Resources

AIDS 2022, the 24th International AIDS Conference, is taking place in 2022 both in-person and virtually. With this year’s conference being held in Montreal, NSWP member organisation Stella, l’amie de Maimie have produced a special issue of ConStellation—Stella’s annual magazine by and for sex workers and our friends now it’s in 27th year—as a way to orient sex workers and allies to all sex work content at the AIDS conference.

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.

The National Empowerment Network for Persons Living with HIV and AIDS in Kenya (NEPHAK), the Kenya Sex Workers Alliance (KESWA), the Bar Hostess Empowerment and Support Programme (BHESP) and the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) have published their report Speaking Out: Personal Testimonies of Rights Violations Experienced by Sex Workers in Kenya. This report focuses on human rights violations among female sex workers living with HIV. It is based on a literature review and interviews conducted in May 2014 among 30 sex workers living with HIV in six counties: Nairobi, Mombasa, Kiambu, Machakos, Kisumu, and Busia. 

This ICRSE briefing paper explores the diverse experiences and realities of LGBT sex workers and the intersection of LGBT rights and sex workers’ rights. It also calls upon the LGBT movement to build an alliance with sex workers and their organisations and actively support sex workers’ rights and the decriminalisation of sex work.

NSWP member Stella produced 9 fact sheets for sex workers in Canada. The fact sheets provide important information about the changes to Canadian law (the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, 2014) that criminalise sex workers, clients, and third parties. The fact sheets offer practical tools for sex workers and explain how the new laws negatively impact sex workers.

This training manual by the International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE) is specifically designed for sex workers and sex worker-led organisations who want to engage in advocacy and activism on issues related to sex work, HIV and human rights. It can also be used by service providers and allies who want to support meaningful participation and the leadership of sex workers in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of HIV programming.

The Sex Workers' Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN) proudly presents A Guide For Sex Worker Human Rights Defenders. This publication is aimed at sex workers of all genders and backgrounds, sex worker projects, human rights organizations and advocates. It contains practical information on how to start human rights documenting projects, to organize human rights campaigns and to use formal human rights mechanisms.

This briefing paper calls for the decriminalisation of sex work and sets out TAMPEP International’s arguments against the abolitionist feminist lobby groups that work to decriminalisation.

The UK Network of Sex Work Projects, with women, men and transgender people working in the UK sex industry, developed this booklet on Safety Advice for Sex Workers in the UK. This booklet provides general and detailed safety advice for sex workers in different situations and different work places. It also includes information on ways to report bad clients and contact information for local sex worker projects in the UK.

This four-page illustrated brochure explains how the Samvedana Plus programme - in partnership with a community-based organisation of sex workers - is intervening with the women who face abuse, their intimate partners and the wider society to: