The Committee for Aid to Sex Workers (CATS) in Murcia has presented a report highlighting the experiences of sex workers, who denounce disproportionate fines, verbal abuse, and arbitrary arrests by police forces.
The report, released on the occasion of the International Day Against Violence Toward Sex Workers, underscores the lack of police protection and the criminalization of sex work. Fuensanta Gual, president of CATS, emphasised the particularly concerning situation in Murcia, where sex workers face systemic mistreatment, including “disproportionate fines, verbal abuse, and arbitrary arrests.”
The findings, drawn from the report “Prostitutes Talk About Violence”, reflect the voices of 318 sex workers surveyed across Murcia, Albacete, Madrid, Alicante, and Almería. Alarmingly, 60% reported experiencing some form of police pressure. The main abuses cited include verbal abuse (26%), fines (11%), arbitrary arrests (8%), and expulsion proceedings (6%).
“Women should feel protected by law enforcement, but instead they flee from police officers for fear of being fined, arrested, or deported,” said Barbara Bolaños, a mediator for CATS.
In Murcia, a municipal ordinance targeting prostitution imposes penalties on both sex workers and clients, though enforcement disproportionately impacts the workers themselves. “Women are the most visible and, therefore, the ones who receive the fines. These sanctions, often impossible to pay, become overwhelming debts that deepen their marginalisation and limit their access to social support or legal regularisation,” explained Gual.
According to CATS, there has been a recent rise in the enforcement of these penalties, including cases where women were merely present in public spaces without causing any disturbance.
Mediator Bolaños further noted that the most vulnerable sex workers—undocumented immigrants, trans women, and racialised individuals—are disproportionately affected. “These women not only face extortion and harassment from some police agents but also endure discrimination and ridicule. Instead of finding protection, they are treated like criminals,” she said.
CATS continues to advocate for a shift in policy and greater protections to ensure that sex workers are treated with dignity and safeguarded from violence and exclusion.
