title: Bedford v. Canada: a paradigmatic case toward ensuring the human and health rights of sex workers.
abstract: The Criminal Code of Canada prohibits certain aspects of sex work: the keeping of a common bawdy-house, living off the avails of prostitution and communicating for the purposes of prostitution in a public place. These legal constraints impede sex workers' ability to practise their profession safely and without risk to their bodily integrity; they also impair their personal autonomy and can lead to their stigmatization. Bedford v. Canada is a groundbreaking case, since the applicants and intervening organizations seek to overturn aspects of Canadian law that specifically put the health and human rights of sex workers at risk.
authors.affiliation: Galldin Law, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. karin@galldinlaw.ca
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Galldin
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.forename: Charlene
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wiseman
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D003415:Crime; D005260:Female; D005610:Freedom; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011477:Sex Work / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012935:Social Justice