The Canadian Supreme Court stopped a piece of anti-prostitution legislation on Friday, in a decision largely regarded as a victory for sex industry workers looking for safer conditions.
Canada's highest court ruled 9-0 against the law, after finding that the legislation went against the guarantee to life, liberty and right to security, the Associated Press reported.
Three prostitution-related laws were introduced in the court, all of which were struck down - legislation barring keeping brothels, creating a livelihood off of sex solicitation and conducting business on the street were all stopped on Friday, 20 years after the Supreme Court last backed anti-prostitution legislation.
But since the 1990 ruling, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote in a statement, the social climate has shifted in Canada.
"These appeals and the cross-appeal are not about whether prostitution should be legal or not," she stated. "They are about whether the laws Parliament has enacted on how prostitution may be carried out pass constitutional muster. I conclude they do not."
Parliament has 12 months to return to the board with a fresh bill.
Prostitution, although not illegal in Canada, comes with a few tangentially related sex solicitation laws that are treated as criminal offenses.
Lawyer for a group of Vancouver prostituted Katrina Pacey told AP that the ruling marked "an unbelievably important day for the sex workers, but also for human rights."
"The court recognized that sex workers have the right to protect themselves and their safety," Pacey stated.
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