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Whilst in Britain anti-carceral justice is likely to be shrugged off as the studentcause de jour, there is evidence that US-style anti-carceral values are being imposed by woke NGOs in the developing world. The full decriminalisation of prostitution has been enthusiastically taken up by many working in international development; this approach reframes what feminists have traditionally seen as commercial sexual exploitation as instead empowered individuals exercising their agency. The removal of criminal sanctions for pimps, brothel-keepers and punters is central to US-style anti-carceral justice.
In 2018, international and domestic NGOs collaborated to prevent the passing of the Trafficking of Persons Bill in India. This was heralded as a victory by the Netherlands-based Mama Cash [my bold], which claimed the bill, “conflated trafficking with sex work, which would have increased stigma, discrimination and violence against sex workers, reduced their autonomy and agency, and threatened their human rights”.
The campaign, part funded by Mama Cash, [my bold] undermined the work of grassroots feminist activists in India like Vaishnavi Sundar. After years of working to stop the sex trade, Sundar, a documentary film-maker and activist based in Chennai, sees the halting of the anti-trafficking bill as a form of ideological imperialism:
“In a country that is known for its ineffectual jurisprudence where women fight for three or four decades for any legal recourse, it is disquieting to see Western organisations like Mama Cash siding with groups that further amplify women’s sexual exploitation. While ‘sex work’ may benefit a minority group, to halt a bill that could potentially save thousands of children over semantics is cruel and anti-women.”
thecritic.co.uk/issues/june-2021/putting-women-last/