The Count Me In! Consortium supports the voices and activism of women, girls, and trans and gender non-binary people who are often most marginalised in their communities. Among the most silenced voices are those of sex workers.
Produced by NSWP and International Women’s Right Actions Watch Asia Pacific, this series of infographics, compiled in PDF format, aims to raise public awareness about the deeply negative impact of ‘End Demand’ laws on the human rights of sex workers, and to encourage collective action to demand State accountability for violations of sex workers’ rights.
This resource is available in English.
The criminalisation of sex work creates a range of barriers for sex workers when it comes to accessing their economic rights. Sex workers face overlapping and mutually reinforcing risks, such as social marginalisation, violence and poor health, which restrict the ability of sex workers to improve their living and working conditions and to achieve economic security. Furthermore, sex workers commonly report a lack of access to bank accounts, saving schemes, loans and legal forms of credit, insurance, pensions, and other basic employment benefits.
The National Human Rights Commission, India have issued an advisory recognising sex workers as informal workers. The 11-page advisory titled 'Human Rights Advisory on rights of Women in Context of COVID-19' lists recommendations for sex workers under the women at work section.
The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) would like to take this opportunity to express its support for Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, who in July 2020 was appointed as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
UNAIDS have published a brief that provides evidence-informed guidance to countries on how to reduce stigma and discrimination in the context of COVID-19. The brief outlines specific recommendations for addressing stigma and discrimination related to COVID-19 in six settings: community settings, including individuals, families and communities; workplace settings; education settings; health-care settings; justice settings; and emergency/humanitarian settings.
