV).  The older the age of the respondents, the more of them have a higher level of education (e.g. secondary or vocational school).  The younger the age of the respondents, the higher the number of unmarried or divorced women among them.

Nationality The study of collected information on nationalities of the respondents showed that the absolute majority of interviewees were Ukrainian citizens.

Additionally, the survey showed that a small number of sex workers lack passports.

Some sex workers belonging to ethnic minorities may have had problems socially adapting.

Lack of passport may indicate that these sex workers are socially vulnerable.

Family Status, Education and other Characteristics The analysis of family status of Ukrainian sex workers showed that most of them are not married. Total number of unmarried respondents was 56%, married – 28% and divorced 16%. The lowest rate of married women being in Vinnitsa region.

The family status of Ukrainian sex workers is depicted in Diagram 2.

Diagram 2. Family status of surveyed sex workers in Ukraine

The fact that there is a high number of unmarried women (56%) among sex workers can be considered a base for several assumptions. Firstly, lack of family relationship can possibly be a factor to prompt women to start sex work.

Secondly, single women may face great difficulties in social adaptation and challenges in finding a suitable job.

Education level review showed that a half of surveyed sex workers have unfinished secondary education (below 9th grade).

In general, the number of respondents of this level of education comprised 50%.

40% of respondents had specialized vocational training/education.

A more detailed depiction of education level of participating sex workers is provided in Diagram 3.

Diagram 3.

The level education of SW 49,9% not full secondary education (till 9 forms)

5,1% secondary education

5,1% higher education

39,9% secondary and specialized level education

Previous Convictions The analysis of collected data showed that every third sex worker had a record of convictions.1 This group comprises 29% of the respondents.

It should be noted that the biggest number of participating sex workers that have been to court are drug users.

Diagram 4 presents data on court charges.

Diagram 4. Rate of court charges among sex workers

100% 80% 60% 40%

20%

33%

75%

0%

total number of SW with convictions

number of IDU SW with convictions

In addition, 20% of sex workers indicated that they do not have passports.

1 It was not a purpose of the survey to find out if the respondent had been cleared of criminal record. Only the fact of a conviction taking place in the respondent's life was taken into consideration.

PART ІІ

Violation of Sex Workers' Rights Since the data collection period lasted for 12 months, it gave us an opportunity to observe the dynamics of rights violations against sex workers committed by the police. It should be noted that the survey was conducted from January to August and was followed by another round from November to December. The survey revealed 65 cases of rights abuse by the law enforcement officers. In general, the dynamics of violations in question has a wave-like structure which is presented in Diagram 5.

Diagram 5. Number of violations of SW rights in Ukraine, monthly review

15 7

7

11

4

7 4

1 January

February

8

March

April

1 May

June

July

August

P1 November December

The study showed that most of sex workers' rights violations were reported in the beginning of the project cycle.

The fact that the number of violations reduced by the end of the project shows that the implementation of the project had a positive impact on the level of rights protection for sex workers. This conclusion is supported with the results of Kirovohrad regional project implemented in 2013, as well as with projects implemented in Rivne and Vinnytsa regions in 2014.

It should be brought to attention that even though Rivne and Vinnytsa regions were not involved in 2013, the results of survey in question clearly demonstrates its positive influence on the situation in 2014.

For more details on sex workers' rights violations committed in each of the regions please refer to Diagrams 6-9.

Diagram 6. Number of rights violations committed in Rivne region, monthly representation

Diagram 7. Number of rights violations committed in Vinnytsa region, monthly representation

Diagram 8. Number of rights violations committed in Kirovograd region, monthly representation

Diagram 9. Number of rights violations committed in Donetsk region, monthly representation

2 1

0 January

February

March

0 April

0

0

May

June

0 July

0 August

0

0

P1

November December

It can be quite possible that the dynamics of rights violations in Vinnytsa region may be a result of recent staff changes within Anti-Trafficking Department (ATD) that happened in the beginning of June.

Members of the project “Sex Workers' Rights are Human Rights� multiple times addressed the higher level of management within those law enforcement divisions whose officers were reported as rights violators. As a rule, such communication was done either over the phone or during face to face meetings.

Several times project team represented sex workers and their interests and held advocacy events calling for better protection of human rights of sex workers.

The most effective of the efforts turned out to be events advocating for sex workers rights organized in Vinnytsa region. This region is notable for its highest rate of sex workers' rights abuse by the Anti-Trafficking Department, especially in the beginning of the project cycle and in June. Sex workers in this region were subjected to systematic rights abuse, such as forced sex, unlawful confiscation of money, psychological pressure and humiliation. Regularly, the Anti-Trafficking officers treated local sex workers as a source of income and free sexual services.

In order to stop such harmful practices the project team submitted a complaint to Ombudsman on Human Rights at the Supreme Court of Ukraine in which they described in detail the current situation in the region. The Ombudsman had reviewed the complaint and opened a case for its investigation. As a result, a number of internal investigations took place, which led to the dismissal of several employees withing the ATD who had been reported of violating sex workers rights. In addition, the process started by the Ombudsman, stimulated a more constructive relationship between Vinnytsa project team and the management of the ATD in town of Vinnytsa and its region.

As you can read from the diagram, the interventions of the project team brought results in the beginning (January) and the closing (in June) of the project.

During the interviewing process, the respondents were offered to provide the name of the local or regional division the officer who violated their rights belonged to.

General conclusion of their answers is that the majority of sex workers' rights violations were committed by the employees of the Anti-Trafficking Department and by the officers of District Police Depatments.

Number of rights abuse and the names of the divisions and regional departments reported to have committed rights violations against sex workers is presented in Diagram 10.

Diagram 10. Number of committed rights violations and names of police departments whose officers violated sex workers' rights.

4,60% ATD 24,60%

DPD PGS 70,80%

In general, the number of committed rights violations, names of perpetrators and the tendencies are described month by month in Table 1.

Table 1. Number of committed rights violations and names of perpetrators in Ukraine Name of Jan. perpetrating division

ATD DPD PGS

9 5 1

Feb.

2 2 0

Mar.

6 1 0

Apr.

May

1 0 0

5 2 0

June

July

Aug.

Nov.

11 0 0

0 4 0

0 1 0

7 0 0

Dec.

Total

6 0 2

47 15 3

Below is the data split up according to regional findings.

Number of committed violations, their dynamics and names of perpetrators in Rivne Region is divided by months in Table 2.

Table 2. Number of committed rights violations and names of perpetrators in Rivne region Name of Jan. perpetrating division

ATD DPD PGS

1 4 0

Feb.

2 1 0

Mar.

3 1 0

Apr.

May

0 0 0

0 0 0

June

0 0 0

July

Aug.

Nov.

0 4 0

0 1 0

3 0 0

Dec.

Total

2 0 2

11 11 2

Number of committed violations, their dynamics and names of perpetrators in Vinnytsa Region is divided by months in Table 3.

Table 3. Number of committed rights violations and names of perpetrators in Vinnytsa region Name of Jan. perpetrating division

ATD DPD PGS

5 0 0

Feb.

0 0 0

Mar.

1 0 0

Apr.

May

0 0 0

0 2 0

June

July

Aug.

Nov.

10 0 0

0 0 0

0 0 0

0 0 0

Dec.

Total

0 0 0

16 2 0

Number of committed violations, their dynamics and names of perpetrators in Kirovohrad Region is divided by months in Table 4.

Table 4. Number of committed rights violations and names of perpetrators in Kirovohrad region Name of Jan. perpetrating division

ATD DPD PGS

3 0 0

Feb.

0 0 0

Mar.

2 0 0

Apr.

May

1 0 0

5 0 0

June

1 0 0

July

Aug.

Nov.

0 0 0

0 0 0

4 0 0

Dec.

4 0 0

Total

20 0 0

Number of committed violations, their dynamics and names of perpetrators in Kirovohrad Region is divided by months in Table 5.

Table 5. Number of committed rights violations and names of perpetrators in Donetsk region Name of Jan. perpetrating division

ATD DPD PGS

0 1 1

Feb.

0 1 0

Mar.

0 0 0

Apr.

May

0 0 0

0 0 0

June

0 0 0

July

Aug.

Nov.

0 0 0

0 0 0

0 0 0

Dec.

0 0 0

Total

0 2 1

While analyzing questionnaire responses, special attention was paid to finding information on possible impact of the project on the situation with sex workers' rights violations. In this case, the dynamics of reported cases of violations against Ukrainian sex workers were studied not only in the light of its intensity in a given period of time, but also in their connection with the violating agencies.

In other words, an answer to question “Has the implementation of the project brought any change in the number of violations and perpetrators?� was sought.

The results of the survey allow us to draw a number of important conclusions.

The implementation of the project demonstrated that civil influence is capable of making violators stop or reduce their malpractices.

It can be clearly seen in the comparison of the results from projects implemented in Kirovohrad in 2013 and 2014.

In 2013, when the project started in Kirovohrad region, first quarter's survey revealed that most of sex workers' rights (9 cases) were violated by the officers of Internal Military Forces.

Later on, in second and third quarters, there were no reported facts of rights abuse by representatives of this institution. Whereas, second quarter survey found that officers of AntiTrafficking Department and Patrol-Guard Service were reported as subjects of rights violations. Remarkably, in third quarter, the number of violations against sex workers by above mentioned institutions dropped four times. Nine officers of Anti-Trafficking Department reduced to two, while in the Patrol-Guard department the number of officers reported on reduced from 4 to 1.

During the implementation of the project in 2014, Kirovohrad sex workers did not report any rights violations by the Internal Military Forces, State Traffic Inspectorate, Patrol-Guard Services and the Directorate of Internal Affairs. It should be noted that in other regions every second rights abuse was committed by the officers of District Police Department.

It should be brought to attention that the level of violations committed by the Anti-Trafficking Department remained on the same level in Kirovohrad region. This fact supports our belief that projects addressing sex workers' rights violations should not stop their work.

Positive impact of the project noticed in 2013 in Kirovohrad region has now been confirmed by the results of projects in Rivne and Vinnytsa regions in 2014.

In Rivne region, more than a half of reported violations (55%) were committed by the officers of District Police Department. Nevertheless, it became possible to completely stop violations done by this institution by the middle of the project term.

In Vinnytsa region, 75% of committed sex workers' rights violations are reported after the officers of the municipal division of Anti-Trafficking Department. The survey results in this region show that during the last three months of this project the municipal branch of ATD had stopped their unlawful practices against local sex workers.

Types of Sex Workers' Rights Violations The analysis of types of violations against sex workers 2 revealed that female sex workers frequently face abuses in the form of threats, blackmailing, psychological pressure, humiliation and coercion to humiliating acts and unlawful detention.

These types of abuse comprise 54.2% of total number of rights violations reported by sex workers.

In addition, almost every tenth of responding women was subjected to psysical violence (beatings and rapes) by the law enforcement officers. The number of such abuses goes up to 9.3%. Unlawful detentions were reported in 14.2% of cases.

Types of sex workers' rights violations by law enforcement officers are represented in Diagram 11.

The types of SW rights violations by the officers of law enforcement authorities

Extortion of money 21,90% 29,50%

Threats, intimidation, psychological pressure Violation of the right to physical integrity

10,50% 38,10%

The number of illegal arrest

One of the purposes of the survey questions was to identify types of rights violations against sex workers practiced by law enforcement agency. These findings are presented this chapter.

It seems that officers of Anti-Trafficking Department perceive sex workers as an object of fast and illegal enrichment as well as free means for satisfaction of their sexual needs. This 2 This chapter does not dwell on aspects of violations related to unlawful detentions and arrests. These types of violations will be presented in Part III in detail.

assumption is based on generalized quantitative data and the nature of committed rights violations.

Most of violations the ATD officers were reported on were extorting money, unlawfully apprehending sex workers and forcing them to provide sexual services.

For instance, unlawful apprehensions comprised 57,1% of reported abuse. Same percentage comprised extortion of money and valuable belongings, while forcing sex workers to sex amounted to 42,8% of cases.

Types and number of sex workers' rights violations by the ATD officers are presented in Diagram 12.

It is worth pointing out that, in Vinnytsa region, officers of the Anti-Trafficking Department forced respondents to sex practically in all reported cases. While in Kirovohrad, sex workers report about officers of the same Department systematically subjecting them to detention unlawfully.

As for district police officers, their most often practice is unlawful detention and failure to perform their law enforcement duties when it comes to the rights of sex workers.

Besides the aforementioned, sex workers reported other types of their rights being violated.

Some of the fact about such violations are presented in Table 6.

Table 6. Some facts about sex workers' rights abuse by the law enforcement officers Rights abuses by PGS «Systematically, once a month, they take my money, fake up a fine ticket».

Rights violations by ATD «They threatened me to provide sexual services. (There were witnesses to these threats)» «They took my money, valuables and remuneration I got from my clients». «[He] wrote up a report on petty offense of administrative code without ensuring presence of an attesting witnesses and eyewitnesses and without providing any kind of evidence».

«She was unlawfully arrested. They grabbed her and shoved her into the car regardless of the fact that she is disabled heavily depending on her crutches».

Rights abuse by the Regional DPD «They refused to accept a complaint on crime committed against a sex worker».

«They proposed to let go of the case (of committed offense – author's remark) without any investigative work, in other words, not to initiate proceedings. The recording of statements and testimonies was carried out inconsistently».

«They apprehended [me] without stating the reasons, demanded that I write a testimony against my acquaintance and accuse her of pimping».

The questionnaire used in the survey contained a suggestion to the respondents to file a complaint to the law enforcement agency.

The survey results show that none of the respondents wanted to complain about their rights violations. This situation demonstrates the fear and vulnerability of sex workers when it comes to lack of protection from abuse of law enforcement as well as disbelieve in efficacy of rights defending mechanisms.

On the other hand, the analysis of the situations when rights abuse took place, showed that law enforcement officers break sex workers' rights with no fear. Most of rights abuse happened in front of eye-witnesses.

PART ІІІ

Sex Workers' Rights Abuse During/via Administrative Detention The results of the research revealed that practically all sex workers participating in the survey had been a subject to unlawful detention.

Sex workers were detained unlawfully at any given time of the day. The respondents reported that they had been detained both during the day and at night time, while the detention term varied from one to eight hours.

Most often female sex workers were detained for as long as two hours (65.6% of cases) and three hours (18.8% of all cases).

See Diagram 13 for more detail on length of detention by regions.

Diagram 13. Length of detention of sex workers, by regions

12,50% 0% 0%

Up to 8 hours

25%

Up to 5 hours

0% 0%

0%

0% Kirovohrad reg.

Up to 4 hours

25%

Up to 3 hours

30%

Vinnytsa reg.

0% 0% 0%

Donetsk reg.

25%

Rivne reg.

0%

50%

12,50% 70%

Up to 2 hours 0%

50%

50% 100%

100% 150%

200%

250%

Subjects of Administrative Detentions of Sex Workers Survey results demonstrate that out of five subjects reported to have violated sex workers' rights only two of them used administrative detention as a tool. These officers belonged to the District Police Department and Anti-Trafficking Department.

The biggest number of unlawful detentions was reported to be performed by the officers of the Anti-Trafficking Department (88,9%) with the rest of cases (11,1%) performed by the officers of the District Police Departments. The names of law enforcement divisions that performed unlawful detentions of sex workers are listed in Diagram 14.

Diagram 14. Number of cases of administrative detention of sex workers and the names of law enforcement divisions who performed the detention

88,9%

11,1%

ATD DPD

Reasons for Detention Responses of sex workers who had been subjected to administrative detention showed that the reasons for such detention have not always been adequate and their lawfulness is rather questionable.

For instance, there were cases when women were not even notified that they were being detained, but they were rather shoved into a parked car.

Other respondents reported that Anti-Trafficking officers detained them for “practicing prostitution� according to article 181.1 of Ukrainian Code of Administrative Offenses. Women who had been subjected to these arrests report that the ATD officers arrived in a car, forced them into the vehicle and drove them to their precinct.

Procedural Formalities During Administrative Detention When describing how they had been apprehended, sex workers told that their relatives had not been notified about their detention.

A report on administrative offense was drawn in 67% of apprehension cases. In addition, none of these reports was written right on the spot. All registered offence reports were written up after sex workers had been delivered to the police station.

Reports on detention were drawn in 33% of studied cases. As a rule they were done in the office of regional division.

The eye-witnesses were mentioned only in 33% of all the reports.

None of the respondents mentioned being delivered to court after the detention.

PART ІV Impact Assessment In order to follow up on mid term results of the intervention, one more round of questionnairs was filled by the sex workers. The respondents were asked to answer same questions as before. The purpose of this phase was to track possible changes or specifics in sex workers' rights violations and assess the impact from project interventions. This part of survey took place in Kirovohrad and Rivne regions.

12 respondents in Rivne and 8 in Kirovohrad regions filled the questionnaires, totaling in 20 submissions. It should be noted that there is a possibility that one and the same respondents participated in the survey at different times.

In general, the results of the survey showed some changes in the number of violating officers as well as in the length of detention of sex workers in police precincts. A more detailed description is provided in the following chapters.

Based on the analysis of survey responses it may be assumed that project “Sex Workers' Rights are Human Rights” may have encouraged female sex workers to defend their rights more vigorously than before. For instance, every fourth respondent from Kirovohrad region (25%) expressed her readiness to complain to police about their unlawful actions. Numbers of “for” and “against” replies are presented in Diagram 15: Number of women agreed to report on police rights abuse (in Kirovohrad region)

At the same time, sex workers participating in the survey in Rivne Region did not wish to submit complaints to law enforcement offices. This can be indicative of the need to introduce stronger awareness raising efforts and better representation of sex workers' interests in this area.

A noticeable change was reported in the length of time when sex workers were held in detention. In Rivne region, all detentions lasted in average less than one hour. In Kirovohrad region the situation was similar, with the exception of two cases with two hours detention each. In addition, the number of cases when sex workers were delivered to police station reduced considerably with total 2 cases of sex workers taken to the District Police Departments.

There has been a considerable reduction in the number of violators of sex workers' rights. As the results of the survey show, sex workers were mostly apprehended by the officers of AntiTrafficking Department and Patrol-Guard Service, with Patrol division being mentioned only in two cases resulting in sex workers being delivered to the District Police Department.

There has been a noticeable change in the types of rights violations. The survey revealed neither cases of forced sexual services, unlawful passport confiscations, extortion nor beatings. Practically all reported violations were only related to:  unlawful detention;  unlawful drawing of detention reports.

In rare cases, facts of blackmail and threats were also mentioned.

At the final stage of the project, the management of Kirovohrad division of League Legalife held a focus group with representatives of target groups and those involved in the project:  Employees of the organization who conducted surveys, communicated with sex workers and law enforcement officers;  Sex workers;  Experts who provided legal support (lawyers).

The survey brought up a number of issues that remained unsolved by the time of project closing.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Throughout the project term, the total of 65 surveys of sex workers were performed, whereas 20 surveys were conducted in the end phase of the project.

In general, the results of the survey showed some changes in the behavior in women who provide sexual services, as well as in subjects of their rights violations. One of the main achievements of the project - in the context of impacting sex workers' behavior - can be considered a more determined readiness of female sex workers to defend their rights when dealing with law enforcement officers. A more dramatic change is seen in Kirovohrad region where the last survey showed that 25% of sex workers are ready to turn to law enforcement organs/ judicial system to defend their rights. This tendency confirms the efficacy of the project, proves the stability of the chosen strategy and work methods. Nevertheless, reluctance to stand openly in defense of their rights and risk of personal data being exposed are the reasons why the project should continue on in order to ensure the sustainability of already achieved positive results. In addition, the continuation of the project will allow us to ensure long-term results and guarantee that any change in legislation and its implementation will be recorded and analyzed.

The efficacy of the project is also supported by the change in the ways law enforcement officers treat sex workers. Recent survey showed that detentions were performed by the officers of ATD and PGS solely. In addition, there have been a noticeable decrease in the number of detentions of sex workers at the regional police departments.

Impressively changed the range of rights abuses that sex workers have faced. The survey have not revealed any of the rights abuse cases that would involve forcing to acts of sexual nature, confiscation of identification documents, extortion of money or beatings. Such changes once more underline the right choice of the project strategy and stress the necessity for its further implementation.

The most optimal solution could be introduction of formal agreements between sex workers and lawyers. This will allow lawyer's interference at any stage of detention of a sex worker.

Besides, this will considerably boost sex workers' readiness to fight for their rights.