News Archive: June 2020

NSWP is seeking to recruit a Policy Officer to join our Policy Team, led by the Senior Policy Officer, working on developing global advocacy tools for our members and reviewing external policy documents in line with the NSWP Consensus Statement and the priorities set by the NSWP Board.

29 June 2020

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. ​

19 June 2020

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. 

18 June 2020

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.

16 June 2020

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.

15 June 2020

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.

15 June 2020

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.”

4 June 2020

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

3 June 2020

On 2 June 1975, approximately 100 sex workers occupied Saint-Nizier Church in Lyon, France, to express their anger about their criminalised and exploitative living conditions. They hung a banner from the steeple which read ‘Our children do not want their mothers to go to jail’, and launched a media campaign to broadcast their grievances to the world.

1 June 2020