Deportation of Migrant Prostitutes in New Zealand – Matter of Worry

Scarier than the exploitation has been the deportation thought for migrant prostitutes working illegally on temporary visas. This is the reason they have not been reporting about exploitative pimps and abusive clients to authorities. Deportation of Migrant Prostitutes in New Zealand, a worry.

Denying immigration is already a worry for prostitutes as sex work is the only occupation migrants on temporary visas are not legally allowed to take up. But there is no doubt that prostitutes work illegally on temporary visas.

Deportation of Migrant Prostitutes in New Zealand, a worry!

Illegal things bring with them some negative effects and that is with illegally working prostitutes who are forced to carry out sexual acts without protection and work shifts of 12-hours, seven days a week.

The outcome is increased slavery in New Zealand, it has become destination for forced labour, sex trafficking.

Forcing sex workers to give unprotected oral sex to male clients is what brothels in New Zealand have been encouraging, with a job loss everywhere. 12 hours shifts, nine clients are not fine for sex workers health. But prostitutes agree in order to maintain their job.

 Who can they question and deny. Nothing will help as if they speak to police they would be deported.

How does it matter to a brothel’s accounts when one worker is deported for illegally working, when she raises her voice against this sort of exploitation? The rest of them are already up for saving their presence there

Most of the illegal sex workers are on temporary visas and get threatened with deportation by brothel owners. This is what makes them obey even exploitation.

Even those, migrating for studies on an international student visa and getting into sex work, are deported, before the study completion. Can’t they be granted a chance to complete studies and stop working as a prostitute? May be they are innocently doing this work with no knowledge of rules and regulations regarding sex work.

The application of the Immigration Act, section 19, added into the Prostitution Reform Act to deter trafficking of international sex workers, deems it illegal for any temporary migrant to work as a prostitute or invest in any business that sells sexual services.

 Since the decriminalization of prostitution in New Zealand for citizens and permanent residents in 2003, the collective has argued that section 19 puts migrant prostitutes at risk of exploitation.

Now the reports from authorities say that conditions of migrant workers were “very, very vulnerable” as they did not receive enough protection by blowing the whistle on exploitative employers.

 Eliminating migrant exploitation is associated ministry’s priority, and so protective measures for migrant whistle blowers should be soon decided.

The matter of concern is not whether a migrant sex worker who reported exploitation would be immediately deported, as the outcome for cases varied, but if a migrant was deceived or coerced to work in the sex industry, Immigration would treat them as a “suspected victim of trafficking” and the matter would be investigated.

 Immigration New Zealand might not spend all day on such matters, and so exploitation investigation might not seem worth giving time to and that is why the victims are quiet behind the abusive latches. Deportation of Migrant Prostitutes, a worry!

About Post Author

Diksha Garg

See author's posts