Resources from Funders and Allied Organisations Supporting Sex Workers’ RightsWe have organised the growing community of organisations supporting sex worker rights and provided brief introductions to strengthen the support available to the sex worker rights movement.
We have categorised them (funders, sex worker-led networks, and allied organisation) as well as created tags for key topics that intersect with our work.
Access Now defends and extends the digital rights of users at risk around the world. Also provides digital security trainning/support through a 24/7 Digital Security Helpline, policy analysis, advocacy, and grants to granssroots organisations and activists groups.
“American Jewish World Service (AJWS) is the leading Jewish organisation working to fight poverty and pursue justice in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Through philanthropy and advocacy, American Jewish World Service responds to the most pressing issues of our time—from disasters, genocide and hunger, to the persecution of women and minorities worldwide.
AJWS is one of the founding members of Red Umbrella Fund’s International Steering Committee. AJWS has reported extensively on the importance of protecting the human rights of sex workers and is an active member of the Sex Worker Donor Collaborative. “To effectively stop abuse against sex workers, experts suggest that many changes must take place—from supporting sex workers to educate each other about their rights to reforming laws that have limited sex workers’ access to safe workplaces, economic opportunities and critical services such as health care.”
“Amnesty International has grown from seeking the release of political prisoners to upholding the whole spectrum of human rights. Our work protects and empowers people – from abolishing the death penalty to protecting sexual and reproductive rights, and from combatting discrimination to defending refugees and migrants’ rights. We speak out for anyone and everyone whose freedom and dignity are under threat.”
Ariadne (European Funders for Social Change and Human Rights) is a European peer-to-peer network of more than 600 funders and philanthropists who support social change and human rights. Ariadne helps those using private resources for public good achieve more together than they can alone by linking them to other funders and providing practical tools of support.
“The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) is a network of 85 member organisations across 23 countries, mainly in Asia. Founded in 1991, FORUM-ASIA works to strengthen movements for human rights and sustainable development through research, advocacy, capacity development and solidarity actions in Asia and beyond. It has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and consultative relationship with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. The FORUM-ASIA Secretariat is based in Bangkok, with offices in Jakarta, Geneva and Kathmandu.
FORUM-Asia provides urgent funding for human rights defenders through their Protection Plan for Human Rights Defenders at Risk.”
“CIVICUS is a global alliance of civil society organisations and activists dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society throughout the world. “We were established in 1993 and since 2002 have been proudly headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with additional hubs across the globe.
We are a membership alliance with more than 9,000 members in more than 175 countries. Our definition of civil society is broad and covers non-governmental organisations, activists, civil society coalitions and networks, protest and social movements, voluntary bodies, campaigning organisations, charities, faith-based groups, trade unions and philanthropic foundations. Our membership is diverse, spanning a wide range of issues, sizes and organisation types.””
CIVICUS Crisis Response Fund provides funding for short term projects (3-6 months) to CSOs (Civil Society Organisations) working with human rights – projects that address a threat related to freedom of peaceful assembly and association by doing advocacy activities, or resilience ones. Must be “primarily registered in the United States”.
The craigslist Charitable Fund (CCF) “provides millions of dollars each year in one-time and recurring grants to hundreds of partner organizations addressing four broad areas of interest.” The organization is known for donating heavily to nonprofit journalism outlets, gun control groups, and environmentalist groups.
DemandAT is an interdisciplinary project addressing the challenge of understanding demand for trafficking in human beings and analysing the policy and practical measures that can influence this demand. The project feeds into recent efforts of European countries to find ways to reduce demand for the products and services provided by trafficked persons within their own economies and societies as a means of tackling trafficking. The project investigates multiple forms of trafficking and forced labour to assess the impact and potential of demand-side measures to reduce trafficking. The DemandAT project brings together a multidisciplinary team of experts across seven European countries from 1 January 2014 to 30 June 2017.
Dreilinden supports people whos sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics do not conform with social norms as well as women and girls. Dreilinden shares their vision of a life free from gender-based discrimination and violence – a life that makes sense for them in their diverse social contexts by means of grants to existing organizations and project grants, as well as by social investments, and networking.
Edge Fund is a grantmaking body with a difference: we support efforts to achieve social, economic and environmental justice, and to end imbalances of wealth and power. Edge believes that if we are to create a world free of injustice and inequality we need to completely change the way our societies are organised. We are passionate believers in ‘participatory grantmaking’, where the funder and the funded work together to decide where the money goes.
European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance (ESWA) was formerly known as International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE). This sex worker-led network has a membership of 105 organisations across 35 countries of Europe and Central Asia. At national level, ICRSE supports sex workers’ self organisation though trainings, development of activities or strategic plan as well as submission to governmental consultations. At European level, ICRSE coordinates advocacy and campaigns and has been very active in building alliances with key European civil society networks across movements, and especially with migrants and LGBTI+ organisations.
“FIDA-Kenya is a premier women’s rights organization in Kenya that has offered free legal aid to over 3,000,000 women over the course of 35 years.
We are committed to creating a society that respects and upholds women’s rights with a mission to promote women’s individual and collective power to claim their rights in all spheres of life. FIDA-Kenya is a membership organization with over 1,400 women advocates and lawyers in Kenya.
We are an accredited institution and has observer status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR). The submission of periodic shadow reports to the international and human rights agencies continues to provide space for advocacy at a higher level. The adoption of the Resolution on Women’s Rights to Land and Productive Resources by the ACHPR, Litigation of Women Land Rights before the ACHPR are critical achievements made by regional advocacy efforts.”
The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) is an Alliance of more than 80 non-governmental organisations from Africa, Asia, Europe, LAC and North America. “GAATW sees the phenomenon of human trafficking intrinsically embedded in the context of migration for the purpose of labour. GAATW therefore promotes and defends the human rights of all migrants and their families against the threat of an increasingly globalised labour market and calls for safety standards for migrant workers in the process of migration and in the formal and informal work sectors – garment and food processing, agriculture and farming, domestic work, sex work – where slavery-like conditions and practices exist.”
Human Rights Funders Network (HRFN) is a network of funders in the Global South, East, and North dedicated to resourcing human rights action around the world. In 2021 the published key findings based on their analysis of 2018 funding data: Advancing Human Rights: 2018 Key Findings. Formerly known as the Internaional Human Rights Funder Group (IHRFG) – its 2016 conference was featured in Deciding For All or All Deciding
“Human Rights Watch (HRW) investigates and reports on abuses happening in all corners of the world. We are roughly 450 people of 70-plus nationalities who are country experts, lawyers, journalists, and others who work to protect the most at risk, from vulnerable minorities and civilians in wartime, to refugees and children in need. We direct our advocacy towards governments, armed groups and businesses, pushing them to change or enforce their laws, policies and practices. To ensure our independence, we refuse government funding and carefully review all donations to ensure that they are consistent with our policies, mission, and values. We partner with organizations large and small across the globe to protect embattled activists and to help hold abusers to account and bring justice to victims.”
