The Count Me In! Consortium supports the voices and activism of women, girls, and trans and gender non-binary people who are often most marginalised in their communities. Among the most silenced voices are those of sex workers.
The Counting Sex Workers In! campaign puts a spotlight on sex worker-led advocacy and highlights the voices and perspectives of sex workers of all genders in order to advance understanding that sex workers’ rights are human rights and a feminist issue. The campaign calls attention to the frequent experiences of discrimination, harassment and violence experienced by sex workers. It challenges the ways that sex work is most often viewed through a narrow lens of moral judgment, and instead highlights bodily integrity and workers’ rights. The Counting Sex Workers In! campaign runs from October 26 to November 10, 2020.
As part of the campaign, NSWP members have submitted videos that draw attention to the discrimination, harassment and violence experienced by sex workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Diana Rivas - PLAPERTS
Jules Kim - Scarlett Alliance
Marina Avramenko - Russian Sex Workers Forum
Shaunna-May Trotman - Guyana
It is time that women’s rights and human rights organisations and donors recognise and promote sex workers’ bodily autonomy, acknowledge their labour rights as workers, and highlight their rights to be free from discrimination and violence – by both state and non-state actors. This two-week campaign is designed to start conversations, offer resources and encourage solidarity for sex workers and sex workers' rights.
Count Me In! is a special joint initiative led by Mama Cash, including the sex worker-led Red Umbrella Fund (RUF), together with the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), CREA, Just Associates (JASS) and Urgent Action Fund – Africa (representing its sister funds in the US and Latin America), and the Dutch gender platform WO=MEN as strategic partner.