Amnesty International on Sex Trade Decriminalization: What You Need to Know

In a shocking decision made on Tuesday, Amnesty International voted to support a policy that decriminalizes sex trade -- including prostitution, payment for sex and even ownership of a brothel.

As expected, the move has opened a social debate from opposing individuals and organizations. CNN reported that the human rights organization passed the measure at the International Council Meeting in Dublin, Ireland, with delegates from around the world in attendance at its decision-making forum.

Salil Shetty, secretary-general of Amnesty International said in a statement, "Sex workers are one of the most marginalized groups in the world who in most instances face constant risk of discrimination, violence and abuse."

While the decriminalization of sex trade is indeed a controversial topic, here are things you have to know about Amnesty International's decision and why they believe it's for the good:

1) It does not erase human rights laws. Catherine Murphy, policy adviser at the organization said, "There's a lot of misunderstanding about our proposal. What decriminalizing talks about is the laws that are used to criminalize adult consensual sex work, or selling of sex among consensual adults."

She added, "It does not mean the removal of all laws that deal with exploitation, abuse, trafficking, involvement of children. Those laws are absolutely needed and are still absolutely relevant within a decriminalized system. We would never advocate for that, absolutely not."

2) The Amnesty did two years worth of research on the subject matter and came to a conclusion. According to The New York Times, the organization believes that decriminalization is the best way to reduce risk for prostitutes.

3) While human rights groups have been divided in the matter -- others pushing for decriminalization, while others want harsher penalties for sex buyers as well as workers -- Amnesty argued that penalizing will drive prostitution further underground, making workers even more vulnerable.

Of course, there are others who oppose Amnesty's decision Sweden's foreign minister, Margot Wallstrom, for one, was concerned about the effect of Amnesty's policy.

She explained, "They mixed all these arguments, and that worries me. It is a myth about the happy prostitute who does this as a free choice. Unfortunately, I can now hear people saying 'hurrah' - all those johns and pimps who run the brothels. It's a multibillion-euro industry."

CBS News noted that the importance of Amnesty's vote on the issue is it can help lobby governments around the world to accept its point of view. However, as The New York Times pointed out, their stance will not have any immediate impact, as it will not be a deciding factor on the decriminalization of sex trade -- but its decision will serve as the organization's official position in the matter.