Prostitutes are usually termed sex workers by governments and social
welfare groups to avoid demeaning them but the United States feels the
switch unwittingly dignifies syndicates involved in the flesh trade.

The State Department's office combating human trafficking issued a
directive Friday to US agencies urging them to avoid using terms "sex
worker" or "child sex worker" and even advised governments not to use
them.

"Of course, one can rationalize words such as 'sex worker' and "child
sex worker" in an effort to avoid a demeaning label such as
'prostitute," said John Miller, the office's director.

"However, there are other substitutes such as 'women used in
prostitution' or 'sexually exploited children' that are neither
pejorative nor pretend that violence to women and children is
'work,'" said Miller, who retired Friday after campaigning extensively across
the globe to stem the human trafficking problem.

During his four years on the job, the lanky former congressman has
visited more than 50 countries and met more than 1,000 survivors of
what he called "modern-day slavery."

Some 800,000 women, children and men are trafficked across national
boundaries each year, most of whom are enslaved in the sex industry,
the State Department says.

Human trafficking -- which refers to the transportation of persons
for sexual exploitation, forced labour or other illicit activities --
threatens to stifle the livelihood of many Asian workers, the
department warns.

Miller, who will take up a job as professor at the George Washington
University, said language was an important tool in fighting human
trafficking.

"In earlier centuries to avoid facing up to the suffering of slaves,
words such as 'houseboy,' 'field hand,' and 'servant' were used.

"Today, words such as 'forced laborer,' 'sex worker,' 'child
soldier,' and 'child sex worker' are comonly used," he said.

These words, he said, required scrutiny.
Laborers compelled to work on a plantation or in a factory may be
"forced laborers" but they are also victims of slavery, he said.

Similarly, children kidnapped and forced to be killing machines can
be termed "child soldiers" but are also casualties of slavery.

However, Miller said the most egregious use of language is "sex
worker."

Many governments, non-governmental groups and even UN agencies term
prostitutes as sex workers.

"People called 'sex workers' did not choose prostitution the way most
of us choose work occupations," Miller said.

Clinical research, he said, showed that vast majorities of people in
prostitution are subject to trauma, violence and rape, and 89 percent
wanted to escape.

"These 89 percent are victims of slavery," he said.

As for children involved in the flesh trade, he said they could not
be called "child sex workers" because they were not old enough to
consent to or choose prostitition.

Children, many not even teenagers by some estimates, make up almost
50 percent of those in prostitution in the world, Miller said.

"What is occurring is the use of the language to justify modern-day
slavery, to dignify the perpetrators and the industries who enslave,"
he said.

"Governments, non-governmental organizations and citizens who care
about fighting human trafficking and want to break the cycle of
stigmatization and victimization should not use words such as "sex
worker" or "child sex worker.

"To abolish modern-day slavery we must not be afraid to call slavery
by its real, despicable name," he said.

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