27 Nov Sex workers willing to pay taxes
NASSAU, Bahamas — Head of the Caribbean Association of Sex Workers Miriam Edwards says sex workers throughout the region are willing to pay taxes if respective Governments would start recognizing what they do as a job.
“We are willing to pay taxes if they give us the right to work and if they accept sex work as a job,” she told delegates at the 2011 HIV Conference which ended yesterday at the Atlantis, Paradise Island Bahamas.
Edwards added that sex workers want to pay taxes so they can have access to benefits which other workers are eligible to receive.
“We are not prepared to stop sex work and we don’t want anybody to ask us to stop. We just want our job to be accepted just like that of the police and the nurses,” she told delegates.
Edwards, who proudly noted that none of her children had followed in her footsteps, said the way to keep young people out of the sex trade is to afford them proper parental support.
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“When we talk about keeping young people out of sex work we have to ensure their parents are alive and there for them because there are lots of parents living with HIV and cannot work and the neighbour who gives rice and flour will start having sex with their 13 year old,” she said.
Edwards, at the same time, requested that more funding be allocated for prevention work tailored specifically to meet the needs of sex workers.