The (mis)use of evidence in contested rights: commentary on the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls’ report on “prostitution and violence”

Readers of Sexual and Reproductive Health Matter are no strangers to interrogating evidence in all its forms, assessing which claims it can support, and about challenges and uncertainties in international norms in the fields of sexual and reproductive rights and health. Questions of evidence, positi...

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Main Authors: Susana T Fried, Alice M Miller, Rupsa Mallik, Ivana Radačić, Esteban Restrepo-Saldarriaga
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-12-01
Series:Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/26410397.2024.2425530
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author Susana T Fried
Alice M Miller
Rupsa Mallik
Ivana Radačić
Esteban Restrepo-Saldarriaga
author_facet Susana T Fried
Alice M Miller
Rupsa Mallik
Ivana Radačić
Esteban Restrepo-Saldarriaga
author_sort Susana T Fried
collection DOAJ
description Readers of Sexual and Reproductive Health Matter are no strangers to interrogating evidence in all its forms, assessing which claims it can support, and about challenges and uncertainties in international norms in the fields of sexual and reproductive rights and health. Questions of evidence, positionality and the role of testimony are particularly live in the context of sex work and human rights. As an exploration about good and bad practices in research and evidence, in this Commentary we highlight the errors, mistakes and wrongly shaped conclusions arising in the recent report by the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls about prostitution law, sex worker health and rights, and the status of international human rights law on sex work and trafficking. We do this not only to reinforce more accurate information about the status of human rights law, public health evidence and the needs of people of all genders in the sex sector, but also as an opportunity to remind us of the principles around evidence, transparency, and self-determination. We are conscious of the current vulnerability of global rights and health systems. Our Commentary seeks to contextualise our criticisms to this current moment of rights and health systems' fragility and multi-pronged attacks on the emancipatory potential of rights for persons in the sex sector as workers especially as they intersect with racist stereotypes. Practices of deploying evidence matter for rights advocacy: its legitimacy as well as its efficacy depend on good practices.
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spelling doaj-art-1d4637cada014b4394b3b06905fc62ac2024-12-02T09:37:32ZengTaylor & Francis GroupSexual and Reproductive Health Matters2641-03972024-12-0132110.1080/26410397.2024.2425530The (mis)use of evidence in contested rights: commentary on the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls’ report on “prostitution and violence”Susana T Fried0Alice M Miller1Rupsa Mallik2Ivana Radačić3Esteban Restrepo-Saldarriaga4Co-director, Just Futures Collaborative, New York, USA.Professor in the Practice, Yale School of Public Health; Associate Professor (Adjunct), Yale School of Law, and Co-Director, Global Health Justice Partnership of Yale University, New Haven, CT, USAIndependent Expert, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Mysore, IndiaResearch Advisor, Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia; Lecturer at University of Osijek; adjunct Faculty at Human Rights Practice Program, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USAAssociate Professor, Universidad de los Andes Law School, Bogotá, DC, ColombiaReaders of Sexual and Reproductive Health Matter are no strangers to interrogating evidence in all its forms, assessing which claims it can support, and about challenges and uncertainties in international norms in the fields of sexual and reproductive rights and health. Questions of evidence, positionality and the role of testimony are particularly live in the context of sex work and human rights. As an exploration about good and bad practices in research and evidence, in this Commentary we highlight the errors, mistakes and wrongly shaped conclusions arising in the recent report by the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls about prostitution law, sex worker health and rights, and the status of international human rights law on sex work and trafficking. We do this not only to reinforce more accurate information about the status of human rights law, public health evidence and the needs of people of all genders in the sex sector, but also as an opportunity to remind us of the principles around evidence, transparency, and self-determination. We are conscious of the current vulnerability of global rights and health systems. Our Commentary seeks to contextualise our criticisms to this current moment of rights and health systems' fragility and multi-pronged attacks on the emancipatory potential of rights for persons in the sex sector as workers especially as they intersect with racist stereotypes. Practices of deploying evidence matter for rights advocacy: its legitimacy as well as its efficacy depend on good practices.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/26410397.2024.2425530(mis)use of evidencesex work, prostitution law and traffickinginternational human rights, contested rightsgood practices for health rights advocates
spellingShingle Susana T Fried
Alice M Miller
Rupsa Mallik
Ivana Radačić
Esteban Restrepo-Saldarriaga
The (mis)use of evidence in contested rights: commentary on the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls’ report on “prostitution and violence”
Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
(mis)use of evidence
sex work, prostitution law and trafficking
international human rights, contested rights
good practices for health rights advocates
title The (mis)use of evidence in contested rights: commentary on the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls’ report on “prostitution and violence”
title_full The (mis)use of evidence in contested rights: commentary on the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls’ report on “prostitution and violence”
title_fullStr The (mis)use of evidence in contested rights: commentary on the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls’ report on “prostitution and violence”
title_full_unstemmed The (mis)use of evidence in contested rights: commentary on the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls’ report on “prostitution and violence”
title_short The (mis)use of evidence in contested rights: commentary on the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls’ report on “prostitution and violence”
title_sort mis use of evidence in contested rights commentary on the un special rapporteur on violence against women and girls report on prostitution and violence
topic (mis)use of evidence
sex work, prostitution law and trafficking
international human rights, contested rights
good practices for health rights advocates
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/26410397.2024.2425530
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