Resources

NSWP collects resources about sex work and makes them available on our website. You can search NSWP’s online resource library via themes, resource types, language, region and year. The resource types include NSWP publications, member publications, international guidelines, research papers and other publications.

NSWP publications include a range of resources:

  • Briefing Papers and Community Guides examine issues affecting sex workers globally and provide recommendations for policy and practices. They are developed through sex worker-led policy analysis and an in-depth consultation process with NSWP members.
  • Policy Briefs and Community Guides examine issues affecting sex workers globally and provide recommendations for policy and practices. They are developed through sex worker-led policy analysis and e-consultation with NSWP members.
  • Global and Regional Reports document the lived experiences of sex workers on particular issues and make recommendations for future policy and good practices.
  • Research for Sex Work is a peer-reviewed journal, which explores a different theme in each issue.
  • The Sex Work Digest provides a quarterly round up of news stories, events and other information relating to sex work issues.
  • Smart Guides provide basic information on key issues that affect sex workers globally.
  • Case Studies reflect on the results and lessons learnt of activities and policies affecting the lives of sex workers.
  • Statements provide responses from NSWP and our members to emerging global issues that undermine sex workers’ human rights.
  • NSWP documents include organisational documents such as NSWP Strategic Plans and Monitoring and Evaluation Framework and NSWP Consensus Statement.

NSWP publications that are available in Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish are featured on the language-specific sections of this website.

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Sex workers were among the hardest hit at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to be impacted by this global public health crisis. The challenges that sex workers faced before COVID-19, as a result of criminalisation, stigma and discrimination, were all exacerbated by the pandemic.

Legislation around sex work can be extremely complex and different legal models exist in different countries, and sometimes even within countries. While understanding the written laws and regulations is important, it does not provide a complete picture of the impact of sex work laws on the lives of sex workers. To understand this, it is essential to understand how the laws are interpreted, enforced, and implemented on the ground.

The 2023-2028 Global Fund Strategy will guide Global Fund approaches, decision-making, and investment for the next 6 years in a 70-page document. It is important because it describes what the Global Fund will do and how it will do it. The Strategy will influence how investment will be disbursed at the country level, how and who will implement programmes, and how and who will be involved in making the decisions.

Theme: Health

This is the fourth set of videos in a series from NSWP called Global Fund Basics.

This set of videos covers the new Global Fund Strategy 2023-2028. 

Video 1 covers an introduction to the Strategy and the Strategy Framework.

Video 2 covers the Evolving Objective and begins to look at the Strategy Narrative in more detail.

Video 3 covers the Mutually Reinforcing Contributory Objectives, maximising engagement and leadership of communities and maximising health equity, gender equality and human rights.

NSWP have written an open letter to the Prime Minister, the Government of Spain, and the leaders of all political parties in the Congress of Deputies regarding the legislative proposals to amend the Spanish Penal Code and introduce new provisions regarding sex work. The proposed reforms include amending the Penal Code to extend the punishment of third parties to include non-coercive relationships and decouple it from exploitation and consent, violating sex workers’ right to housing and the security of sex workers, many of whom live and work in the same place.

Download this resource: NSWP Open Letter, NSWP - 2022

Universal Health Coverage speaks to the global goal of providing all people with the health care they need without creating undue financial burdens on the individual. In many parts of the world, health provision and access to health services remains extremely poor, particularly for criminalised and marginalised populations such as sex workers and other key populations.

The Annual Report highlights the activities and achievements of NSWP in 2021.

Contents include:

Download this resource: Annual Report 2021

This is the 34th issue of NSWP's quarterly newsletter ‘Sex Work Digest’, covering the period April - July 2022. 

Features include:

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.

You can download this 1 page PDF resource above. This resource is available in English, French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese.

Cover of strategic plan showing a world map covered in red umbrellas

 

The Strategic Plan outlines the mission, values, goals and strategies of the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) in 2022-2025. The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework explains how NSWP will reflect on and learn from its work.

Sex workers worldwide are overwhelmingly excluded from social protection schemes and government emergency responses put in place for other workers. Criminalisation, stigma and discrimination, and the failure to recognise sex work as work compound sex workers’ exclusion and foster economic insecurity. Sex work must be recognised as work and all aspects decriminalised to ensure that sex workers can access the same social protections, emergency financial support, and labour rights as all other workers.

This is the 33rd issue of NSWP's quarterly newsletter ‘Sex Work Digest’, covering the period December 2021 - March 2022. 

Features include:

This infographic summarises the Briefing Paper on Sex Workers’ Lack of Access to Justice.

Sex workers around the world face a wide range of barriers to accessing justice, both as victims of crime and when charged with crimes. Since sex work is widely criminalised, most sex workers are denied access to the benefits and rights afforded to other workers under labour laws and face the risk of criminalisation, detention, deportation and legal sanction.

This report from Amnesty International, based on in-depth interviews with sex workers, experts and representatives of the Irish authorities, provides insights into sex workers’ human rights in Ireland, in particular their right to safety and freedom from violence. It shows that criminalisation of aspects of sex work in Ireland has a “chilling effect” on sex workers’ exercise of their human rights, for instance by preventing them from working together in one apartment for safety.

Misinformation about sex work and sex workers has long served as a tool for politicians, religious leaders, fundamental feminists and abolitionist groups, and anti-trafficking organisations to advance anti-sex work agendas.

Misinformation about sex work and sex workers has long served as a tool for politicians, religious leaders, fundamental feminists and abolitionist groups, and anti-trafficking organisations to advance anti-sex work agendas. The conflation of sex work with trafficking and exploitation is at the root of misinformation on sex work. ‘End Demand’ models that criminalise sex workers’ clients, ‘raid and rescue’ operations, and ‘exit’ and ‘rehabilitation’ services further deny the diverse lived experiences of sex workers while obscuring true victims of trafficking.

The success and challenges of GF - C19RM in meeting the needs of Key Populations is a community-led report by MPact in partnership with NSWP, INPUD and GATE. The report was supported by Global Fund: Community Rights and Gender – Strategic Initiative.

The success and challenges of GF - C19RM in meeting the needs of Key Populations is a community-led report by MPact in partnership with NSWP, INPUD and GATE. The report was supported by Global Fund: Community Rights and Gender – Strategic Initiative.

Download this resource: c19rm_kp_report-final.pdf