In 2016, France adopted a law criminalising the clients of sex workers. This report focuses on the impact of this new legislation on the health, rights and living conditions of sex workers in the country.
The full report and 8-page summary of the report are available above in English and French, and on the Médecins du Monde website.
PION, Norway, with support from NSWP, submitted this shadow report to the 68th CEDAW Session, which took place October-November 2017. The report is based on in-depth interviews, conducted over a two-month period, with sex workers and social service providers. It documents how local administrative laws and the criminalisation of clients and third parties increase stigma and discrimination, impede access to justice and health services, and result in arbitrary deportations and evictions.
In 2015, NSWP member Silver Rose submitted this shadow report to the CEDAW committee review of the Russian Federation. The shadow report is based on information collected by Silver Rose during their day-to-day work with sex workers in St. Petersburg, Silver Rose documentation of human rights abuses, and analysis of media representations across Russia.
NSWP members, including TAMPEP, SOA Aids Nederland and PROUD, contributed to this shadow report by Dutch NGOs and CSOs submitted to the 65th CEDAW session. This shadow report documents a wide range human rights violations affecting women in the Netherlands, including transgender sex workers.
The Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) submitted this shadow report to to the 66th CEDAW Session on Ireland. The report focuses on the harms of The Sexual Offences Bill, passed at the beginning of 2017, which criminalises the purchase of sexual services and increase the penalties for indoor sex workers. NSWP has previously reported on this bill and SWAI’s organizing efforts against the bill.
NSWP Member Legalife-Ukraine, in collaboration with civil society organisations representing women drug users, LGBT communities, and women living with HIV in Ukraine, submitted this shadow report to to the 66th CEDAW Session. The shadow report documents discrimination against these communities by police, medical, and social service institutions. It also documents legal discrimination.
Sex Worker Forum-AT has submitted this shadow report to the Committee to End All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) sixty-sixth session on Germany. The shadow report specifically addresses how Germany’s new sex work legislation, known as the “Prostituiertenschutzgesetz” will hurt sex workers from a gender equality perspective. Germany’s new federal law will come into effect 1 July 2017. It has been criticised by NSWP member Hydra, including in their article in Research for Sex Work 14.
The Sex Workers' Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN), within the Regional Platform EECA, has developed a video and community guide on the community’s engagement in Global Fund supported processes on the national level. This resource and video provides a general overview of The Global Fund's structure, and key examples from within the region about how sex worker-led organisations have engaged with The Global Fund.
The International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe have published the briefing paper Surveilled. Exploited. Deported. Rights Violations Against Migrant Sex Workers in Europe and Central Asia. It explores how criminalisation of migration, criminalisation of sex work and lack of economic and employment opportunities make migrant sex workers vulnerable to exploitation, violence and other human rights violations. It also provides key recommendations to ensure the rights of migrant sex workers are protected.
The Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network for Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (SWAN) have submitted the following response to the UN Women consultation on "sex work, sex trade, and prostitution." They voice concerns regarding the limited possibility for sex workers to take part in an internet-based consultation. Many sex worker groups have limited or no access to internet and are not familiar with the language used in the consultation.
The International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE) submitted the following response to the UN Women consultation on "sex work, sex trade, and prostitution." In their preamble, ICRSE criticizes UN Women's lack of meaningful consultation with sex workers in the development of their policy. They remind UN Women that the UN Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), of which UN Women is a Co-Sponsor, already has developed a sex work policy that is founded in UN Human Rights treaties.
Public Association Amelia, the only organisation that provides services to sex workers, has published their report Documenting Human Rights Abuse in the Republic of Kazakhstan with financial support from SWAN. The report is about sex work, violence, and HIV in Kazakhstan. It describes the violence experienced by sex workers and how this increases the vulnerability of sex workers to STIs.
ICRSE has published their second intersection briefing paper entitled Feminism Needs Sex Workers, Sex Workers Need Feminism: Towards a Sex-Worker Inclusive Women's Rights Movement. This briefing paper explores the intersection of feminist ideologies, women’s rights and sex workers’ rights, and the feminist ideals which are included and supported in sex work activism. It calls upon the feminist movement to consider the growing evidence in support of sex work decriminalisation, build an alliance with sex workers and their organisations, and actively support sex workers’ rights and the decriminalisation of sex work.
UTSOPI, a sex worker organisation in Brussels, have published a statement on increased legal oppression of sex work in various municipalities across the country. The statement below is about the Alhambra area of Brussels where the mayor, Yvan Mayeur, has increased the financial penalities against sex workers and clients.
STAR-STAR, a sex workers' collective in the Balkans, has published Voluntary Sex Work. They interviewed 73 sex workers in the city of Skopje. Their key research objectives were to understand sex workers' attitudes and perceptions towards voluntary sex work and the legalisation of sex work, to raise the general population's awareness about sex work, and finally, to present the advantages and disadvantages of sex work legalisation.
The Sex Workers' Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN) has published their report Using CEDAW to Advocate for Sex Workers' Rights in Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia. This booklet is aimed at sex workers, sex worker groups, organisations working with sex workers, women’s groups, drug users’ groups, LGBT groups, human rights organisations and other allies who want to know more about advancing recognition for sex workers’ rights through the United Nations human rights bodies, and in particular, through the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
Amnesty International has published their research entitled "What I'm Doing is not a Crime": The Human Cost of Criminalizing Sex Work in the city of Buenos Aires Executive Summary, Argentina to accompany their Policy on State Obligations to Respect, Protect, and Fulfil the Human Rights of Sex Workers. Although sex work is not a crime in Argentina, sex workers, clients, and third parties are penalised through communication laws and anti-trafficking laws.
Amnesty International has published their research entitled "What I'm Doing is not a Crime": The Human Cost of Criminalizing Sex Work in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina to accompany their Policy on State Obligations to Respect, Protect, and Fulfil the Human Rights of Sex Workers. Although sex work is not a crime in Argentina, sex workers, clients, and third parties are penalised through communication laws and anti-trafficking laws.
Amnesty International has published their research The Human Cost of 'Crushing the Market: Criminalization of Sex Work in Norway Executive Summary to accompany their Policy on State Obligatoins to Respect, Protect, and Fulfil the Human Rights of Sex Workers. Their research demonstrates that human rights abuses against sex workers in Norway are directly related to the criminalisation of clients and third parties in Norway.
Amnesty International has published their research The Human Cost of 'Crushing the Market: Criminalization of Sex Work in Norway to accompany their Policy on State Obligatoins to Respect, Protect, and Fulfil the Human Rights of Sex Workers. Their research demonstrates that human rights abuses against sex workers in Norway are directly related to the criminalisation of clients and third parties in Norway. Amnesty International also found tha sex workers themselves were penalised and criminalised under the "Nordic Model". The resaerch is the result of three weeks of interviews with 54 sex workers in Norway as well as desk research.