Although the capital authorities seek to order sex before the next arrival of tourists, this activity is exercised in a legal vacuum: although it is not considered a crime or an administrative fault in Mexico City, it is also not recognized as work in any local legislation.
As a consequence, sex workers are in vulnerability conditions, says Victoria Samano, director of the Lleca civil organization, dedicated to working with women and LGBT+ people in street or at risk.
“The lack of recognition of sex work in the laws of Mexico City leads to criminalization since this trade is developed in little safe circumstances for the companions and that through that there is also sexual exploitation, the lenocinium (obtaining economic benefits at the expense of the prostitution of another person),” he says in an interview with political expansion.
For the activist, a legal framework is required that is created together with people who exercise sex work where three basic needs are answered: right to housing, since many sex workers live in hotels in the difficulty of renting a space; Right to health, to have access to public services and medicines; as well as security, since they are at risk of organized crime.
“The main thing would be to talk about security, for sex workers it is very important, especially when organized crime in this city has grown too much and are the first to those who are extorting in the streets,” Samano says.
In the Congress of the City there is currently no initiative to recognize sex work, although the Parliamentary Group of Morena has indicated that it will support the establishment of clothing protocols, behavior and schedules.
“The issue has been forgotten and I believe that the attempts that have been from Congress to recognize sex work have always been from a criminalizing and stigmatizing view because they have not sought recognition but the regulation of sex work,” says the director of Lleca.
