sex workers

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.

Bangladesh

A research study on violence against lesbian women, female sex workers, and disabled women in three countries in South Asia—Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. The study investigated the hypothesis that women who are outside the mainstream of the South Asian society suffer high rates of violence and are often unable to seek and receive protection from State agencies. A journal article by Carol Jenkins and Habibur Rahman in AIDS Education and Prevention,Volume:14, Issue:3 Supplement Evaluating HIV Prevention Programs, p97-106. This is a story by Anbarasan Ethirajan which was featured on the BBC News website on the 17 August 2010. An article by

activist

On Monday August 2, 2010 police in Beijing detained Ye Haiyan, an activist with community based organisation the China Women’s Rights Workshop, after she joined other sex workers in publicly petitioning for the Chinese government to decriminalise prostitution. The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) have released a statement in which they explain how they stand in solidarity with Ye Haiyan, human rights defenders, and sex workers who speak up against stigma, discrimination, and the criminalisation of their livelihoods.

Laos

This study assessed the knowledge and attitudes among health care providers providing sexual health services to female sex workers in the border region of Thailand and Vietnam. Attitudes to sex workers were found to be very poor.

UN

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,

APNSW

gertrude pswarayi

This article describes the impact of sex work law and police brutality on sex workers in Zimbabwe Locked in a filthy cell that was built for eight inmates, but filled with more than 25 women, Nyasha Maphosa, 32, a sex worker based in the town of Gokwe in the Midlands province, writhes in agony as the torture of the previous night takes its toll on her diminutive figure. She has endured 48 hours of detention after being picked up by the Zimbabwe Republic Police patrol team. The charge: loitering for the purposes of prostitution.

microbicides

There are key issues that must be addressed to ensure that the introduction of non-condom prevention alternatives reduces the vulnerability of sex workers and their clients while avoiding unintended negative consequences. Clearly, the roll-out of such tools, and specifically public availability of the first microbicides, is likely to benefit some people but they could also, inadvertently increase the risk of HIV, STIs and unwanted preganancies for female sex workers.

alcohol

Previous research has linked alcohol use with an increased number of sexual partners, inconsistent condom use and a raised incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). A news story by Daniel Brody in the Columbia Reports. The story outlines the findings of an opinion survey of sex workers and their clients in Bogota which was taken by the Mayor’s Office. There is no link to the original source so we cannot comment on the accuracy of the reporting or the methods used. An article by Panchanadeswaran S, Johnson SC, Sivaram S, Srikrishnan AK, Latkin C, Bentley ME, Solomon S, Go VF,