Resources

In 2013, the Human Trafficking Intervention Courts (HTICs) were launched in New York. These courts were the USA's first statewide human trafficking intervention within a justice system. This research explores the impact of these courts through studying 364 cases in 2013 and 2014. It concludes that the HTICS do not respect the human rights of the people they process and distort the line between consent and coercion. This makes it more difficult for people who are victimised – by clients, ‘pimps’, police, and courts – to seek justice.

NSWP member Stella produced 9 fact sheets for sex workers in Canada. The fact sheets provide important information about the changes to Canadian law (the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, 2014) that criminalise sex workers, clients, and third parties. The fact sheets offer practical tools for sex workers and explain how the new laws negatively impact sex workers.

The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) stands by Human Rights Defender Alejandra Gil and Amnesty International’s decision to adopt a policy to protect the human rights of sex workers, including the full decriminalisation of sex work.

NSWP, the Global Network of Sex Work Projects, emphatically condemns the actions of the USA’s Department of Homeland Security and federal prosecutors in New York for the raid on the offices of Rentboy.com and the arrests of seven of its staff members.

Canadian sex worker-led organisation Stella, l’amie de Maimie developed these guidelines for acceptable research partnerships with the organisation. The guidelines set out core principles for both researchers seeking partnership and Stella.

Canadian sex worker-led organisation, Maggie’s Toronto, developed this website disclaimer for non-sex workers seeking to engage, titled, 'A note to researchers, students, reporters, and artists who are not sex workers.' This resource advises people outside of the sex worker community who are interested in doing research on sex work on how to engage with sex workers.

The UK Network of Sex Work Projects, with women, men and transgender people working in the UK sex industry, developed this booklet on Safety Advice for Sex Workers in the UK. This booklet provides general and detailed safety advice for sex workers in different situations and different work places. It also includes information on ways to report bad clients and contact information for local sex worker projects in the UK.

This study gives a legal analysis of the legislative framework and jurisprudence relating to human trafficking in Canada. It also analyses the views of both criminal justice system personnel and SWAN society personnel on the enforcement and use of anti-trafficking legal measures. Contents include:

A sex worker-led observational report on the first year of the court project

 A “working paper” prepared as background to Building on the Evidence: An International Symposium on the Sex Industry in Canada

This paper is a result of a research programme in Canada’s sex industry: workers and their intimate partners, managers and clients.

This resource is a press release from NSWP member Desiree Alliance. The statement explains their decision not to attend the 2014 International AIDS Conference. They argue the IAC conference is purposefully excluding sex workers from the conference, and boycott the conference because no financial assistance was provided to U.S.-based sex workers.

On June 4th, 2014 Justice Minister Peter MacKay introduced Bill C-36, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act. The draft legislation proposes a legal frameworkthat criminalises communication in public for the purpose of prostitution, the purchase ofsexual services, material benefit, and the advertisement of sexual services.

This leaflet for the 2nd Annual Red Umbrella March in Vancouver has been produced by an NSWP member.

You can download this 2 page document above. This resource is in English.

‘The XXX Forum’ entitled “Celebrating a Decade of Action, Designing Our Future,” was a first of its kind in Quebec. It was a historical moment, a time for dialogue and for sharing our thoughts on how to support sex workers all over the world. This meeting allowed us to consolidate a system for community support by and for sex workers, and to attack the stigma that affects people who do sex work.

On December 20, 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered a landmark decision that substantially reshaped Canada’s legal framework regarding adult sex work. The case of Bedford v. Canada resulted in the striking down of three provisions of the Criminal Code: the communication, bawdy-house and living on the avails laws. The Court found that these three provisions violate section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the “Charter”) given their negative impact on sex workers’ security of the person.

This document summarises the experience of sex workers through examples of best practices that serve to share the development of politically influential tools; to strengthen sex workers’ group efforts to become effectively involved in the development of policies and programmes that help to amplify their voices both at regional and international levels.

The present paper has been produced by a Member of NSWP (Persist Health Project) and is a useful read for service providers seeking to shape their services to the needs of sex workers.

The assessment was conducted using a community-based research approach in order  for it to be an accurate reflection of street-based sex work. The research team consisted of staff members from the Regent Park Community Health Centre and Street Health and community members who were previously involved in sex work. The survey tool was developed and approved for use by the network of sex workers from Barrie, York Region, Peterborough and Toronto in Canada. A standardised set of questions with some closed and open ended questions was included in the survey. Former sex workers from the community were involved as co-researchers and conducted face to face interviews with current sex workers.