Europe

The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP), along with the European Sex Workers Alliance (ESWA), the Count Me In! consortium and other feminist organisations, urge the government of the Netherlands to reject amendments to the Wet Regulering Sekswerk (WRS) and work towards the full decriminalisation of sex work in the Netherlands.

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.

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.

The research project Sex Work and Mental Health: Access to Mental Health Services for People Who Sell Sex (SWMH) in Germany, Italy, Sweden and UK ran between March 2016 and December 2018.