International Day of No Prostitution

International Day of No Prostitution (IDNP) is an awareness day that was first observed in 2002. Locations at which IDNP was observed in its inaugural year included the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States and Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The day is celebrated annually on October 5 as a manner of opposing prostitution. In 2005, the University of the Philippines Institute of Human Rights and the Asia-Pacific chapter of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) organized an IDNP event at which they discussed the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003. In 2008, there was an IDNP candlelight vigil in Phoenix, Arizona. The vigil took place again in 2010, and city leaders and former prostitutes were among the participants. In 2010, CATW observed IDNP by opposing the decision in Bedford v. Canada to strike down Canada's anti-prostitution laws. A group of former human trafficking victims and sex workers in Canada also opposed the striking down of these laws; they picketed a courthouse in downtown Toronto, Ontario in recognition of IDNP. Picketers included Natasha Falle, Trisha Baptie, Bridget Perrier, Katarina MacLeod, and Christine Barkhouse. In 2011, People Working Against Prostitution, an organization in the Philippines, expressed their disappointment that the Cagayan de Oro city council did not host any events in recognition of IDNP.