Pembe Hayat (Pink Life LGBTT Solidarity Association)

Who do you work with?

We work with trans activists and trans sex workers in the field, area experts, lawyers, other LGBTI organisations and women organisations, local administrations, academicians.

How are sex workers involved in your organisation?

Our board members are in majority composed of trans sex workers. Our staff in majority is composed of trans people; 33% of whom are sex workers in the field. We have 120 current members in our association and around 85% of them are either sex workers or ex-sex workers.

Which of NSWP priority areas does your organisation work on?
Oppose the criminalisation and other legal oppression of sex work and support its recognition as work
Critique the trafficking paradigm that conflates representations of sex work, migration, and mobility
Advocate for universal access to health services, including primary health care, HIV and sexual and reproductive health services
Speak out about violence against sex workers, including violence from police, institutions, clients, and intimate partners, while challenging the myth that sex work is inherently gender-based violence
Oppose human rights abuses, including coercive programming, mandatory testing, raids and forced rehabilitation
Challenge stigma and discrimination against sex workers, their families and partners, and others involved in sex work
Advocate for the economic empowerment and social inclusion of sex workers as sex workers
What are the two main challenges that the sex workers you work with face

The main challenges we face with the sex workers is transphobia and hate murders. We are trans self organisation; thus, our main target group is trans individuals and sex workers. Institutional and social transphobia and stigmatisation on sex workers make it even worse for trans sex workers compared to cisgender colleagues. Another big challenge is to access safe work places. Trans sex workers are not allowed to work in registered brothels unless they complete gender reassignment surgery.

Describe other areas of your work

We work in areas such as LGBTI rights advocacy, trans activism, queer studies, hate speech and crimes, violence, illtreatment and torture by law enforcement agencies, human rights violations against trans people, media, culture and arts.

Region
Country
Turkey