Cairo 52 Legal Research Institute

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Who do you work with?

Our organization works to provide services to the everyone who faces any form of discrimination because of their profession, our target groups include sex workers on all gender spectrum e.g. Transgender, Cisgender, gender non-conforming,…etc. also our services is available to all sex workers with no regards to their race, sex, gender identity or sexuality. We serve the LGBTQ+ sex workers community as well. We also work to produce alternative knowledge materials targeting the greater society in Egypt to raise awareness on sex working issues, bodily and sexual rights.

How are sex workers involved in your organisation?

Our institute is founded and operated by individuals who sex workers are currently, or have experience working as sex workers. In addition to this the institute serve the sex working community without discrimination, the Institute aims to provide the means and tools for sex workers to protect themselves, as well as to build a strong movement on the long term.

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

First challenged would be the legal one, as sex working, and any form of sexual services is illegal and outlawed in Egypt under the law number 10/1961. There’s no official records on how many cases are brought in front of the court in regards to this law but in 2015 an official statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Interior stated that 2034 sex working cases were brought in front of courts, the problem is there is no NGO or legal services that provides pro bono work for sex workers in Egypt and also the fact is sex working is considered a taboo in Egypt and there’s not so many lawyers who would take a case even for money. as such we established this institute to fill that void   Second Challenge would be the stigma coming with this job, as Egypt is a very conservative society and that means that sex working is automatically seen as a sin, even though sex working was legal in Egypt until the year 1951. Right now, sex workers face a lot of stigma, stigma that means that even if they get assaulted they can’t go to the police and means that even if they want to find a house they can’t rent one. This stigma is backed by a government that takes away the person’s freedom of what they can with their own bodies with enacting laws and policies that goes against that.

Describe other areas of your work

The institute has a number of active projects, Legal Research, Legal Aid, Alternative Media and Documentation and Archive   The institute works to provide legal aid to anyone who faces discrimination because of bodily and sexual freedom issues and to provide alternative narrative to these issues from the official state one and to simply legal resources to the public, our target groups includes People living with HIV, sex workers, LGBTQ+ community and legal advocates.  For more visit our website: https://cairo52.com/about-us/ 

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