The complex issue of sex work, caught between gainful employment, difficult working conditions and modern slavery, stigmatisation and multiple discrimination, necessitates a comprehensive human rights analysis of the impact of the legal situation on the realities of sex workers’ lives. There are currently few recent studies dealing with the living conditions of sex workers. This study addresses existing gaps in research, such as economic and technological changes, and includes the affected groups in the research work through an intersectional approach.
The following research questions are examined:
- How is prostitution/sex work regulated legally/politically (currently and historically)?
- What political and legal instruments are used for regulation?
- Do the measures taken have the desired effects against the background of the formulated political and legal goals?
- What unintended and/or undesirable results have ensued?
- What are the different legal situations regarding sex work in the nine Austrian federal states?
- What measures should be taken to effectively implement the human rights of sex workers in Austria?
Through its intersectional approach and the combination of legal analysis, empirical social research and participatory cooperation with those affected, this project aims to make an important contribution to the development of human rights-based and non-discriminatory policy and legal .