The Network of Sex Work Projects held a meeting in Rio de Janeiro, 16-19 July.
The meeting had two goals:
UN Member States convened to undertake a comprehensive review of the progress achieved in realising the targets set out in the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS at the 2006 UNGASS Review Meeting.
Over 2006, a number of activities were conducted and reports followed. These are some of the activities the Network of Sex Work Projects participated in during 2006, along with links to some of the reports.
The Network of Sex Work Projects held a meeting in Rio de Janeiro, 16-19 July 2006.
The meeting had two goals:
Sex Workers mark the 3rd International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers with a protest at the 6th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong.
December 17 is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers and each year sex-worker organisations in different parts of the world organise different activities to commemorate the sex workers who have been abused and/or killed, and urge the public to respect sex workers' human rights. Just in time for the 6th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference (MC6) held in Hong Kong, sex-worker organisations from all over the world (Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Cambodia) marched and held exhibitions to help the public understand more about the situation of sex workers, and to eliminate violence against sex workers.
For more information on Prostitution Issues at the World Conference on Women Beijing '95 see the Prostitutes Education Network at: http://www.bayswan.org/UNpage.html.
Trafficking Statement from the North American Delegates of the Network of Sex Work Projects
Recognizing that fraudulent and coercive trafficking and forced prostitution have historically been problems, threatening the health and well-being of women in developing countries, as well as women in post-industrialized countries, and
Intervention by Martine Ago, Ivory Coast:
The United Nations General Assembly
High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS
United Nations Headquarters
New York, USA, June 1, 2006
Your Excellency, the president of the United Nations General Assembly; Your Excellence, the Secretary General of the United Nations; and honored invitees, ladies and gentlemen:
I am Martine Ago, representative of sex professionals, from the Ivory Coast, a country that knows firsthand a military-political crisis with its crushing poverty, violence and degradation of the health system.
Fostering Enabling Legal and Policy Environments to Protect the Health and Rights of Sex Workers
Johannesburg, South Africa, June 22-24, 2006
Organised and sponsored by the Sexual Health and Rights Project (SHARP) and Law and Health Initiative (LAHI) of Open Society Institute (OSI), this meeting brought together sex workers, service providers, human rights advocates, researchers and others to discuss how legal and regulatory environments affect sex workers' health and human rights.
MEDIA RELEASE
Monday, August 14, 2006
Advocates gather in Toronto to promote rights and safety of groups vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.
TORONTO — The international Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) and other human rights NGOs applaud this week's commitment by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to commit $500 million to the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment efforts. At the same time, however, the Gates Foundation has bowed to conservative pressure in the United States by funding groups that conduct and assist police raids on sex workers in countries like Cambodia and Thailand. These raids are infamous for further endangering vulnerable women.
In response to the traditional emphasis on the rights, interests, and well-being of individual research subjects, there has been growing attention focused on the importance of involving communities in research development and approval.
Research for Sex Work 9: Sex Work and Money is a peer-reviewed publication for sex workers, activists, health workers, researchers, NGO staff and policy makers. It is available in English. All issues of Research for Sex Work can be found here.
Research for Sex Work 8: Sex Work and Law Enforcement is a peer-reviewed publication for sex workers, activists, health workers, researchers, NGO staff and policy makers. It is available in English. All issues of Research for Sex Work can be found here.
This document is a collection of a number of papers presenting a broad overview of current research and data on trafficking in particular regions of the world. Nine of the articles focus on specific regions, and three of the articles explore issues relating to research methods. The papers, in total, give readers an opportunity to not only see the current state of research on global trafficking, but to also consider the suggestions by some authors for areas in need of more study.
Women in many cultures have used lemon or lime juice for contraception and vaginal hygiene for centuries; however, despite rumours that say otherwise, these juices are not only ineffective as a microbicide to prevent transmission of HIV, but can actually cause HIV transmission more easily because of the damage that they do to vaginal tissues.
“Demand” is a current buzzword among some anti-trafficking activists, in which they argue that demand for sex work drives trafficking in persons, and that arresting clients who patronize sex workers will reduce the problem. However, demand for sex work is not a predominant driving factor for trafficking, which is driven by poverty, race, and gender inequities.
You can download this 1 page PDF resource above. This resource is in English.
Prostitutes of New York is an organisation of many kinds of workers in New York City’s
sex industry. PONY is a member of the international Network of Sex Work Projects,
which advocates for the rights of sex workers around the world. We are concerned about
two keywords that have arisen in anti-sex work anti-trafficking advocacy: “demand” and
“dignity.” This statement addresses use of the term “Dignity.”
The subject of The Politics of Prostitution is not really prostitution politics. Instead, the research collected here seeks to answer the questions ‘Do women’s policy agencies matter?’ and ‘Is there such a thing as state feminism?’ The Research Network on Gender Politics and the State (RNGS) has been studying these questions since 1995 in ‘Western political democracies’; prostitution is only one of five issues which members have used to measure the impact of women’s movements for equality. By the term ‘women’s movements’, the researchers mean a range of organisations and groups, both grassroots and formal, which may or may not self-identify as feminist. By ‘women’s policy agencies’, they refer to government institutions which exist to advance women’s status in society. These definitions are key to appreciating the book.