Adult entertainment advocate Charles Charlie Spice Lewis is offering assistance to authorities in developing a regulatory framework for the protection of sex workers that includes finding safer places for them to operate.Following revelations by Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey on the weekend that the Government was moving towards the protection of sex workers, Lewis told Barbados TODAY he was willing to help in that regard, as he insisted action must be taken without delay.“I would like to have some kind of dialogue. I would like to be part of that narrative to put measures in place to protect sex workers,” said Lewis, President of the Global Adult Industry Association.He also called on all non-governmental organisations involved in addressing the plight of prostitutes, as well as other government agencies to pool their resources and move swiftly to act in the best interest of these workers.His comments came on the heels of the recent shooting death of 44-year-old Guyanese Caroline Baird – a tragedy that he hopes will trigger improvements for those involved in the industry.“I am extremely disturbed by the fact that it has taken the death of a sex worker for the Government to be thinking about putting some framework in place to protect sex workers. I have been lobbying and advocating for this for years and it has fallen on deaf ears up until now,” Lewis said.
