Australian sex worker network and NSWP member Scarlet Alliance published their report: ‘Stepping up to the evidence on HIV and Sex Work: Decriminalise Sex Work Now! Sex Workers at AIDS 2014’ last week. This much anticipated report demonstrates the strong sex worker presence at the 20th International AIDS Conference - AIDS 2014 in Melbourne, July 2014.
Regional updates: Asia and the Pacific
Our members are listed on the left or you can click the red umbrellas on the map.
Regional Board Members
Manjula Ramaiah (ASHODAYA SAMITHI), India
Sherry Sherqueshaa (Project X), Singapore
Regional Network
The Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW) is a sex worker-led network whose members include national sex worker-led networks, sex worker-led organisations and community-based sex work projects representing female, male and transgender sex workers. APNSW was founded in 1994 at the International AIDS Conference in Japan and is based in Bangkok, Thailand.
News articles from Asia and the Pacific region are listed below.
On 21-23 April, 2015, Nepalese sex workers, drug users and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans*,Intersex and Queer (GLBTIQ) people engaged in a 3 day Treatment Literacy Training program, undertaken as part of an International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) initiative. Thirty peer representatives from Nepal’s national peer networks, Jagriti Mahila Maha Sangh (JMMS), the Federation of Female Sex Workers in Nepal, the Blue Diamond Society, and the National Users Network of Nepal (NUNN), participated in the training. This is was the second ITPC training program held in the Nepali capital of Kathmandu in 2015. The first program was held 26 - 28 January, 2015. Both training programs have been facilitated by NUNN.
15th June 2015 by NSWP
On 28 May, 2015, the Nepalese Army imposed a strict 8pm curfew on entering and exiting the central Kathmandu, Tundikhel field where over a 1000 people are currently residing in tents following the 25 April 8.1 magnitude earthquake, which killed over 8000 people and left hundreds of thousands of people displaced.
4th June 2015 by NSWP
On 25 April, 2015, Nepal was subject to an earthquake reported to be 8.1 magnitude.
27th May 2015 by NSWP
Debby Doesn’t Do it For Free, an Australian- based sex worker art collective which over its 13 year existence has involved over 40 peer participants is due to launch a national exhibition of sex worker created art pieces and performances at Tap Gallery in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst , which is recognised as a historical sex working area.
26th May 2015 by NSWP
On May 1st, Thai sex worker Thanta Laovilawanyakul enters the Danish stage in Copenhagen to add a new perspective to the question; why do Westerns travel around the globe to get something as banal as sex.
One by one, people from the audience will be lead onto the stage to play different experiences with sex worker Thanta Laovilawanyakul at Betty Nansens Theatre in Copenhagen in May.
The controversial play ‘Love-Theatre’ has been developed by two Danish instructors: Tue Biering and Jeppe Kristensen.
27th March 2015 by NSWP
Women’s Network for Unity (WNU), registered with the Cambodian Ministry of Interior in 2004, is a non-religious and spearhead grassroots non-government organisation working to promote conceptual understanding of human rights. WNU advocates for policy change and better treatment of sex workers and strengthening/improving the livelihoods of sex workers and entertainment workers in WNUs networks throughout Phnom Penh and eight provinces of Cambodia.
26th March 2015 by NSWP
March 3, YANGON: Sex workers experience extreme violence at work, in health care and custodial settings, in their neighbourhoods and homes, according to a study conducted in four Asian countries.
3rd March 2015 by NSWP
Migrant sex workers from Nepal are currently facing increased scrutiny from Indian immigration authorities and police as they travel through Indian airports to work in the United Arab Emirates.
2nd March 2015 by NSWP
Sex workers mark International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, 17 December, 2014, Suva, Fiji. Image attributed to Sesenieli Naitala.
2nd March 2015 by NSWP