World AIDS Day was marked by an air of optimism amongst many donors, international funders and governments last year. Due to a history of exclusion from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), we as the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) were particularly interested to see the US Government’s revised blueprint for ‘Creating an AIDS-free Generation’.

Download this resource: 

NSWP Statement PEPFAR (2).pdf

This is the first in an occasional series of papers that will be produced covering a variety of topics. This series will try to provide a global overview for activists, highlighting examples of good practice developed by member organisations and sex worker-led groups across the regions.

This paper is intended to be a ‘living document’ which will be added to as we document further examples from our global membership.

The topic of this first paper is 'Addressing Violence Against Sex Workers' and highlights 12 country examples of interventions too address violence.

You can download this 9 page PDF file below.  This resource is in English.

Download this resource: 

DGP Violence.pdf

This is the second issue of NSWP's quarterly newsletter ‘Sex Work Digest’. 

This first issue focuses on Opposing Criminalisation.

This resource is in English.  You can download this 5 page PDF below.

Download this resource: 

SW digest 02 Dec2012.pdf

The Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kyrgyzstan announced recently week that they intend to criminalise sex workers. 

The MIA prepared the draft of the law “On amendments to the Administrative Code of the Kyrgyz Republic”. The justification for these amendments are that 'prostitution is anti-social, directly linked to the spread of STIs, including HIV as well as spreading drug addiction and alcoholism'. The prospective punishment could be a fine or as much as 30 days in prison.

Tais Plus, along with partner organisations and rights defenders are campaigning against this initiative. 

Their activities include:

- Conducting public hearings in all regions of the country with the participation of sex workers, their allies and main stakeholders from the government

- Using the in-country consultation meeting devoted to the preparation to the Regional Consultation on HIV and Sex Work (5-6 of November 2012)

- Sex workers will develop and sign a petition to the MIA, Parliament & Ombudsman's Office

- Presenting and disseminating a report on sex workers' human rights violations

You can read more on this story (in Russian) here and here.