![Visiting scholar lecture: Criminalisation and the Right to Access Justice: rethinking sex work regulation [14 September 2026]](https://dullahomarinstitute.org.za/events/visiting-scholar-lecture-criminalisation-and-the-right-to-access-justice-rethinking-sex-work-regulation-14-september-2026/@@images/f6a9080a-94e7-44e3-a7c1-d864d210f96b.png "Visiting scholar lecture: Criminalisation and the Right to Access Justice: rethinking sex work regulation [14 September 2026]")
Visiting scholar lecture: Criminalisation and the Right to Access Justice: rethinking sex work regulation [14 September 2026]
- https://dullahomarinstitute.org.za/events/visiting-scholar-lecture-criminalisation-and-the-right-to-access-justice-rethinking-sex-work-regulation-14-september-2026
- Visiting scholar lecture: Criminalisation and the Right to Access Justice: rethinking sex work regulation [14 September 2026]
- 2026-09-14T13:30:00+02:00
- 2026-09-14T14:00:00+02:00
- The Africa Criminal Justice Reform (ACJR) project of the Dullah Omar Institute, University of the Western Cape, invites you to a visiting scholar lecture.
- What ACJR Event
- When 14 Sep, 2026 from 01:30 PM to 02:00 PM (Africa/Johannesburg / UTC200)
- Where Room 1H, School of Public Health, UWC
- Contact Name Crystal Nitsckie
-
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Topic: "Criminalisation and the Right to Access Justice: rethinking sex work regulation."
Speaker: Tamara Fernández (Autonomous University of Barcelona)
What happens when the law itself becomes a barrier to justice?
Drawing on experiences from Spain, South Africa and New Zealand, this lecture examines how the regulation of commercial sex affects sex workers’ fundamental right of access to justice. It contrasts Spain’s current legal framework with South Africa’s ongoing reform debate and considers lessons from New Zealand following the decriminalisation of sex work.
Decriminalisation can remove important legal barriers, but does it ensure that sex workers can safely report violence, exploitation and other crimes? The lecture explores what changes when criminal prohibitions are removed, what barriers remain, and what these experiences might mean for South Africa.
ACJR is hosting Tamara Fernández-González from 1 July to 15 September 2026 under the Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility Programme. Tamara is a legal scholar and PhD Candidate in Law and Gender at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, supported by the La Caixa Foundation Inphinit Fellowship (2022–2026). Her research focuses on criminal justice, gender, migration and human rights, particularly human trafficking, migration and access to justice.
She has undertaken research stays at the University of Strathclyde, University of Buenos Aires and Victoria University of Wellington, and has contributed to research projects on violence against women, migrant victims of crime and safe reporting mechanisms. Her stay at the Dullah Omar Institute, University of the Western Cape, supports her doctoral research and strengthens international collaboration on criminal justice and human rights.
The lecture has particular relevance as the Dullah Omar Institute has been admitted as amicus curiae in a High Court matter concerning the decriminalisation of sex work, being S.H. & SWEAT v Minister of Justice and S.H. & Another / The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services & Others (CASE NO: 9229/24).