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Caught Between the Tiger and the Crocodile: The Campaign to Suppress Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation in Cambodia

In 2008 Cheryl Overs of PLRI supported Women’s Network for Unity and the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers to respond to the introduction of the Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation. This article describes events in Cambodia at that time, including the abuses that ocurred in the crackdown on the sex industry generated by the law. The law abolishes the distinction between consent based sex work and trafficking by demming any commercial sex out of which anyone has profited to be ‘ sexual exploitation’ which is not distinguished from ‘trafficking’. In this way the law makes almost

Stop Harassing Us! Tackle Real Crime!, A Report on Human Rights Violations by Police Against Sex Workers in South Africa

The findings in this report highlight the gap between the rights enshrined in the South African Constitution and treatment meted out to sex workers. Even under the present, imperfect law, there is a stark contradiction between the actions of police and the due process laid out by the law for them to follow. Based on the complaints of 308 sex workers, the WLC found the following: • Almost one in six of the sex workers who approached the WLC had been sexually or physically assaulted, and one in three had been harassed, by the police; • Of the 45 percent

“I expect to be abused and I have fear”: Sex workers’ experiences of human rights violations and barriers to accessing healthcare in four African countries

This report documents human rights violations experienced by female, male and transgender sex workers in four African countries (Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Zimbabwe), and describes barriers they face to accessing health services. Through cross-country comparison and documenting sub-regional trends, the study moves beyond previous often-localised descriptions of violations against sex workers in Africa. The study also fills information gaps about violations in male and transgender sex workers in this setting. A desk review of literature and policies pertaining to sex work in the study settings preceded individual in-depth interviews (n=55) and 12 focus group discussions (n=81) with sex workers

Cellphones useful in research targeting Peru’s sex workers

Sex workers, a stigmatized population, are also at risk for a host of sexually transmitted infections. As the marginalized women are typically reluctant to visit health clinics, mobile data collection devices are particularly useful to researchers and health workers dealing with this population.In Peru, outreach teams preventively treat the sex workers for infections with the medication metronidazole, in addition to screening them for chlamydia and other conditions. Metronidazole, however, causes headaches, nausea and abdominal pain in some patients. Since these side effects needed to be carefully monitored, the outreach teams had to track down sex workers in streets, bars, discotheques

Will 5-year-plan accommodate sex workers?

This article in the Daily News Analysis on Bangalore explains how sex workers do not get pensions, have no identity or ration cards and have to struggle for housing. Access to health services is also a problem “The first line of treatment is available but the second line is not so. Only a few are able to access this,” said Geetha, secretary of Karnataka Sex Workers’ Union, working in rural Bangalore. BANGALORE:Sex workers do not get pension, have no identity cards, ration cards, and have to struggle for housing. People living with HIV are no better off. Sexual minorities too are fighting for basic

Prostitution Policy Models and Feminist Knowledge Politics in New Zealand and Sweden

This article analyses expert discourse on prostitution in New Zealand and Sweden using governmentality theory. The article shows that in both cases, experts adopted research methodologies based in criticism of past research as supporting heterosexual male hegemony. New Zealand experts emphasized giving voice to prostitutes as a marginalized, predominately female population and producing research that benefited them. Swedish experts argued that research should focus upon global sex markets and hegemonic masculinities, successfully advocating criminalizing clients and pimps, but not prostitutes. The article argues that both policies exemplify contrasting advanced liberal governmental techniques. In New Zealand, the critical methodology of attention

HIV Treatment reduces transmission by 96%

The news that people living wtih HIV who are on antiretoviral therapy will have a huge effect on HIV programming for sex workers. It suggests that ARV therapy rather than condom promotion may account for the huge reduction in HIV transmissions during commercial sex over recent years. It also raises the question of whether voluntary testing should be replaced by routine testing. What it definitely raises is the importance of free access to ARVs, nutrition and adherence support for all. Thursday, 12 May 2011, 11 am EST By Matthew Kavanagh Washington, DC – Men and women infected with HIV reduced the risk of transmitting the

India: Community Empowerment Key to Turning Tide on HIV

November 28, 2012 – Sex worker Akram Pasha remembers when his hometown of Mysore, India—an idyllic southern tourist hub known for a Maharajah’s palace and its many universities—stood on the brink of an explosive epidemic. In 2004, a new community-based organization in the city, called Ashodaya Samithi, conducted a first-ever survey of local sex workers and found an HIV prevalence of 25%. “We were shocked,” said Pasha, who now serves as director of Ashodaya Academy, which trains sex workers in HIV prevention, leadership and community mobilization. “It could have been any one of us. We knew we had to do

Centers for Change: Drop-In Centers Facilitate Sex Worker-Led Human Rights Advocacy

Drop-in centers are often the only places where sex workers can access health care, legal counseling, and other direct services. They also provide a safe space for sex workers to congregate, document abuses, and mobilize for advocacy. The role of drop-in centers is critical given the extreme and rampant violations of sex workers’ human rights in most places around the world. Common violations include physical and sexual violence, unsafe and unjust working conditions, extortion, and lack of access to justice, health care, social welfare, and other services. The Open Society Foundations interviewed staff from seven drop-in centers in six countries

Debating the right to sell sex in Switzerland

To imagine a society without prostitution is utopian. Those who are willing to offer their own bodies in exchange for money must be allowed to do so without being stigmatised or punished. This is the view put forward by Terre des Femmes Switzerland, an organisation that campaigns for the rights of women. Claudine Esseiva, general-secretary of the women’s section of the centre-right Radical Party, sees things the same way. “Banning prostitution means relegating it to the shadows, beyond all control,” she told swissinfo.ch. In Switzerland, prostitution has been legal since 1942. When carried out voluntarily, it is considered a form

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