Latest news

MPact Global Action for Gay Men’s Health and Rights, The International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD), and the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) are proud to announce the formation of The Red Beacon Group - a new initiative for providing technical assistance for key populations aimed to reduce barriers to s

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), a union representing nurses in the UK, has voted by "an overwhelming majority" to support lobbying for the decriminalisation of sex work at its annual conference this year.

The South African Government is considering a policy on decriminalisation of sex work, according to President Ramaphosa. The President told a number of organisations at an event last week that the government would: "finalize the outstanding legislation such as the prevention and combating [of] hate crime, the hate crime bill and victim support services. We will work with all stakeholders to develop policy around the decriminalization of sex work."

Finnish websites used by sex workers to advertise and share information with each other have been closed down following a judicial warrant by Spanish police. The websites, Sihteeriopisto (Secretary College) and the international counterpart, sexworknet, were launched in Finland but was maintenance was moved overseas following changes to sex work laws in Finland in 2003. Spanish police issued the warrant on 26th March, since which point the websites have been unavailable. 

Sex Workers Alliance Ireland has launched a new social media campaign to highlight the impact of laws criminalising the purchase of sexual services in the Republic of Ireland, which were introduced in 2017. The campaign highlights the increase in violence documented among sex workers since the introduction of the laws, and calls on the government to decriminalise sex work to ensure safety for sex workers. 

Sex workers attending the Commission on the Status of Women were concerned by comments made about sex work during the panel of a side event yesterday. The side event ‘Free to Decide, Free to Choose’ was sponsored by the French and Swedish governments, and discussed sexual and reproductive health and rights. Comments from the Swedish Women’s Lobby during the event suggested that no woman’s rights can be respected while sex workers exist.

NSWP has launched a new map of sex work laws around the world, featuring information on laws used to regulate and criminalise sex work in 208 countries and dependencies, with sub-national legislation provided for some countries.

Ugly Mugs, a commonly used safety app for sex workers in Ireland and the UK, is facing removal from the Android Play Store following changes to Google's permissions policy. 

Update February 2019: the call for submissions has been extended until 31st March - details of the call can be found on the ICJ website in English, French, Russian and Spanish. 

Spanish media has reported that the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) is drafting new legislation to criminalise the purchase of sex, known as the 'Nordic Model'.

The Spanish National Court has ruled against sex worker organisation OTRAS, who applied to be recognised as a trade union in August. On Wednesday, the National Court said recognition of sex workers in a union would ‘amount to the exploitation of prostitution’.