News Archive: June 2016

On the 20^th of May in Brantford, Ontario (Canada), a report was released by Dr. Stacey Hannem and the organisation REAL that assesses the needs of rural sex workers. The report is called “Let’s Talk About Sex Work: Report of the REAL working group for Brantford, Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk. Assessing the Needs of Sex Workers in Our Communities.” The full report is available here.

Sex workers’ organisations have raised concerns about a new anti-trafficking law in India, called the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill. Women and Child Development minister Maneka Gandhi introduced the bill in India on the 31st of May.

The Desiree Alliance Conference is an event many sex workers and allies attend if they are capable of travelling to and within the United States. It is an opportunity to network, skill share, learn and advocate for the rights of sex workers. This year’s conference is from 10-15 July, 2016 in New Orleans. The preliminary conference schedule is available here.

The Africa Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA), Sisonke, and the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) is delighted to invite sex workers from around the world who will be attending the International AIDS Conference (AIDS2016) in Durban, South Africa from 18-22 July 2016 to join us at a sex worker pre-meeting on Sunday 17^th July 2016.

A majority of Members of Parliament (MPs) in Holland are supporting plans to make it an offence to pay for sex if sex workers are known or suspected to be victims of human trafficking. Sex work itself is legal in Holland.

On the 26^th of May, 2016 in Machala, Ecuador a meeting took place with the Governor, local authorities, brothel owners, leaders of the Asociación 22 de Junio, Flor de Azalea, PLAPERTS Ecuador and 80 female sex workers. There was a protest to reject the new schedule for the tolerance zones for sex work. The proposed schedule would only allow for sex work to occur from Monday to Saturday from 11:00 to 20:00.

Sex work in Peru is not a crime, but sex workers are often treated as criminals. Ana Mamani and Norma Diaz from Arequipa, Peru share their struggle to combat the conflation between sex work and human trafficking with NSWP’s Latin America Regional Correspondent.

On the 11^th of June, Canadian sex workers and their allies are mobilising in a National Day of Action. In June of 2013, as a response to Bedford v. Canada and the lack of sex worker representation during the debates around anti-sex work legislation being introduced, sex workers, sex worker rights groups and their allies across the country came together to raise awareness around the need for evidence-based sex work law reform.