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AP News has published a report on the impact of food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic on sex workers living with HIV. Speaking with sex workers and organisations from Rwanda and Zimbabwe, the article highlights the multiple ways that the current crisis is affecting those who do not have access to government support schemes.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the HIV2020 Conference has been reimagined as a series of virtual convenings that will take place from June through October of this year. The programme will conclude with sharing learnings and highlights from the virtual event on World AIDS Day 2020 in December.

In April 2020, NSWP launched a global survey to understand the impact of COVID-19 on sex workers. The survey received 156 responses in total from 55 different countries out of which 53 responses were from 6 countries – Canada, Guyana, Mexico, Suriname, Trinidad, and the United States – in the North America and the Caribbean region.

“People are going hungry. People are scared to work, or not to work.” – PACE Society, Canada

A new law criminalising clients has come into effect in Israel. The law, which was approved a year and a half ago by the Knesset, punishes those caught seeking the services of sex workers, as well as those apprehended in a location chiefly used for sex work.

Sex workers in India are speaking out against a study by academics from Yale School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School.

In April 2020, NSWP launched a global survey to understand the impact of COVID-19 on sex workers. The survey received, thus far, a total of 156 responses from 55 different countries out of which 43 responses were from 17 countries – Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, North Macedonia, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom – in the Europe region.

The organisers of HIV2020 Online, of which NSWP is a member, published a set of ten recommendations aimed at the International AIDS Society (IAS), which has been criticised for its decision to bring this year’s International AIDS Conference to the United States of America (U.S.). Though both conferences will now take place online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, advocates argue that the decision reflects weak community engagement.

OpenDemocracy has published an article from Graciela, a member of Ammar Cordoba, on their work supporting sex workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. AMMAR Córdoba​ is a sex worker-led organisation in Córdoba​, Argentina, fighting for human rights and access to labour protections.

HIV2020: Community Reclaiming the Global Response, is scheduled to take place on Zoom from July through October of 2020.

The HIV2020 alliance has decided to organise the community-led event to provide an alternative for individuals who cannot or will not participate in the AIDS2020 virtual conference. Its goal is to offer new opportunities to reaffirm the leading role communities play in the global HIV response. ​

In April 2020, NSWP launched a global survey to understand the impact of COVID-19 on sex workers. To date, the survey has received 156 responses from 55 different countries. 18 of these responses were from 11 countries – Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam – in the Asia-Pacific region. 

In May, Sex Work Donor Collaborative (SWDC) and Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) ran a global webinar to share sex workers’ experiences of COVID-19 and what funders can do to support the movement. View the webinar below or on the NSWP YouTube channel.

NSWP has launched an update to the legal mapping project, which maps sex work laws around the world. The information in the map reflects legislation (as of 31 March 2020) that affects sex workers through the criminalisation of the sale and purchase of sexual services, and the facilitation, management or organisation of sex work, as well as other laws used to regulate sex work such as mandatory health checks and travel restrictions.

A new analysis of the health outcomes of 12,987 people with COVID-19 in Western Cape, South Africa, indicates that people living with HIV and people with past or current tuberculosis infections have a two- to three-times greater risk of dying of COVID-19.

Juana R. Torres, president and founder of Mujeres Independientes Luchando por sus Derechos (Independent Women Fighting for their Rights), passed away in May after a stay in Santo Tomás hospital. Juana, who was also known as Dulce Ana, was a Honduran national living in Panama. There she campaigned for the recognition of sex work as work, saying “we’re always fighting for our work to be recognised, just like any other form of employment in the country.”

Sex worker groups around the world held events and actions to mark International Sex Workers’ Day on 2nd June.