Resources

In February 2016, following pressure from fundamental feminist and abolitionist organisations, the Serbian government criminalised the purchase of sexual services through amendments to the Public Law and Order Act. Sex workers were ignored during discussion that preceded the adoption of the law. Selling sex remains criminalised. Criminalisation of the purchase of sexual services in Serbia has increased sex workers’ vulnerability to violence and marginalisation and reduced their access to services. Police continue to perpetrate violence against, extort money from, and ignore reports of violence against sex workers. Fundamental feminist and abolitionist discourse has increased the exclusion of sex workers from the women’s and LGBT organisations in the country.

STOPAIDS has published a new position paper supporting the decriminalisation of sex work, designed to support STOPAIDS members to advocate for decriminalisation within their own advocacy and programmes, and support the global sex worker rights movement.

The Global Fund continues to prepare for the 6^th Replenishment meeting that will be hosted by the French Government in Lyon on the 10^th October 2019.

This case study focuses on the NSWP’s Global Fund capacity development programme for regional and national sex worker-led organisations, and assesses its impact. The programme supports a range of capacity building activities in 27 countries, and this case study focuses on the impact of these interventions in 2018. Specifically, the case study highlights the ability of regional networks and community experts to provide technical support relating to the Global Fund, and the capacity within sex worker-led organisations to engage with the Global Fund.

This is the 25th issue of NSWP's quarterly newsletter ‘Sex Work Digest’, covering the period April - June 2019. 

The Annual Report highlights the activities and achievements of NSWP in 2018. These activities include capacity building, providing technical support to regional networks and the development of advocacy tools that bring the human rights of sex workers into focus. It also highlights partnership working with the women's rights movement, key populations networks and UN agencies. 

This Briefing Note outlines the problems with the conflation of the term 'sexual exploitation' with sex work, and how this exacerbates harms to sex workers. 

To mark International Sex Workers' Day on 2nd June, SWAN published a new briefing paper on Sex Work Legal Frameworks in Central-Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA).

This special issue of the Anti-Trafficking Review highlights some of the current achievements of, and challenges faced by, the global sex workers' rights movement. Contributors examine the ways in which organising and collectivisation have enabled sex workers to speak up for themselves and tell their own stories, claim their human, social, and labour rights, resist stigma and punitive laws and policies, and provide mutual and peer-based support.

Amnesty International has released a new report highlighting the routine use of rape, violence and torture by police to punish women sex workers in the Dominican Republic. The report - ‘If they can have her, why can’t we?’ - uses testimony from 46 Dominican cisgender and transgender women sex workers, and reports them suffering various forms of violence at the hands of police.

This is the 24th issue of NSWP's quarterly newsletter ‘Sex Work Digest’, covering the period January - March 2019. 

In the first Quarter of 2019 the Global Fund activities were dominated by preparations for the 6^th Replenishment meeting, to be hosted by the French government in October 2019. The Global Fund will try and raise US$14 billion, which is 15% or US$1.8 billion more than was raised during the 5^th replenishment period.

This Briefing Note outlines the key areas within social protection systems that must be addressed in order to meet the needs of sex workers.

This resource is a Community Guide to the Policy Brief: The Impact of Anti-trafficking Legislation and Initiatives on Sex Workers. It provides an overview of the full Policy Brief, and provides key recommendations for policy makers and health service providers. 

NSWP submitted a written submission for the CEDAW discussion on the General Recommendation on Trafficking in Women and Girls in the Context of Global Migration as part of the 72^nd session, 18^th February – 8^th March 2019.

Trafficking in persons has generated increasing global attention in recent decades, largely due to the development of international frameworks, pressure from fundamental feminist and abolitionist groups, and as a reaction to increased migration for labour. International policies on trafficking frequently contain vague or ambiguous language, which can cause harm to sex workers in a number of ways.

The Global Fund is an essential mechanism that helps to ensure the life-saving treatment, care and prevention response for people living with HIV and key populations in countries that need it most. Over the last couple of years, people living with HIV and key population-led networks have been actively campaigning for stronger Global Fund replenishment targets to scale up the important work with key populations.

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.

The Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), along with the Red Umbrella Programme, a network of 19 South Africa sex worker programmes and 560 peer educators supported by SWEAT, has developed this guide on best practices to comprehensive sex work programming. The guide provides an overview of meaningful sex worker involvement and strategies of moving from programmes “for” to programmes “with” and “by” sex workers.

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.