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Sex work is an important feature of the transmission dynamics of HIV within early, advanced and regressing epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa.
HIV prevalence among sex workers and their clients is commonly 20 fold higher than the gen
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Author: World Health Organisation Relevant URL: http://www.afro.who.int/en/clusters-a-programmes/dpc/acquired-immune-deficiency-...
Report and recommendations from
the UN's first Asia and the Pacific Regional Consultation on HIV and Sex Work
Sheila Farmer, a sex worker who worked with other women from premises for safety had charges of brothel-keeping dismissed today in Croydon Crown Court. She worked with other women since being viciously raped and attacked whilst working alone.
Ms Farmer left court with over 20 supporters delighted and relieved that she no longer faces a criminal conviction and possible prison sentence. Ms Farmer suffers from severe diabetes and a malignant brain tumour. Her doctor had provided evidence that an onerous and stressful trial would have exacerbated her condition.
Article in Interface: a journal for and about social movements, Volume 3(2): 271 - 287 (November 2011).
Despite the massive achievements of the Prostitutes Collective of Victoria and the historic significance of this important organisation, sex workers as a community and the funds we had attracted drew an unhealthy level of interest from the health and community sector, stemming from a perception that sex workers were politically unable to run their own collective, and that the funds we had lobbied for could be better spent by people who were not sex workers.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law Author: Elena Jeffreys, Audry Autonomy, Jane Green, Christian Vega Relevant URL: Download the article for free
By Anna-Louisa Crago
What is the Global Commission on HIV and the Law (GCHL)?
It is a commission put in place by the UN to study the impact of different laws on HIV-prevention, treatment and care. It also studies the impact of laws on discrimination and violence against people living with HIV or at high-risk of HIV.
The commissioners are a group of highly respected individuals and experts from around the world and include former heads of state, judges and policy experts. They are advised by a committee of technical experts with extensive knowledge about HIV and the law.
The commission is particular because it is independent of the UN. That means that the commissioners can come to their own conclusions, even if coutries within the UN or UN workers disagree with these.
What does the GCHL have to do with SWAN?
Individuals and groups from the CEE/CA, as well as other regions,were invited to submit testimony about the impact of different laws and HIV. SWAN submitted a submission that tried to include experiences from all across the region. Many other SWAN groups individually submitted such as HOPS (Macedonia), Lega-Life (Ukraine) and HESED (Bulgaria).
In the end, Odyseus (Slovakia), SZEXE (Hungary), TAIS PLUS (Kyrgyzstan), Association for Assistance (Russia) and SWAN were accepted to present in front of the commissioners at a regional meeting in Moldova in May, 2011.
How did SWAN prepare?
By Marija Tosheva, HOPS
In late June, 2011 the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, hosted a meeting in Budapest for 30 delegates from the countries of Central and South East Europe (SWAN was also represented), with supporters from Western Europe, to launch the Network of Low Prevalence Countries in Central and South East Europe – NeLP (http://nelp-hiv.org/budapest-declaration).
The general conclusion of the delegates was that national governments and the general population in our region don’t yet see HIV as a major problem. With fewer people living with HIV, fewer supporters and fewer medical staff, the capacity to respond to HIV in our countries is muted. With less overall societal impact, the perceived need to respond is less urgent.
By Petra Timmermans, ICRSE Coordinator and Rayna Dimitrova, HESED
Recently in Bulgaria sex workers have taken the first tentative steps to mobilising for their rights.
On 29 August plans were put into place for a demonstration in response to recent police activity that has focused on arresting and detaining sex workers working along the main ring road around Sofia. Charges related to immoral behavior and/or causing traffic accidents are being used in what could be described as an attempt to rid Sofia of prostitutes. However, the demonstration did not take place as planned. Although around 20 sex workers showed up there were so many journalists taking photographs that most of the women became nervous and left.
Some news clippings in Bulgarian:
• http://www.dnes.bg
• http://dariknews.bg
• [tv7.bg"] title="http://bnt.b http://bnt.bghttp://tv7.bg">[tv7.bg">http:]
Briefly it is said in these videos that sex workers in Sofia organize a protest against the police activity because recently all outdoor sex workers were detained by the police for 24 hours and were not able to do sex work. They want their profession to be legalized, to pay taxes and to be able to work undisturbed. These are mostly independent sex workers who have no pimps and work for themselves.
By Aliya Rakhmetova
Beginning of November 2011, Ukrainian Verhovnaya Rada (a supreme body similar to Parliament) reviewed a bill on changing the legislation around ‘prostitution’. In the background note, Mogilev, the Minister of Interior, writes that the reason for the reform is the fact that existing legislation is not working (news article link http://cripo.com.ua/index.php?sect_id=10&aid=125635 ).
According to the authors of the bill, right now only city administrative committees (within city executive body) can deal with these cases, the village committees are not authorized to take the case. Since the cases should be addressed by the executive bodies in the location where the person is officially registered, most of cases on individual sex work remain unaddressed because most of fined sex workers come from smaller towns and villages.
A report published today by the University of NSW says sex workers, especially in Lautoka, the centre of Fiji’s sugar industry, north of Nadi, have been rounded up by the military and subjected to sleep deprivation, humiliation and forced physical labour.
Karen McMillan, a researcher with the International HIV Research Group at UNSW, said the sex workers were held in outdoor pens at an army base, woken every three hours and made to do duck-walks and squat in the mud.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law
Risky_Business.pdf
Author:
Karen McMillan and Heather Worth
Passed to protect women, the 2008 law on human trafficking and sexual exploitation has been used by authorities to justify the harassment and abuse of sex workers.
But, Cambodian sex workers say it’s now time to demand their rights.Hundreds are gathered in the capital of Phnom Penh.They are clapping loudly as the host welcomes the first day of 16 days of activism against gender violence.They are wearing white shirts with the slogan: "United we can end violence against women and bring the peace."
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law
WNU Anti Violence Protest 2011.doc
Author:
WNU
The claim that the sex workers’ rights movement is a purely white, western phenomenon is one of abolitionism’s biggest falsehoods. In fact, Global South sex workers could teach their Northern counterparts a thing or two when it comes to organising for sex workers’ rights. Here is a videoclip of sex workers in Sonagachi, Calcutta, marching against criminalisation of their industry.
Theme: Gender and Sexuality Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law
Heavy-handed comments have been thrown around labeling Thailand as the “brothel of the world,” or “Disneyland for men.” Of course, there are no official figures as to the total number of sex workers in Thailand, but a moderate figure from Thai analysts puts the number at 15,000-22,000 women (with a very small portion consisting of men.) As such, Thailand has a very strong reputation for being a nation with a massive amount of prostitution and sex trafficking.
World AIDS Day provides us with an opportunity for reflection – to remember those who we have lost and to look forward, to consider what still needs to be done if we are to tackle HIV. In terms of scientific advances and political commitment this year has been a very mixed bag.
This article originally appeared in the Metro Newspaper on the 29 November 2011.
‘I’m not ashamed. I’m truly proud of what I do,’ says Elena Reynaga. ‘Through my work, I created possibilities for my children, opportunities I didn’t have myself. My children went to school, got jobs. I have nothing to be ashamed of.’
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law Relevant URL: Read the full story in the Metro
Movimento para a liberdade das mulheres na prostituição (Movimento) and União para a protecção dos direitos dos trabalhadores (União) are mobilising for human rights around sex work and prostitution in Latin America. After a year of working with both groups, my relationship with Movimento broke down; meanwhile the relationship with União flourished and from it emerged intensive and productive ethnographic experiences and a large and rich dataset.
Year of publication: 2010 Theme: Research Ethics and Methods Author: Kate Hardy Relevant URL: [www.sciencedirect.com]
red umbrella.jpg
Some people want a world without prostitution and campaign for the criminalisation of our clients. I always argue that the criminalisation of our clients is not going to make us disappear but make our work more clandestine, more dangerous and potentially make us lose (part of) our income.
This is a clear article that outlines debates around feminism and sex work by Australian activist Kate Holden.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Gender and Sexuality Theme: Human Rights and Law Author: Kate Holden Relevant URL: http://meanjin.com.au/editions/volume-70-number-1-2011/article/sex-work-and-femi...
Eurasian Harm Reduction Network followed the initiative of Latin American groups and developed a petition to the Global Fund's (GF) Board in advance of their meeting next week to express their concerns over potential negative implications of the GF reform following the recommendations of the High Level Panel. It started off as a regional initiative in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, but has now grown to represent broader regional concerns and focus on the communities of key affected populations.
If you think it is important that GF continues its work in Latin America, Eastern and Central Europe and Central Asia and in Asia Pacific, please sign the online petition today (by November 18 midnight) here [www.itpcorg.ru] .
For the full text of petition in English scroll down the page.
To sign the petition click the link "Subscribe" and fill in your information.
There is very little information about the role of Identity Documents in how sex workers access health services and the protection of their human rights. This article from India addresses this important issue.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law Author: DNA Relevant URL: The DNAIndia website
Beginning of November 2011, Ukrainian Verhovnaya Rada (a supreme body similar to Parliament) reviewed a bill on changing the legislation around ‘prostitution’. In the background note, Mogilev, the Minister of Interior, writes that the reason for the reform is the fact that existing legislation is not working (news article link http://cripo.com.ua/index.php?sect_id=10&aid=125635 ).
According to the authors of the bill, right now only city administrative committees (within city executive body) can deal with these cases, the village committees are not authorized to take the case. Since the cases should be addressed by the executive bodies in the location where the person is officially registered, most of cases on individual sex work remain unaddressed because most of fined sex workers come from smaller towns and villages.
criminalisation.traf_.jpg
Destination countries for human trafficking are obliged to protect and assist victims of trafficking. This includes providing trafficked persons with protection of privacy and identity, measures for ‘physical, psychological and social recovery of victims’, and their physical safety. They should also provide effective remedies for trafficked persons, such as compensation, and restitution. Are destination States meeting these responsibilities in the 21st century?
This monograph attempts to demystify and explain the content of the prevalent laws in the region which are relevant to activists and practitioners working in the field. Available legislation and case law have been analyzed from the point of view of the issues of conflation of trafficking and sex work, rights of sex workers to live in liberty and dignity, the right to move freely, the right to reside in a place of choice, the right to migrate, forced and voluntary sex work, entry of minors, rescue and rehabilitation.
Year of publication: 2010 Theme: Human Rights and LawRakesh Sex Work Laws In South Asia.pdf
Author:
Rakesh Shukla
Large numbers of sex trafficking victims, on the order of 80,000–100,000, have been alleged to exist in Cambodia over the past decade. Empirical results obtained from measuring the numbers of such victims in Cambodia are contrasted with the lack of support for the widely circulated guesstimates of these numbers. Examples of similar fabrications are discussed and followed through some of their early publication history. The methodology of conducting empirical field research in less developed countries is discussed and the origin of the guesstimates is probed in detail.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Human Rights and Law Theme: Migration and Mobility Theme: Research Ethics and Methods Author: Thomas M. Steinfatt Relevant URL: [www.springerlink.com]
This study was undertaken to measure thecosts and performance of outreach program to directfemale commercial sex workers in Cambodia. The studyconsists of two parts, first is the review of allactivities of the program in 20 provinces and 2 majorcities in order to calculate the total costs incurredby the program within its first year of interventionand second is the analysis of behavioral change ofcommercial sex workers based on data from a BehavioralSurvey on commercial sex workers.
The newsletter of Indian sex worker organisation the DMSC in Kolkata.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Human Rights and LawBulletin7.pdf
Author:
DMSC
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.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law Relevant URL: Link to the original article on DNAINDIA
The International Institute of Social History has issued a call for papers for the project, "Selling Sex in the City: Prostitution in World Cities, 1600 to the Present". These will be discussed at a conference, which will take place in Amsterdam/The Hague, on 14-16 February 2013.
An article in the Nation by Leke Salaudeen explores police corruption and brutality.
A Lagos sex worker, who simply identified herself as Helen, relived her experience with police. She said: “Most often, the police will come to our brothel in the night, march us into their waiting van. They will take us to either Third Mainland Bridge or the Bar Beach. They will beat and rape us. They sleep with us without protection.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Human Rights and Law Relevant URL: Read the article on the Nation website
Article in the Lancet, Early Online Publication, 11 October 2011.
Background
The aim of Avahan, the India AIDS Initiative, was to reduce HIV transmission in the general population through large-scale prevention interventions focused on high-risk groups. It was launched in 2003 in six states with a total population of 300 million and a high HIV burden. We assessed the population-level effect of the first phase of Avahan (2003—08).
An article in the Lancet published online, October 11, 2011, which provides a useful overview of the evaluation of the Avahan HIV prevention programme which was rolled out across six states in India.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Author: Ties Boerma and Isabelle de Zoysa Relevant URL: Link to the article on the Lancet website
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.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Gender and Sexuality Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and LawCREA Executive Summary.pdf
Author:
CREA
Relevant URL:
Link to the CREA website
This paper raises the question of how knowledge creation is organized in the area of HIV prevention and how this concatenation of expertise, resources, at-risk people and viruses shapes the knowledge used to impede the epidemic. It also seeks to trouble the discourses of biomedical pre-eminence in the field of HIV prevention by examining the claim for treatment as prevention, looking at evidence constructed through the biomedical frame and through the lens of the sociology of science.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Author: HIV prevention Barry D Adam Relevant URL: [www.jiasociety.org]
By Pam Belluck for the New York Times, 3 October 2011.
The most popular contraceptive for women in eastern and southern Africa, a hormone shot given every three months, appears to double the risk the women will become infected with H.I.V., according to a large study published Monday. And when it is used by H.I.V.-positive women, their male partners are twice as likely to become infected than if the women had used no contraception.
The aim of this study conducted in Benin was to compare HIV-1 infected female sex workers (FSW) and patients from the general population (GP) to see whether there was a difference in adherence level, mortality rate and immuno-virologic response to antiretroviral therapy (ART).
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIVWJA20110300006_74376528.pdf
Author:
Diabaté S, Zannou DM, Geraldo N, Chamberland A, Akakpo J, Ahouada C, Massinga Loembé M, Anagonou S, Labbé AC, Alary M, Tremblay C
Relevant URL:
Link to the article online
Those of us with fast Internet access, a computer and time on our hands can become very reliant on the web to source information. But there is something gratifying about holding, reading and owning a good book. With that in mind we have compiled this list of books that we have found interesting over the years. We will add to this list and integrate them into the resources held on the site.
Article in BMC Public Health 2011, 11:700.
BackgroundConcerns have been raised that marginalised populations may not achieve adequate compliance to antiretroviral therapy. Our objective was to describe the long-term virological, immunological and mortality outcomes of providing highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) with strong adherence support to HIV-infected female sex workers (FSWs) in Burkina Faso and contrast outcomes with those obtained in a cohort of regular HIV-infected women.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Author: Charlotte Huet, Abdoulaye Ouedraogo, Issouf Konate, Isidore Traore, Francois Rouet, Antoinette Kabore, Anselme Sanon, Philippe Mayaud, Philippe Van de Perre and Nicolas Nagot Relevant URL: Link to the article on the BMC Public Health website
If you are in the UK you can come and hear Laura Agustín, the author of Sex at the Margins and super-blogger, speak at the Institute of Development Studies in Sussex.
Date: 6 October 2011 - 1:00pm
Phuket Public Health officials joined about 150 police and local authorities in another crackdown on Patong bars and other venues on and around Soi Bangla last night. Bar staff and sex workers were required to produce documentation. Employees and staff were tested for drugs.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Human Rights and Law Relevant URL: http://phuketwan.com/tourism/phuket-bars-sex-workers-face-closer-scrutiny-mass-c...
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Shamir_Trafficking_in_Workers.doc
Author:
Hila Shamir
Relevant URL:
[tinyurl.com]
“What drives continued expansion of the pandemic is not the absence of effective preventative technologies but discrimination, exploitation and repression of certain social groups,” Dr Peter Piot.
This article looks at the potential impact of partially effective, non contraceptive HIV prevention methods on sex workers in the light of recent news that anti-retroviral treatment (ART) by people with HIV substantially protects their HIV-uninfected sexual partners from acquiring HIV infection, with a 96 percent reduction in risk of HIV transmission.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law Theme: Research Ethics and MethodsImpact of Treatment for Prevention_0.doc
Author:
Cheryl Overs
“What drives continued expansion of the pandemic is not the absence of effective preventative technologies but discrimination, exploitation and repression of certain social groups”. Dr Peter Piot,
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law Theme: Research Ethics and MethodsImpact of Treatment for Prevention.doc
Author:
Cheryl Overs
After all the drama of the US government accusing PLRI and NSWP partner SANGRAM of being traffickers because they returned US money rather than sign its anti prostitution pledge, SANGRAM triumphs! A SANGRAM case study has been posted on USAID's AIDSTAR-One website.
A new anthology by Les éditions du Remue-ménage (http://www.editions-rm.ca/) on the sex workers rights movment will be launched in Montreal on November 10th 2011. Co-editied by Maria Nengeh Mensah, Claire Thiboutot and Louise Toupin, this book reproduces and presents the various forms of resistance that have inspired sex workers around the world to mobilize and demand social recognition.
A London seminar will explore the relationship between migration, the sex industry and trafficking in the UK by presenting the findings of the ESRC-funded ‘Migrant Workers in the UK Sex Industry’, led by Dr Nick Mai, Institute for the Study of European Transformations at London Metropolitan University.
MONDAY 31 OCTOBER 2011, 3pm to 6pm
London Metropolitan University, Libeskind Building, 166-220 Holloway Road London N7 8DB
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Sherief Gaber offers a fascinating and thorough analysis of anti-trafficking rhetoric and the ideology and actions it drives.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Human Rights and Law Theme: Migration and Mobility Author: Sherief Gaber Relevant URL: http://www.utexas.edu/law/centers/humanrights/get_involved/writing-prize09-gaber...
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If sex work was treated like any other profession, many of the problems associated with it, including violence, could be easier to tackle according to Eva Büschi, a professor at the School of Social Work of the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Human Rights and Law Author: Eveline Kobler and Etienne Strebel Relevant URL: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Making_prostitution_safer.html?cid=310640...
An article in the Journal of Law and Society, Volume 37, Number 1, March 2010.
Weitzer explores the growth of what he describes as a moral crusade in the US aimed at expanding the criminalisation of sex work. He shows how there is a growing trend to conflate sex work with human trafficking and explores the impact of this movement on legal norms and government policies. Weitzer believes this trend has been prompted by the expansion of the sex industry and its normalisation in American society.
Year of publication: 2010 Theme: Human Rights and LawJ Law and Society.pdf
Author:
Weitzer, R
SOFIA, August 31, 2011 - Sex worker in Sofia protest current situation with sex work and police attitudes. Below is the news report from the Ring Road (in Bulgaria).
Translation of text coverage at [tv7.bg] :
" Profession "prostitute"?
Women who work as prostitutes said they will now go before Parliament and protest to protect their rights. What provoked them and should prostitution be legalized - See first-person answers.
This document began as a folder for gathering information about definitions and ideas around law and sex work. As the folder grew I became increasingly aware that although some very good work exists, no agreed analysis or even common understandings of different legal terms and approaches has emerged. This means there is a lack a solid basis for discussions about the impact of legal frameworks and for planning changes that can reduce human rights abuses and HIV vulnerability among male, female and transgender sex workers.
Year of publication: 2010 Theme: Human Rights and LawExamples of different frameworks.doc
Author:
Cheryl Overs
"The word illegal and legal makes a big difference."
This article describes conditions under 'decriminalised' sex work in New Zealand. It illustrates that there are still many constraints on sex workers and that not all sex work is legal.
Theme: Human Rights and Law Author: Carly Gibbs Relevant URL: [www.rotoruadailypost.co.nz]
Article in Childhood August 2011 vol. 18, no. 3, 333-349.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Gender and Sexuality Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law Author: Oishik Sircar Relevant URL: Link to the article on Sage
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.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Author: Ketkesone Phrasisombath Relevant URL: [aph.sagepub.com]
The following is an abstract about the potential benefits of a HIV vaccine. It mentions 'risk compensation' which means abandoning condoms. It points out that mathmatical modelling shows that a partially effective vaccine may lead to increased HIV among sex workers if sex workers are less able to persuade clients to use condoms. The same is true of Prep and microbicides.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Author: Nico J.D. Nagelkerke Relevant URL: [www.sciencedirect.com]
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Sex workers being 'netted' by East Jakarta Satpol PP officers on Friday (5 August 2011). After a fight they Sex workers were taken to a detention centre called Ceger Social Institution, Cipayung. “Based on the governor’s instruction, those who caught will not be freed until Eid ul Fitr,”
Source [www.beritajakarta.com] Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Human Rights and Law
Bridging populations.pdf
Author:
Neha S. Shah, Ray W. Shiraishi, Wonchart Subhachaturas, Abhijeet Anand, Sara J. Whitehead, Suvimon Tanpradech, Chomnad Manopaiboon, Keith M. Sabin, Kimberley K. Fox and Andrea Y. Kim
The Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers provides this window on the internet for all the issues affecting male, female and transgender sex workers in the region that is home to half of the population of the world.
Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law Relevant URL: [www.apnsw.org]
by Cheryl Overs
by Cheryl Overs
The recent Lancet publication of the HPTN 052 study has shown unequivocally that initiation of anti-retroviral treatment (ART) by people with HIV substantially protects their HIV-uninfected sexual partners from acquiring HIV infection, with a 96 percent reduction in risk of HIV transmission.[1]
The announcement in June is a welcome confirmation of what many already suspected – that ART is prevention. The word ‘game-changer’ was, not surprisingly, all over the internet within hours of the publication of the announcement of the closure of the trial. But so were questions about where this leaves the existing approaches to HIV prevention and promotion of sexual and reproductive health. Sex worker advocates immediately recognised that this new evidence could have a significant effect on both the actual conduct of commercial sex and on the programmes, public health policy and legal frameworks around it.
International sporting events are increasing in frequency and magnitude. It is estimated that the FIFA World Cup brought close to 400 000 visitors to South Africa in 2010. Little research has been conducted into the demand and supply of paid sex during big sporting events and where the topic has been explored, the focus tends to fall on speculation around human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, rather than on adult, consensual sex work.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Economics and Development Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Migration and MobilityMaybe_it_will_be_better_once_this_World_Cup_has_passed.pdf
Author:
SWEAT
Trafficking for sexual purposes is widely recognized as a violation of human rights. Trafficking of women and girls within Nepal and from Nepal to India’s red light districts is thought to be extremely common. There is sharp debate within the anti-trafficking community, both within Nepal and globally, about why trafficking occurs and how to prevent it.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Migration and Mobility Author: Miranda Worthen Relevant URL: [rsq.oxfordjournals.org]
By Cheryl Overs
The sex workers rights movement argues that laws that criminalise women, men and transgenders who sell sex violate human rights. This has been widely accepted because most sensible people recognise that punishing sex workers is a waste of time and money and that it increases health risks and abuse. I think we can be confident that members of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law will also take this view.
Sensible people also agree that sexual abuse of children, trafficking with violence and coercion associated with sex work should be criminalised, and heavily so. Men who pay children for sex are abusers not clients and there is no such thing as a child sex worker. We can certainly be confident that the Commission will agree that existing laws against crimes of violence such as rape, kidnapping and procurement by fraud and sexual crimes against children should stay and even be strengthened and more widely enforced.
But agreement among even the most sensible minds seems to collapse when we turn to the laws that prohibit brothel keeping, people smuggling involving sex workers; sexual exploitation of consenting adults ; controlling a prostitute for gain; living on 'the avials' or 'immoral earnings' - in other words the large range of offenses commonly recognised as aiming to stop so-called ‘pimping’. These laws criminalise all third parties in the sex industry from landlords and brothel managers to washerwomen and taxi drivers and sex workers lovers and husbands, not just the 'bad man' of myths and movies.
Although some of the squeamishness or ambivilence to the ‘pimp’ is understandable, and indeed shared by many sex workers, it is here that the key question must be answered – is sex work work or not? If it is, the sex worker is clearly entitled to be make the same business arrangements as others, including being an employee. And he or she is also entitled to have those arrangements supported and protected by administrative, labour and contract law.
Anti-pimping/sexual exploitation/trafficking laws should be removed not because they violate those who employ, or facilitate consenting sex workers, but because they violate sex workers rights and place sex workers in danger. Some Commissioners will already know this. But it is also likely that some of them will be torn about recommending removal of ‘pimping’ laws, out of genuine concern for the welfare of sex workers.
Any such doubts should be dispelled by the shocking picture above of a woman in what must be among the least safe working conditions imaginable (and that's before any consideration of any sex she might have if she survives the traffic long enough to get a client ) She is not in this appalling position because ‘sex work is illegal’ as people frequently assume. She is working in a wealthy European country where selling sex is not in fact illegal. It is the laws against ‘pimping’ that deprive her of the option of working in a safe work place. This woman needs far more than freedom from arrest. She also needs more than an outreach worker bearing a condom and a pamphlet with the address of an STI clinic. She needs walls, a bed, sanitation, heating or cooling, a place to store her things, to prepare food, rest and go to the toilet. She needs advertising, security and the many other normal services upon which an orderly and safe work life depend. If she is HIV positive she needs access to ART so she can stay well and avoid transmitting HIV, but if she an immigrant she is unlikely to get it. So when I look at this and other pictures of outdoor sex workers conditions on Google Street view I see a powerful case for removing the whole raft of laws against profiting from the prostitution of consenting others so that sex industries can evolve in ways that don’t ruin lives and threaten public health That these pictures are taken where brothel keeping is illegal, but selling sex is not, is strong evidence that there is no practical value in some agnostic, middle way in which the sex worker is decriminalised but the sex workers has nowhere to go to work safely because of the laws against sex venues. Although this point is clear to most sex workers it escapes many people and that may be true of some Commissioners. I hope these pictures help us to focus on the importance of convincing the Global Commission on HIV and Law to recommend removal of all of the criminal laws around adult sex work as a necessary first step toward sex workers accessing safe, fair working conditions. The next picture illustrates that there is at least one thing that the all the myths, prejudices and laws about so called pimps doesn’t prevent sex roadside sex workers accessing – a 'pimp' !!.jpg)
Cheryl Overs is a Senior Research Fellow at the Michael Kirby Centre for Public Health and Human, Rights, Monash University Melbourne, Australia; a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University, UK and a member of the Technical Advisory Group of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law.
For further analaysis and comment on the social and legal meaning of the category and term 'pimp' and its impact in debates around law reform see :
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Overs C, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Constructions of Masculinity and Contemporary Understandings of Sex Work in Politicising Masculinities Edited by Andrea Cornwall, Jerker Edström and Alan Greig Zed Books 2011 |
Overs C. Pimp My Rights PLRI Blog [plri.wordpress.com] . 17/2010
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Why the Global Commission on Law and HIV must recommend legalisation of ‘pimping’ too.
'Men and Development: Politicizing Masculinities' includes a chapter entitled 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Constructions of Masculinity and Contemporary Understandings of Sex Work' that looks at men as buyers and sellers of sex and desconstructs the myth of the 'pimp'.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Gender and Sexuality Theme: Human Rights and Law Author: Andrea Cornwall, Jerker Edström and Alan Greig Relevant URL: [us.macmillan.com]
Sex trafficking is widely seen as modern slavery. But, in her new book, Rutvica Andrijasevic shows that this labelling process is not as benevolent as it appears.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Migration and Mobility Author: Rutvica Andrijasevic Relevant URL: [tinyurl.com]
An article in press for the Journal of Men's Health.
Men, in general, remain less likely than women to seek medical care, and are only half as likely as women to undertake preventive health visits and/or screening tests. There is a great need to increase men’s health awareness and reduce this significant gender disparity.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Gender and Sexuality Theme: Health and HIV Author: Susan Collinson, Reg Straubb and Georgina Perry Relevant URL: Link to the article on the Science Direct website
A story by Sudeshna Sarkar on ipsnews.net.
KATHMANDU, Jul 12, 2011 (IPS) - Every time Bijaya Dhakal goes out to meet people and tell them what she does for a living, the simple task becomes an act of courage requiring nerves of steel. Dhakal is the founder of Nepal’s first and only organisation of women sex workers now trying to make the state and society listen to a community long hushed by poverty and discrimination.
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abstracts from IASSCS.rtf
By Marlise Richter
In June 2011, South Africa has hosted two significant conferences related to HIV and AIDS. The South African AIDS Conference and the 1st HIV International Social Science and Humanities Conference. Between them they attracted over 5000 delegates from academia and the HIV sector more broadly.
As in previous years, I analysed the number of abstracts published in conference proceedings that related to sex work in relation to the rest of the conference content (see article in Gender & Media Diversity Journal Issue 7.)
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.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and LawASWA_Report_HR_Violations_and_Healthcare_Barriers_14_April_2011.pdf
Author:
Fiona Scorgie, Daisy Nakato, Daughtie Ogutu Akoth, Mpho Netshivhambe, Pamela Chakuvinga, Patience Nkomo, Phelister Abdalla, Sihle Sibanda, Marlise Richter
The aim of the research presented in this report was to explore the social contexts, life experiences, vulnerabilities and sexual risks experienced by men who sell sex in Southern and Eastern Africa, with a focus on five countries; Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. It sought to better understand differing and similar socio-cultural scenarios and personal life stories of male sex workers in these countries and to improve the representation of male sex workers in relevant regional organisations, particularly within the African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA).
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Economics and Development Theme: Gender and Sexuality Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Lawmale_sex_work_boyce_isaacs.pdf
Author:
Paul Boyce and Gordon Isaacs
June, Barnaul – It has been ten years since the regional public organization "Siberian Initiative", a member of SWAN in Russia, held its first volunteer summer school, which has become a unique forum for volunteers from Russia and other countries. The school is a space, where volunteers from different organizations and regions learn, share experiences and knowledge, communicate and relax.
At different times the Volunteer Summer School hosted volunteers not only from Russia, but also Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, USA, Sweden, Italy and Canada. Over the years the Summer School trained over 1,000 young people representing more than 300 state, municipal and public organizations from 47 Russian regions. Volunteers increase their energy, improve their knowledge, help organize productive cooperation and promote their further development. This is an excellent opportunity to promote and develop further the movement of volunteer service to the society.
"The Volunteer Summer School is a great chance for volunteers to realize how important their work is, and that there so many of us!" - Cherkasova Anastasia Summer School 2005.
This year Summer School will open its doors in August 2-7 and will host the first Master- Forum on Social Service, which is a continuation and development of the idea of an annual Summer School for Volunteers.
The African Sex Worker Alliance (ASWA), Bar Hostess, Sisonke and SWEAT in conjunction with the Ford Foundation, OXFAM NOVIB, UNDP and OXFAM GB are to launch research on human rights violations against sex workers.
Theme: Human Rights and Law Relevant URL: Africa Sex Worker Alliance website
Article by Julia Medew in The Age, May 31, 2011.
Health Minister David Davis has backed down from a plan for Victorian sex workers to have fewer tests for sexually transmitted infections, prompting sharp criticism from public health experts who say the plan should go ahead.
Last week, a Department of Health project officer told a health and sex work conference the government had approved a move from monthly to three-monthly tests for sex workers in the regulated industry from September.
By the Native Youth Sexual Health Network on Thursday, June 9, 2011.
We as Indigenous peoples who have current and/or former life experience in the sex trade and sex industries met on unceeded Coast Salish Territory in Vancouver on Monday April 11th 2011. In a talking circle organized by the Native Youth Sexual Health Network we wish to share the following points about our collective discussion so that we may speak FOR ourselves and life experiences:
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Gender and Sexuality Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law Author: Native Youth Sexual Health Network Relevant URL: Link to their page on Facebook
A new sex workers initiative in Botswana has included a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Questioning (LGBTIQ) component in their programme.
Sisonke Botswana, a sex work group currently housed by Botswana Network on Ethics Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA), joined the African Sex Workers Alliance and dedicated a week to the mapping of sex workers rights in Botswana with the aim to forming a coalition which will advance the human health rights of most key population (sex workers, transgender, MSM and drug users).
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law Author: By Skipper Mogapi
A fantastic resource written by Bishakha Datta and sponsored by CASAM and CREA. The report documents a meeting entitled "Ain't I A Woman? A Global Dialogue between the Sex Workers Rights Movement and the Stop Violence against Women Movement" from 12-14 March 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand.
The report features the presentations from many great speakers including Cheryl Overs, Meena Seshu, Ruth Morgan Thomas, Anna-Louise Crago, Kaythi Win, Hua Sittipham Boonyapisomparn, Swapna Gayen and Meenakshi Kamble.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Gender and Sexuality Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Lawaint I a woman.pdf
Author:
Bishakha Datta
Relevant URL:
Link to the report on the CREA website
News story on the CBS News site, 2 June 2011. Usually stories related to large sporting events are about trafficking. This piece is about the damage that will be done to businesses and communities as a result of a push to 'gentrify' areas of Rio in the run up to the World Cup and Olympics.
The Southern Africa Litigation Centre and the Centre for the Development of People will be filing a challenge to the mandatory HIV testing of sex workers in Mwanza, Malawi.
The applicants, 11 sex workers, were arrested by police while at a local restaurant, taken to a local public hospital, and subjected to an HIV test without their consent.
The test results were announced publicly in court by the Magistrate and they were found guilty of spreading venereal disease. The Magistrate ordered those not from Mwanza to leave the locality.
Korean sex wokrers protest against a law against trafficking and sexual exploitation that has taken away the incomes and dignity of these women - not a law against prostitution.
News story in the Globe News, 17 May 2011.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – Hundreds of prostitutes and pimps rallied Tuesday near a red-light district in Seoul to protest a police crackdown on brothels, with some unsuccessfully attempting to set themselves on fire.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Economics and Development Theme: Gender and Sexuality Theme: Human Rights and Law Relevant URL: Link to the article in the Globe News
News story by Irene Mwivano Reporter, Thursday - May 26, 2011, on the Global Press Institute website. The story provides an insight into the shortcomings of the Government response to protecting the health and human rights of sex workers, policing and law enforcement practices and the economic dividend of sex work in comparison to other income generating activities.
NAI
A news story in the Asia Sentinal by Geeta Seshu, 25 May 2011.
Why do women in India become sex workers?They can make more money and live better.
Poverty and limited education push females into labor markets at an early age, but the sheer desire for a better income and a better life pushes them into sex work, according to a path-breaking, pan-India survey of sex workers.
Article in the Journal of AIDS and HIV Research Vol. 3(5), pp. 100-102, May 2011.
A better understanding of the significance and determinants of loss of follow-up and key potential related outcome measures, such as death and missed study visit would assist program evaluation and provide basis for future interventions. Senegal has one of Africa’s lowest HIV/AIDS infection rate, less than 1%. But vulnerable groups such as sex workers have higher HIV prevalence. Currently, HIV infection among legal sex workers in Dakar has risen to 27.1%, compared to 1% 20 years ago, (Fact sheet, 2004). The prostitution in Senegal has been regulated since 1969. Sex workers register at public health clinics like ours, where they receive photo identity cards and make monthly visits for medical checkups. However, many operate outside the system. We estimate that more than 80% of Senegal sex workers do not register. In a retrospective cohort analysis, loss of follow-rates and death were assessed among HIV infected female sex workers receiving antiretroviral drugs at the “Institute d'Hygiene Social” (IHS) of Dakar, Senegal. Records of 74 HIV infected female sex workers receiving antiretroviral treatment, and followed at the IHS from April 2001 to August 2008 were reviewed. Overall, 15 patients (20.3%) died and 42 (57%) were lost during an average follow-up period of 26 months (18.9). The mean age of patients was 46.6 years old (SD = 7.8) and the mean CD4 count at entry was 215 (SD = 68.6). Using Cox Regression models, we did not find a significant relationship between age, ethnicity, CD4 count at entry or HIV-1 vs. HIV-2 type and loss of follow-up. These findings indicate the need to obtain better longitudinal follow-up data for optimal assessment of the reasons for loss-of follow up among HIV infected female sex workers receiving ARV in Senegal.
(Abstract authors' own)
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Author: P. G. Sow, I. Traoré, M. Sarr, B. P. Ndiaye, M. C. Dia, M. Cissé and S. Mboup Relevant URL: Link to the article online
Article by Ghose T, Swendeman DT, George SM. Qual Health Res. 2011 Jan 25.
High rates of empowerment, HIV-related knowledge, and condom use among sex workers in Sonagachi, India have been attributed to a community-led intervention called the Sonagachi HIV/AIDS Intervention Programme (SHIP). In this research Ghose and colleagues examined the crucial role of brothels in the success of the intervention. In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted with 55 participants of SHIP. The results indicate that brothels help sex workers reduce HIV risk by (a) serving as targeted sites for SHIP's HIV intervention efforts, (b) being operated by madams (women managers of brothels) who participate in SHIP's intervention efforts and promote healthy regimes, (c) structuring the economic transactions and sexual performances related to sex work, thus standardizing sex-related behaviour, and (d) promoting community empowerment among brothel residents. Implications of these results are discussed for future efforts to replicate SHIP's success in other sex work communities.
(abstract authors' own)
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Author: Ghose T, Swendeman DT, George SM Relevant URL: Link to the article on the PubMed site
Wagadu, an open access online feminist journal, has released a special issue 'Demystifying sex work and sex workers.' With articles from activist scholars the special issue, focuses on the everyday lives of sex workers.
Susan Dewey of the University of Wyoming who edited the issue explains, "While recent years have witnessed a dramatic outpouring of feminist scholarship that situates sex work within its broader socioeconomic and political contexts cross-culturally, there remains a tendency for academic scholarship to unconsciously reinforce the social stigmatization of sex workers by depicting them solely through their income-earning activities. This burgeoning research has convincingly demonstrated that sex work is embedded in a complex social matrix that often centers upon sex workers’ perceptions of their individual choices and responsibilities...Public policy on sex work is often shown to be seriously lacking when contextualized within the broader realities of many sex workers’ everyday life experiences throughout the world. As such, contributors to this special issue offer sound ethnographic evidence that clearly demonstrates the global need for policy and legal reform with respect to sex work."
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Economics and Development Theme: Gender and Sexuality Theme: Human Rights and Law Author: Susan Dewey (ed) Relevant URL: Link to the special issue on the Wagadu website
Article in Sex. Transm. Infect. 2011;87:263.
Objective To ascertain the cost effectiveness of targeted interventions for female sex workers (FSW) under the National AIDS Control Programme in India.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Economics and Development Theme: Health and HIV Author: Shankar Prinja, Pankaj Bahuguna Shalini Rudra, Indrani Gupta, Manmeet Kaur, S M Mehendale, Susmita Chatterjee, Samiran Panda, Rajesh Kumar Relevant URL: Link to the article on the BMJ site
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A news story by Chokkapan S on Express Buzz, 23 May 2011.
BANGALORE: Raids on prostitution rackets that are being run in the name of massage parlours and otherwise have time and again been in the news. So, the latest ones in the string of inspections and subsequent arrests in Bangalore didn't really come as a surprise.
What really is surprising is the fact that despite the repeated incidences, not much thought is being spared on the measures to curb the menace. So, what should ideally be done to tackle the issue?
This video, in Hindi and Marathi, was recorded at the launch of the Pan-India survey of Sex Workers.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Economics and Development Author: CASAM
by Alex Delamare, 23 May 2011.
When Thida Win contracted HIV after selling her body on the Yangon streets, it was her fellow sex workers that she turned to, not Myanmar's crumbling health service.
The Top project, run almost entirely by those in the sex trade, gave her treatment, a place to be herself away from the dual stigma of HIV and prostitution -- and eventually a job.
Article in the Lancet, Volume 377, Issue 9779, Page 1719, 21 May 2011.
This article gives more detail on the recent trial of HIV treatment as a form of HIV prevention.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIV Author: The Lancet Relevant URL: Link to the article on the Lancet website
