The Brazilian Network of Prostitutes released a statement on June 7, 2013, in response to the government's recent censorship of a rights based HIV prevention campaign developed by sex workers in partnership with the STD/AIDS Department/Ministry of Health earlier this year. The campaign was launched for International Prostitutes Day (June 2nd), and, just two days later, ordered to be taken offline by the Minister of Health. A sanitised and adulterated campaign was relaunched several days later. Sex worker NGOs quickly mobilised and released statements critisizing the government's actions. As the Brazilian Network of Prostitutes noted, "With the government’s decision to first veto and then drastically alter the AIDS campaign supposedly constructed in partnership with prostitutes, we see that they are using this social group to affirm what they desire, thereby ignoring the achievements of the social movement and violating diverse democratic principles".

The full statement from the Brazilian Network of Prostitutes is available here. The following blog post from Laura Murray, sex worker rights advocate, filmmaker, and student based in Brazil, provides more background information about the events that have unfolded in the country over the past week and a link to the entire censored campaign.