Human Rights Language as an Instrument. An Analysis of the Sex Work Discourse in South Africa with a Focus on Human Rights

Abstract

This paper addresses and investigates the ways sex work is being discussed in South Africa. The main focus is on the human rights discourse as applied by  the South African parliament and the non-governmental organisation SWEAT (Sex Worker  Education and Advocacy Taskforce). The research proceeds by analysing which human rights the two actors refer to and which discursive strategies they apply in order to pursue their varying agendas. This also includes a discussion of which actors are seen as violating sex workers’ human rights and preliminary conclusions on the agendas and objectives that might be underlying the respective discourses. The paper’s analysis indicates that human rights, here, are not an  end in themselves, but rather a means to an end. Both actors utilise the very same human rights language with quite different effects and outcomes, which leads to conclusions about the instrumentality of human rights.