Sex workers in Peru are demanding justice and an end to violence after the murder of two Ecuadorian migrants on 19 February 2022. The police found 28 bullet shells at the scene and another sex worker and a passer-by were also injured in the attack.
PLAPERTS, an NSWP member organisation and the regional platform for Latin America, released a statement in the wake of the attack which calls on officials to conduct a thorough investigation into the murders and demands an end to violence against sex workers.
“They killed them in a cruel and violent way in the presence and sight of many people around…
Today we, the organised civil society, want to speak out, WE DEMAND JUSTICE. No more deaths of people who work, no more indifference, or here nothing happens, because it is happening. We ask that the State, through its intelligence unit of the national police of Peru, INVESTIGATE, PUNISH, AND DISMISS all criminal gangs of the mafias in the contract killing and extortion that they exercise on the people who exercise sex work that have taken over the different avenues, streets, districts and regions of the country…
IN THIS SENSE WE STATE THAT:
- Sex work is not a crime in Peru, nor anywhere in Latin America, on the contrary, for more than a decade we have been demanding that it be recognised as part of the labour force, the same that is exercised by choice and conviction of the exercise of our bodies and solidarity economy.
- We demand that the Ministry of Women, the Congress of the Republic and President Pedro Castillo take action on the matter, no more violent deaths or femicides of our companions by organised mafias that the only thing they do is to collect quotas.
- We demand that state institutions take into account our demands and generate solutions in order to eradicate discrimination, stigma, misogyny and violence that are exercised against sex workers on a daily basis, and the recognition of sex work as a labour right.
- We urge all organisations of sex workers and allied organisations to join our statement "Nobody says anything" as a symbol of this rejection, and thus we can add to the eradication of stigma and gender violence against women in the most vulnerable sectors.
PLAPERTS PERU is a network of organizations, formed by trans women, gay men and cisgender women who practice sex work autonomously and voluntarily. In this sense we will be vigilant, articulating and demanding the cessation of violence, stigma, discrimination and criminalisation.
#NoMasMuertes #JusticiaAhora #NuestrasVidasTambienImportan”
Miluska Vida y Dignidad, another NSWP member organisation based in Peru, are organising a march in response to the escalating violence. Angela Villón, president of Miluska Vida y Dignidad, urges everyone who can to attend the march to say no to violence against sex workers, saying “we are not alone, we all march!”
The march will take place at Plaza San Martin on 26 February at 5pm local time.
