NSWP’s members are local, national and regional sex worker organisations and networks, across five regions: Africa; Asia and the Pacific; Europe (including Eastern Europe and Central Asia); Latin America and North America and the Caribbean. Members in each region elect two representatives to the NSWP Board of Directors.
All member organisations are required to endorse NSWP’s core values and the Consensus Statement on Sex Work, Human Rights, and the Law. Only sex worker-led organisations and networks have voting rights.
NSWP members are from diverse cultures and have different experiences and organisational histories. Most are independent sex worker-led organisations, some are informal groups of sex workers within larger organisations and some are non-governmental organisations who support sex workers rights. Some member organisations provide services, some focus on advocacy, some on mobilising to reduce vulnerability – all work on human rights issues that affect the health and well-being of sex workers.
You can find our members through the regional pages or by clicking on the red umbrellas on the map.
Note: For both safety and security NSWP does not identify which members are sex worker-led on our website, and members can choose not to be listed on the public website.
Where our members work
Regional updates
11th May 2018 | Region: Europe
10th May 2018 | Region: Africa
The 17th Sex Worker Academy Africa (SWAA) has begun in Nairobi with 16 participants from three countries taking part.
9th May 2018 | Region: Asia and the Pacific
New Zealand must repeal its ban on migrant sex workers to ensure the benefits of its decriminalisation model are extended to all sex workers, says NSWP member organisation the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective.
27th April 2018 | Region: North America and the Caribbean
Last weekend in Halifax at their biannual national convention, the Liberal Party voted yes to a resolution for consensual sex work decriminalisation. The resolution was presented by the party’s youth caucus, the Young Liberals of Canada, and is part of several resolutions that push for a more progressive Liberal Party. The Liberal Party are currently the largest party in Canadian government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Trudeau.
26th April 2018 | Region: Africa
On Friday 20th April, 3 members of NSWP member Avenir Jeune de l'Ouest (AJO) were arrested at their offices in Dschang, Cameroon, following a raid by police. A further two members were arrested on Saturday 21st April, and have since been held at Dschang Central Police station. AJO reported that the members were not given reason for their detention and suffered violence and aggression at the hands of the police.
18th April 2018 | Region: Africa
Earlier this week, the Economist published an article on the status of sex workers in Senegal, which has a ‘legalised’ model. It states that: “Senegal is the only place in Africa where sex workers are regulated by the state.”
27th March 2018 | Region: Europe
A new security application, Artemis' Umbrella, has been developed for sex workers in Finland, and can be used anywhere in the world. The app alerts a trusted contact when sex workers are in trouble, and uses location services to track the smart phone.
21st March 2018 | Region: North America and the Caribbean
Efforts to resist the closing of strip clubs in the US are ongoing. Recent police raids have prompted a spotlight on New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) in recent months, as NOLA-based sex workers speak out against “tough on crime” politics affecting their right to work safely.
19th March 2018 | Region: North America and the Caribbean
On 27th February, the House of Representatives passed a new Bill affecting sex workers in the United States: H.R. 1865 [Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017], known as 'FOSTA'. This bill makes it a federal crime for online platform providers to 'facilitate sex trafficking', also criminalising the users of these sites.
14th March 2018 | Region: Global
Global community-led networks have expressed serious concerns over the decision to name San Francisco and Oakland as host cities to the International AIDS Conference in 2020, which was announced on 13th March.
28th February 2018 | Region: Africa
Criminalisation of sex work is an expression of stigma against sex workers and is opposed by sex workers and sex workers’ rights organisations around the world. In South Africa, the Sisonke Sex Workers’ Movement and Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) have continued to advocate for the full decriminalisation of sex work in South Africa, by raising public awareness of the human rights violations suffered by sex workers under the current outdated legal framework.
21st February 2018 | Region: Asia and the Pacific
Following the arrest of 99 migrant sex workers in “one of Hong Kong’s biggest anti vice crackdowns”, NSWP member Zi Teng has called attention to the need to protect the rights and safety of sex workers through decriminalisation and recognition of sex work as work.
21st February 2018 | Region: Latin America
Using WhatsApp groups and other virtual networks, independent sex workers in Mexico organised a workshop with two main goals: to build community and to learn things that mainstream gynaecology often hides.
15th February 2018 | Region: Asia and the Pacific
After several years of intensified focus on gathering biometric data and piloting targeted surveillance methods, the Chinese government has established a large police force with the technology to enable a mass detention of sex workers, drug users and Uyghur people, a Muslim ethnic
14th February 2018 | Region: Asia and the Pacific
Sex workers and sex worker rights’ organisations have strongly criticised the verdict and handling of the case of CJ Palmer, a trans woman and former sex worker who was convinced of grievous bodily harm in January 2018. CJ was convicted on the charge, after four hours of deliberation, in relation to her ex-partner testing positive for HIV, and has been remanded in a men’s prison awaiting sentencing on 16th February. She has already spent 9 months in the same men’s prison awaiting trial.