LEFO

Contact email
Who do you work with?

LEFOE/TAMPEP works with migrant women currently working in sex work or who are former sex workers. Since the early 1990s LEFOE has offered counseling and support for migrant women in sex work an Austria and actively been lobbying for the legal and social recognition of sex workers.

How are sex workers involved in your organisation?

Since 1996 LEFOE has worked with peer educators, providing training and workshops for female sex workers in different languages. Sex workers are involved in the production, dissemination and evaluation of material.

Which of NSWP priority areas does your organisation work on?
Oppose the criminalisation and other legal oppression of sex work and support its recognition as work
Critique the trafficking paradigm that conflates representations of sex work, migration, and mobility
Advocate for universal access to health services, including primary health care, HIV and sexual and reproductive health services
Speak out about violence against sex workers, including violence from police, institutions, clients, and intimate partners, while challenging the myth that sex work is inherently gender-based violence
Oppose human rights abuses, including coercive programming, mandatory testing, raids and forced rehabilitation
Challenge stigma and discrimination against sex workers, their families and partners, and others involved in sex work
Advocate for the economic empowerment and social inclusion of sex workers as sex workers
What are the two main challenges that the sex workers you work with face

In Austria sex work is regulated. It is compulsory for sex workers to register, they are taxed as self-employed and must undergo regular mandatory health checks. Since 2012, according to the Austrian Federal Supreme Court, sex work is not considered to be against good morals any more, but the effect of this landmark decision is still to be checked. At the moment there is a widespread public discourse wanting to criminalise clients as well as an increasing repression against street prostitution.

Describe other areas of your work

Counselling for Latin American Women; Learning Centre for Migrant Women; IBF-Intervention Centre for Trafficked Women; Public Relations, Sensitisation and Lobbying

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奥地利