Resources

This technical brief is one in a series addressing four young key populations. It is intended for policy-makers, donors, service-planners, service-providers and community-led organizations. This brief aims to catalyse and inform discussions about how best to provide services, programmes and support for young transgender people.

In this resource, the World Health Organisation (WHO) brings together all existing guidelines on HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care for five key populations (both adults and adolescents) in the HIV response: men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, people in prisons and other closed settings, sex workers and transgender people. It includes a number of new recommendations and updates existing guidance and recommendations as appropriate. The 8-page policy brief summarises the Consolidated Guidelines.

These guidelines aim to:

As new medical technologies are increasingly being promoted in the prevention and treatment of HIV, and heralded as interventions to be used within communities of key populations including sex workers, NSWP urges the international HIV community and donors to take the concerns of sex workers presented in this report seriously and continue meaningful engagement with key populations in this shift towards the use of biomedical interventions. For years sex workers around the world have been developing and sustaining sex worker-led HIV prevention, treatment, care and support programmes.

NSWP member SCOT-PEP have released a statement against Police Scotland's 'welfare visits' on sex workers who work from home. SCOT‐PEP is seeking an urgent meeting with SNP Ministers to request that the scheme be scrapped. Under "Operation Lingle" the police plan to pilot intimidating visits of this sort in Glasgow ahead of a planned rollout across Scotland. The operation is a clear violation of the rights of sex workers. In SCOT‐PEP's view "Operation Lingle" would undermine harm reduction strategies and destroy any remaining sex worker trust in the police. SCOT‐PEP's opposition to this scheme is shared by leading charity HIV Scotland, who described these raids as ‘concerning’ and called on Police Scotland to reconsider.

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.

This briefing paper describes the different legislative frameworks used to criminalise and oppress sex work and sex workers, including oppressive regulatory frameworks. It also provides insight into the language and shared principles that NSWP members use when advocating for law reforms that respect and protect sex workers’ human and labour rights.

This is the 8th issue of NSWP's quarterly newsletter ‘Sex Work Digest’. 

This resource is in English.  You can download this 11 page PDF above.

This regional report explores economic empowerment programmes in Asia through case studies through nine case studies. It describes good practice examples of sex worker-led economic empowerment projects and the impact of forced rehabilitation programmes on the lives of sex workers. A summary of the regional reports regarding econoic empowerment is also available.

This paper discusses policies and programmes affecting sex workers that limit their economic empowerment. It aims to frame sex work in terms of labour migration, economics and empowering labour environments, rather than in terms of power, disease and immorality. A summary of this paper is also available.

In Southeast Asia, APNSW observed that sex workers frequently move to faraway lands to find more lucrative work and economic enhancement, but are greatly constrained by anti-trafficking policies framed by a belief that no woman will move willingly to work in sex work. Anti-trafficking laws are often used to limit free movement of women in sex work by raiding and ‘rescuing’ them. Though this is ostensibly done to help them escape traffickers, it is mainly used to ‘correct’ their behaviour.

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 is a resource book for Global Fund applicants and action steps for civil society. It provides information and practical guidance for civil society organizations and key population networks on the roll out of the Global Fund’s New Funding Model.

You can download this 4 page document above. This resource is in English.

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 Global Fund is rolling out a new approach to funding programs. The goal is to ensure efforts to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria have the greatest possible impact. This updated approach is known as the “new funding model.” You can get more background information about the new funding model here.

The information in this report summarises the findings of five briefing papers on sex workers’ access to HIV treatment in five regions: Africa; Asia Pacific; Europe; Latin America; and North America and the Caribbean. Research was carried out by regional consultants through online surveys and meetings with sex worker-led organisations and individuals, to identify the multiple barriers to ensuring access to appropriate health care for those living with HIV.

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.

A number of people are excluded from the process and benefits of development because of their sexuality. Policies designed to lift people out of poverty, to provide employment and access to crucial services, all too often exclude those who do not conform to ‘normal’ sexual or gender identities. In many countries, this exclusion is also enforced through law.

HIV prevention efforts are being scaled up globally, to target sex workers as a key population in the HIV response. The voices and experiences of sex workers living with HIV are too often rendered invisible. This means that the additional needs and rights of sex workers living with HIV are often overlooked in forums that support the rights of general populations of people living with HIV. This paper sets out the demands of positive sex workers articulated by sex workers themselves. NSWP committed to address this invisibility as an annual priority in 2012. Accordingly, initial consultation was carried out during the Sex Worker Freedom Festival (SWFF). The SWFF was a Alternative IAC2012 event for sex workers and allies in Kolkata, India, and was sustained throughout the year through face-to-face meetings, Skype conversations, and continued communication through setting up and maintaining a global advisory group of sex workers living with HIV, eventually launching the NSWP+ platform. 

One of the initial advocacy priorities identified by NSWP+ (a platform for positive sex workers and others committed to equal rights for sex workers living with HIV) was treatment access and joining the campaign against trade related restrictions and patents used by large pharmaceutical companies to make huge profits from essential medicines. Sex workers identified the need for accessible information on the trade frameworks that impact upon access to medicines for people living with HIV.

This document is a handout produced by an NSWP member.

Let’s face it: some escorts and their clients are going to PARtY and play! Harm reduction believes people have the right to make informed decisions about what they put into their bodies, including drugs. But how do you keep yourself safe? Here are a few tips to keep YOU safe!

You can download this 1 page handout above. This resource is in English.