Today Human Rights Watch reported on the International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe's (ICRSWE) statement calling for emergency support to sex workers amid the COVID-19 crisis.
The piece highlights ICRSWE's demands, including that European governments issue urgent moratoriums on raids, arrests, and prosecutions for sex work, provide financial support to sex workers, and ensure sex worker-led organizations are included in distribution of emergency assistance.
With sex work criminalised in almost every country, Human Rights Watch reiterate their call for the decriminalisation of sex work.
States that criminalize sex work should work towards decriminalization. Human Rights Watch has documented the harmful impact of laws criminalizing sex work in countries including South Africa, Tanzania, and the United States. We call for decriminalization of sex work everywhere because, as this new report says, decriminalization helps protect sex workers from violence and is an important step towards ending harmful stigmatization.
Read the full report on the Human Rights Watch website.