News Archive: June 2013

The Red Umbrella Fund 2013 Call for Applications is open!

Application documents in English, Spanish, Russian and French can be downloaded here. Deadline for applications is 1 August 2013 (00:00 CEST - Central European Summer Time).

In addition, The Red Umbrella Fund, hosted by Mama Cash, is looking for a volunteer in the Amsterdam area to support the work of the Red Umbrella Fund during its 2013 grant-making cycle. The volunteer will ideally be available for a period of 3 months (August-October) for at least 16 hours per week. Find the application details here.

Posted 27 June 2013 by NSWP

Appointment of Asia Pacific Economic Empowerment Policy Officers

As part of the Dutch collaboration Stepping Up, Stepping Out 2 funded by Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NSWP has received funding to support the development of advocacy tools around rights-based economic empowerment for sex workers. The first year of this three year project will focus on documenting the work done by sex worker led groups in Asia Pacific.

NSWP is pleased to announce the appointment of Kaythi Win and Aly Murray as policy consultants to work with APNSW/NSWP members in developing economic empowerment advocacy tools that can be used at national, regional and global levels. They will work with and coordinate teams of local consultants to document good practice examples of rights-based economic empowerment projects by and for sex workers and write up a report on this including case studies. The report will further highlight the damage done to sex workers by forced rehabilitation and exit programmes.

Posted 26 June 2013 by NSWP

Appointment of Regional HIV Policy Officers

This short term project, funded by the Robert Carr Fund for civil society networks, will produce five regional reports documenting four case studies of sex worker-led HIV programming good practice per region, briefing papers on sex workers' access to treatment, and briefing papers of the impact of HIV programming for sex workers that does not reflect a rights-based approach in each of the regions. The regional reports will be collated into a global report and global briefing papers.

NSWP is pleased to announce the appointment of the following Regional HIV Policy Officers who will undertake this work in collaboration with the regional networks and with support from local consultants in the organisations that will feature in the good practice reports.

Posted 26 June 2013 by NSWP

US Supreme Court strikes down Anti-Prostitution pledge: Vindication for VAMP / SANGRAM

Statement

US Supreme Court strikes down Anti-Prostitution pledge

Vindication for VAMP / SANGRAM

22 July 2013 Sangli, Maharashtra

In a victory for sex worker rights across the world, the United States Supreme Court on 20^th June 2013, struck down as unconstitutional the legal requirement that organisations receiving US assistance for HIV programs must have an explicit policy opposing `prostitution’. Popularly known as the anti-prostitution pledge, the provision effectively denied financial support to sex work programming in HIV despite widespread scientific and UN consensus that such programming is essential for a successful HIV response.

Posted 22 June 2013 by NSWP

Implications of the U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on the Anti-Prostitution Loyalty Oath

On June 20, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 6-2 decision in Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International, Inc. that the Policy Requirement of the Anti-Prostitution Loyalty Oath, from the U.S. Leadership Act of 2003, violates the First Amendment, and is therefore unconstitutional.

A partial victory for the sex worker movement, it unfortunately makes no stated distinction between sex work and human trafficking, and it is not a defence of sex worker rights. However, this ruling may decrease stigma around sex work, by allowing organisations in the United States that receive PEPFAR funding to publically adopt a neutral stance towards sex work, and focus on implementing best practices for public health aims.

Posted 21 June 2013 by NSWP

In Ghana, Male And Female Sex Workers Coach Peers About HIV Prevention

ACCRA, GHANA - USING INNOVATIVE outreach and targeted counselling, peer educators have helped bring about a nearly 30 percent drop in HIV infection rates among Ghana’s sex workers over the past six years.

Thanks to effective campaigns by groups like The West Africa Program to Combat AIDS and STI (WAPCAS), HIV prevalence among female sex workers in Ghana fell from 37.8% in 2006 to 25% in 2009, then further to 11.2%, two years later, according to the National AIDS Commission.

Because sex work is illegal in Ghana, females engaged in the trade are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse which they cannot report because they have little legal recourse.

Posted 20 June 2013 by NSWP

Tanzania Police Torture, Rape, Assault Sex Workers, LGBT, Drug Users - Human Rights Watch Reports

TANZANIAN POLICE torture, rape and assault sex workers, sexual minorities and drug users, while medical staff deny them healthcare, undermining efforts to reduce HIV infection, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Tuesday.

Posted 20 June 2013 by NSWP

Statement from The Brazilian Network of Prostitutes: Federal Government Censorship, Intervention, and Alteration of the AIDS Prevention Campaign

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 criticising 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.

Posted 11 June 2013 by NSWP

Sign-On to Increase Meaningful Coverage of Key Populations at the International AIDS Conference

ACTION ALERT! - deadline extended

A new report released on June 4th, 2013 by a coalition of global advocacy organisations shows that the International AIDS Conference (IAC) program continues to lack meaningful coverage of HIV-related issues concerning men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender people, people who inject drugs (PWID), and sex workers.

Posted 6 June 2013 by NSWP

NSWP Supports Chinese Sex Worker Rights Activist Ye Haiyan, Currently Detained by Police

Posted 5 June 2013 by NSWP

Launch of NSWP+ Website

To mark International Sex Worker Day, we have formally launched the NSWP+ website.

NSWP+ was formed during the Sex Worker Freedom Festival in 2012, when a group of positive sex workers came together and demanded recognition that:

‘sex workers are not the problem, but part of the solution’

As a platform for all those committed to defending the rights of sex workers living with HIV, NSWP+ now also exists to share information and to communicate the demands and needs of sex workers living with HIV. These original demands are set out below. Sex workers will campaign alongside treatment activists and other key affected populations to defend the human rights of sex workers to appropriate HIV treatment, care, and support.

Posted 3 June 2013 by NSWP