sex workers

Ashodaya Samithi

A news story by Team Mangalorean Bangalore featured on mangalorean.com on the 18 February 2010. The story outlines how sex workers have utilised a World Bank grant to start their own restaurant in Mysore. The purpose of the restaurant is to challenge stigma and discrimination against sex workers it has also provided income generation opportunities for older sex workers. Profits from the Ashodaya restaurant fund a hospice for those terminally ill with AIDS. And, when unclaimed bodies are found in the city, it is this group that pays for the last rites – work that few others would be willing

VAMP

Article in AIDS Care. 2010;22 Suppl 2:1670-8. This film from SANGRAM explores how organising as part of VAMP has affected sex workers’ lives. Ishdeep Kohli blogs on Meena Seshu’s plenary presentation at the International AIDS Conference in 2010. The original blog is available on the HealthDev.net site. An interview with PLRI member Meena Seshu on the PANOS website by Sandhya Srinivasan. PLRI partner Meena Seshu gave the prestigious Jonathan Mann Memorial Lecture at the 2010 International AIDS Conference. Meena reflects on the approach that her organisation SANGRAM has used to support the work of VAMP the collective of women in sex

rape

A report by Crago A-L published by Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN) of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The research presented in this report was conducted from September to December 2007 by sex workers and outreach workers from 12 NGOs in 11 countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine). The data in this report reflects the responses from interviews conducted with 218 adult male, female and transgender sex workers in these 11 countries.

advocacy

PATTAYA, Thailand, 15 October 2010 – At the first-ever Asia-Pacific consultation on HIV and sex work, sex workers, government officials and United Nations participants emphasized the need for urgent action to increase focus and positioning of sex work within HIV responses in the region. Close to 150 delegates from eight countries (China, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and Thailand) met in Pattaya, Thailand, to form partnerships and review policies and laws that keep sex workers from accessing HIV services and sexual and reproductive health services. “Sex work interventions must be central to scaling up the HIV response,

Columbia

After reviewing the case of a woman who was fired from an establishment providing sexual services because she was pregnant, the court upheld the rights of sex workers to work, equality, security, and maternal leave. The establishment where she worked must now pay her 12 weeks of maternity leave. While there was no formal written contract, there was an informal “employment contract” which was broken off suddenly. However, the court did not demand that she be able to return to work, because while the work is legal, it is contrary to the liberal principles of the law.

work

migrant sex workers

Sex workers constitute a heterogeneous group possessing a combination of vulnerability factors such as geographical instability, forced migration, substance addiction and lack of legal residence permit. Access to healthcare for sex workers depends on the laws governing the sex market and on migration policies in force in the host country. In this article, we review different European health strategies established for sex workers, and present preliminary results of a pilot study conducted among 50 sex workers working on the streets in Lausanne.

film

A short film produced by the Healthy Options Projects Skopje (HOPS) who partnered with WITNESS as part of a campaign to end violence, marginalisation, and criminalisation of sex workers. This film is hosted on the Hub. In Macedonia, as throughout the world, sex workers are pushed to the margins of society by a combination of prejudice, discrimination, and violence. Yet, the fact that a person sells sexual services cannot be used as justification for the denial of their fundamental rights, to which all human beings are entitled.

raids

Article in HIV AIDS Policy Law Rev. 2008 Dec;13(2-3):71-2. Sampada Grameen Mahila Sanstha (SANGRAM) is an HIV/AIDS organization that works primarily with sex workers. SANGRAM is based in the Sangli district in Maharashtra state.

Poz Magazine

A news story for Poz Magazine by Scott L. This story explores HIV prevention efforts with sex workers in India. It highlights the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and their partners and suggests that the policy of the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) should be amended to allow investment in interventions of this type.

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