Regional updates: Africa

This article was written by Lady Mermaid Empowerment Centre, Uganda.

The African Sex Worker Alliance (ASWA) have been collecting and sharing stories from sex workers affected by the U.S. foreign aid freeze. Vital programs that once provided HIV treatment, shelter from violence, STI testing, and access to contraceptives have disappeared – leaving many to face increased risk, stigma, and isolation. 

The stories are heartbreaking accounts of what it means to be left behind.

This article was written by African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA).

"In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a rather special initiative was born in response to the impact the pandemic had on sex workers across Africa. 

Platform Layalat, a network advocating in Morocco for the rights of sex workers in general and transgender women sex workers in particular, released the following statement regarding the lack of representation of transgender women in the country dialogue for the new grant request to the Global Fund.

On 21 March, Ugandan lawmakers approved new legislation that, if adopted, would violate multiple fundamental rights and criminalise the LGBTQI+ community.

NSWP member organisation Transgender Equality Uganda explains more about the bill, its penalties, and its consequences.

NSWP member organisation Cairo 52 last week announced the first annual Egyptian Pride Day of Sex Workers. After discussions within the Egyptian sex worker community, the date of 2 April 2023 was chosen. The 2nd of April is a significant date as it is the anniversary of the Battle of Wazzir between Egyptian sex workers and British colonial troops.

The African Sex Worker Alliance (ASWA) has developed a sex workers’ murder monitoring tool for mapping murders and other cases of violence against sex workers in Africa.

Announcing the launch of the tool, ASWA said: “There is lack of sufficient, consolidated, verified and analysed data on a single report on violence against sex workers in Africa.”

UMANDE, HODSAS and ACODHU-TS have released a statement addressing an upsurge of acts of violence against sex workers in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This new statement follows others that have so far been ignored by the Congolese government.

HODSAS (Homme Pour le Droit et La Sante Sexuelle) have released a statement denouncing an increase in harassment in DRC, and highlighting the disproportionate costs of COVID-19 tests at the borders of DRC-Rwanda, and DRC-Burundi.

The Sex Workers Academy Africa (SWAA) held its 24th session last month, with 18 activists from three different African countries: Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. The Academy ran for 7-days from 23rd to 29th November 2020 and involved female, male and transgender sex workers.

The Sex Workers Academy Africa (SWAA) has held its 24th session this month, with 18 activists from three different African countries: Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. The Academy ran for 7-days from 23rd to 29th November 2020 and involved female, male and transgender sex workers.

Launched in 2014, SWAA is run by the African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA). SWAA is a learning programme for community empowerment and capacity building, led by and for sex workers. It is implemented by Kenya Sex Workers Alliance (KESWA) in Nairobi, Kenya, on behalf of ASWA (KESWA is also a member of ASWA).

Coalition Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre pour le travail du sexe (CAfOC-TS) have issued a statement reporting on the human rights abuses and violence experienced by sex workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in francophone African countries.

CAfOC-TS – which is made up of organisations including UMANDE, And Soppeku, Blety, AFAZ - Association Femme Amazone, Alcondoms Cameroun, YERELON+, and HODSAS – work to address the problems faced by French speaking sex workers in Central and West Africa.

New Frame have written a feature on the impact of COVID-19 on sex workers in South Africa, looking specifically at the damaging impacts of criminalisation and the need to maintain a focus on the long-term policy changes that position sex workers as equal and protected citizens.

In April 2020, NSWP launched a global survey to understand the impact of COVID-19 on sex workers.

AP News has published a report on the impact of food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic on sex workers living with HIV. Speaking with sex workers and organisations from Rwanda and Zimbabwe, the article highlights the multiple ways that the current crisis is affecting those who do not have access to government support schemes.