Regional updates: Asia and the Pacific

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Many of the organisations in the Asia and the Pacific network are also members of the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW).

Board members

Kaythi Win, chair of APNSW working for TOP, Myanmar.

Khartini Slamah, Transgender Sex Worker and had been working on HIV/AIDS for the last 23 years. Used to work with PT Foundation, a non profit organisation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from from 1990 to 2000.  Now working with Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers  (APNSW) as Coordination and Networking Officer and based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Currently I am sitting on various board i.e Executive Working Group member of Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN), Board of 7Sisters, MSMGF TG Reference Group Member. Board member of APCOM and also Executive Board of NSWP.  Expertise in Transgender and sex workers and advocating for Transgender and Sex Workers RIGHTS. 

Andrew Hunter works for the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers and is currently President of NSWP.

Empower write to Thai PM re 'anti-trafficking' raids

Empower have written an open letter to the Thai Prime Minister protesting against anti-trafficking raids and the appalling human rights abuses perpetrated against migrant sex workers by the state. 

The background to this story can be read in much more detail in 'Hit & Run', Empower's recent research report.  In particular the report contains a case study (Raid and Rescue 2 - Mae Sot, pages 79-85) in which 17 Burmese nationals were arrested as part of an 'anti-trafficking' raid in March 2011.  The case study documents how the women were provided with poor interpreting, denied proper information about the reason for their detention and their rights, and how they have been held for over a year in a 'rescue' shelter as victims of trafficking and potential witnesses in a prosecution - despite their assertion that they were working in the entertainment venue voluntarily.  The women were also subjected to mandatory and invasive medical examinations and tests and denied proper access to support and advice.

The full text of the Open Letter follows:

8th June 2012 by NSWP
14th Bulletin from Durbar

The Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee is a collective of 65000 female, male and transgender sex workers in West Bengal, India. Their most recent Bulletin (No 14.) includes news about the May Day rally in Kolkata where over 2000 sex workers and their children marched for the right to be recognised as workers.

31st May 2012 by NSWP
Sign the petition: Justice For Anu Mokal

On Monday 14th May hundreds of sex workers marched in Satara, India to protest against the violent attack on Anu Mokal, a pregnant sex worker in Satara, who was beaten up by police inspector Dayanand Dhome on April 2, along with her friend Ms. Anjana Ghadge.  Three days later, on 5th April, she suffered a miscarriage.

You can now sign the petition online here to support their demands.

17th May 2012 by NSWP
Solidarity March: Justice for sex worker mothers

Sex workers will march in Satara, India on Monday the 14th of May to protest against the violent attack on Anu Mokal, a pregnant sex worker in Satara, who was beaten up by police inspector Dayanand Dhome on April 2, along with her friend Ms. Anjana Ghadge.  Three days later, on 5th April, she suffered a miscarriage.

12th May 2012 by NSWP
Sex Work in Zambia: Enforced Rehabilitation promoted over sex worker rights.

Sex workers in Zambia have been in the spotlight this week as both religious leaders and a non-governmental organisation weighed in to the debate on how the police deal with sex work in the country.

10th May 2012 by NSWP
Moralistic assumptions: Gloria Steinem

In response to the recent article in the Hindu where renowned feminist and journalist Gloria Steinem talked of an ‘epidemic of sex trafficking’, Professor Shohini Ghosh writes:

9th April 2012 by NSWP
Police crackdowns in China

Chinese authorities hold periodic sweeps to detain sex workers, drug users, and other ‘social undesirables’ en masse in advance of national holidays and major government conferences.  

Chinese sex workers says that police crackdowns don’t stop sex work – they only drive sex workers further underground, putting them at higher risk of violence and HIV/AIDS. 

29th March 2012 by NSWP
'Grey Man' charity head resigns

Further to our January news story the head of the Australian charity 'The Grey Man' has stepped down.

29th March 2012 by NSWP
VIDEO: Good Practice in Sex Work HIV Programming in Asia

APNSW share examples of good practice in sex work HIV programming.

9th March 2012 by NSWP
Sex Work: Speaking up for human rights

Article by VAMP (Reproduced from FeministsIndia.com)

Sex workers in a small town in Maharashtra, India, march for change on 3rd March, International Sex Workers Rights Day.

8th March 2012 by NSWP