NSWP is seeking to recruit a Policy Officer to join our Policy Team, led by the Senior Policy Officer, working on developing global advocacy tools for our members and reviewing external policy documents in line with the NSWP Consensus Statement and the priorities set by the NSWP Board.
In April 2020, NSWP launched a global survey to understand the impact of COVID-19 on sex workers. The survey received, thus far, a total of 156 responses from 55 different countries out of which 43 responses were from 17 countries – Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, North Macedonia, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom – in the Europe region.
The organisers of HIV2020 Online, of which NSWP is a member, published a set of ten recommendations aimed at the International AIDS Society (IAS), which has been criticised for its decision to bring this year’s International AIDS Conference to the United States of America (U.S.). Though both conferences will now take place online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, advocates argue that the decision reflects weak community engagement.
OpenDemocracy has published an article from Graciela, a member of Ammar Cordoba, on their work supporting sex workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. AMMAR Córdoba is a sex worker-led organisation in Córdoba, Argentina, fighting for human rights and access to labour protections.
NSWP facilitated a delegation from member organisations to attend the 64th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The 64th CSW session was cut from almost two weeks to one day following the outbreak of COVID-19, and was attended by government delegations only. This meant that all side and parallel events were cancelled and the expected robust discussions between community organisations and governments, and the essential input from civil society to hold governments accountable, was entirely absent.
HIV2020: Community Reclaiming the Global Response, is scheduled to take place on Zoom from July through October of 2020.
The HIV2020 alliance has decided to organise the community-led event to provide an alternative for individuals who cannot or will not participate in the AIDS2020 virtual conference. Its goal is to offer new opportunities to reaffirm the leading role communities play in the global HIV response.
