It has been a relatively quiet period for the Global Fund, with little activity that impacts on sex workers.
The 40th Global Fund Board meeting was held in Geneva between 14th-15th November. The Board approved the Global Fund Secretariat operating expenses (OPEX) and work-plan, and it remains within the budget limit set by the Board at a maximum of US$900 million over the 2017-2019 period.
This systematic review and meta-analysis, led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), has found that sex workers who have experienced 'regressive policing' (including arrest, extortion and violence from police), are three times more likely to experience sexual or physical violence. The study examines the impacts of criminalisation on sex workers’ safety, health, and access to services, using data from 33 countries. Sex workers' health and safety was found to be at risk not only in countries where sex work was criminalised, but also in Canada, which has introduced the “Nordic model”, where purchasing sex is specifically criminalised.
An alliance of key population-led networks, networks of people living with HIV, treatment activists, and supporters has formed to organise an international community-led HIV conference in 2020, following the decision to host the 2020 International AIDS Conference in the USA.
This resource is a Community Guide to the Briefing Paper: Sex Workers’ Experiences of Stock-outs of HIV/STI Commodities and Treatments. It provides an overview of the full Briefing Paper, and provides key recommendations for policy makers and health service providers.
Globally, sex workers are disproportionately affected by HIV, with prevalence estimated to be up to 34 times higher among sex workers than the general population. Access to commodities for HIV prevention, detection and access to treatment is critical to the health and wellbeing of sex workers around the world. Interventions recommended in World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for key populations, including sex workers, include comprehensive condom and lubricant programming; HIV testing and counselling; HIV treatment and care; and sexual and reproductive health interventions.
Between 23rd and 27th July 2018, more than 120 sex workers from more than 25 countries attended the 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS2018) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The bi-annual International AIDS Conferences are the largest global gathering of HIV academics, implementers, policy makers, people living with HIV and those most affected by HIV, including sex workers.
Este recurso é uma tradução comunitária da NSWP Consensus Statement on Sex Work, Human Rights, and the Law.
The NSWP Senior Programme Officer, Mick Matthews, is a member of the Communities Delegation to the Global Fund Board, which receives regular updates on Global Fund Board Committee meetings. Key issues discussed in recent meetings are summarised below.
Yale Global Health Justice Partnership (GHJP) has released two complementary analyses on prostitution “diversion” programs (PDPs) in the USA: Diversion from Justice: 'A Rights-Based Analysis of Local ‘Prostitution Diversion Programs’ and their Impacts on People in the Sex Sector in the United States'; and 'Un-Meetable Promises: Rhetoric and Reality in New York City’s Human Trafficking Intervention Courts'. One is national in scope and the other focused specifically on New York City programming.
Empower Foundation has released a new resource library on their website, comprising books, reports, letters and films on a variety of topics linked to sex workers' rights in Thailand. You can access the full set of resources here (most available in English and Thai).
The Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (APN+), has published a how-to guide that aims to strengthen active community engagement within the Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCMs) of the Global Fund.
This document is a practical tool for organisations to self-assess whether they meaningfully involve sex workers, and for sex worker-led organisations to assess whether they are meaningfully involved.
This NSWP Briefing Note provides information about the United States’ recent legislation - The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) and Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) -that criminalise online platforms used by sex workers for advertising and information sharing, including for safety purposes. The resource provides details on FOSTA/SESTA and the 'End Banking for Human Traffickers Act', which aims to ‘prevent financial transactions involving the proceeds of severe forms of trafficking'.
April 2018
Suspension of the Partnership with Heineken
The Global Fund had agreed a partnership with Heineken to utilise their expertise in supply chain management, and has since announced that it has withdrawn from this partnership over concerns about Heineken’s use of female beer promoters.
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.
This resource is a Community Guide to the Briefing Paper on Sex Workers’ Access to Comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health Services. It provides an overview of the full Briefing Paper, and provides key recommendations for policy makers and health service providers.
You can download this 5-page Community Guide above. This resource is available in Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
Globally sex workers experience a number of barriers to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, ranging from explicit exclusion from international financing to discrimination within SRH services leading to lower access rates.
This paper discusses the obstacles sex workers face when accessing SRH services, and examines the quality of services available to them. It also provides practical examples and recommendations for improving the accessibility and acceptability of SRH services for sex workers.
Global community-led networks have expressed serious concerns over the decision to name San Francisco and Oakland as host cities to the International AIDS Conference in 2020, which was announced on 13th March.
Amnesty International's 'Body Politics: Criminalization of Sexuality and Reproduction' series is the culmination of six years of research, analysis and engagement with key partners. See below for an overview of the resources, which you can download through the link above.
A growing number of countries are considering or implementing sex work law reform focusing on ‘ending demand’, which criminalises the purchase of sexual services. This Policy Brief outlines the impact of ‘end demand’ legislation on the human rights of female sex workers, through research and testimony from NSWP members in countries where paying for sex is criminalised. This document explores how these laws not only fail to promote gender equality for women who sell sex, but actively prevent the realisation of their human rights.