Publications & Tools

“Sex workers are adults who receive money or goods in exchange for consensual sexual services or erotic performances, either regularly or occasionally. Human rights funding for sex workers recognizes the agency, bodily autonomy, and self-determination of sex workers, and distinguishes between sex work and human trafficking. It funds initiatives to address and reduce harms related to criminalization, stigma, and discrimination and supports the development of movements pursuing these goals.” This report summarisins the state of human rights funding for sex workers in 2018 – less than 1% of all funding.

In 2020, Front Line Defenders issued an extensive report highlighting LGBTIQ+ and Sex Worker Rights Defenders At Risk During COVID-19. The release of the report was also documented by journalists, including The Hill. The report found that: “[i]n every country we visited, despite the risk of arrest, sexual violence and surveillance sex worker activists continue to insist on their communities? right to assemble and to exist.”

“Measures that restrict sex workers? movement and so-called “anti-trafficking” measures are connected. Sex work and trafficking are often conflated in law, policy and practice, including in border control and policing. Most of the discussion on trafficking in international policy spaces has ignored the impact of anti-trafficking laws and policies on sex workers’ mobility. Barriers to sex workers’ mobility make it harder for them to engage with politics and civil issues and impede their right to associate and organise. Sex workers around the world organise collectively to advocate for their human, health, and labour rights.”

“For racialised sex workers, many of whom are (undocumented) migrants, the racism and discrimination they experience is structurally rooted in a socio-political landscape that includes anti-sex work, anti-trafficking, and anti-immigration (ASWTI) laws and policies. This community report explores how racism is entangled in ASWTI legislation in Europe. To do so, the European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance (ESWA) conducted a literature review on the history of sexualised racism in the European context and racism in global and national sex work policies and laws.”

This briefing paper presents the findings of a mapping exercise undertaken by the Sex Workers’ Advocacy Network (SWAN) in early 2021. It explores the situation and needs of migrant sex workers in the Central, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia region (CEECA). Despite the significant scale of migration of sex workers throughout the region, there is a lack of available research on the specific experiences of migrant sex workers and what support is available to them.

Abstract: In South Africa, the conflation of sex work with human trafficking means that migrant/mobile sex workers are often framed as victims of trafficking while arguments for the decriminalisation of sex work are discounted due to claims about the risks of increased trafficking. This is despite the lack of clear evidence that trafficking, including in the sex industry, is a widespread problem. Sex worker organisations have called for an evidence-based approach whereby migration, sex work, and trafficking are distinguished and the debate moves beyond the polarised divisions over sex work. This paper takes up this argument by drawing on research with sex workers and a sex worker organisation in South Africa, as well as reflections shared at two Sex Workers’ Anti-trafficking Research Symposiums. In so doing, the authors propose the further development of a Sex Work, Exploitation, and Migration/Mobility Model that takes into consideration the complexities of the quotidian experiences of migration and selling sex. This, we suggest, could enable a more effective and productive partnership between sex worker organisations and other stakeholder groups, including anti-trafficking and labour rights organisations, trade unions, and others to protect the rights and well-being of all those involved in sex work.

“The report is based on research conducted with sex worker organisations in seven countries: Canada, Mexico, Spain, South Africa, India, Thailand and New Zealand. It highlights cases where sex workers, or sex worker organisations, learnt of situations where a woman was experiencing violence, working under unacceptable conditions, or was brought to the industry through force or deception, for the purpose of exploitation. In these instances, sex workers resolved the issue as a collective, by providing advice and referral to other organisations, negotiating with the brothel owner/madam, chasing the pimp out of their area, or gathering money to help the woman return home.”

TAMPEP advocates for the human and civil rights of sex workers in Europe. TAMPEP resources include papers that outline the network’s position on a number of issues relating to migrant sex work, training manuals (in English, Russian, Ukranian), and a variety of reports.

This guideance note…is practical guidance for addressing the significant unmet needs and vulnerabilities of displaced persons engaging in sex work. It is a starting point. More detailed and comprehensive guidance is warranted and should be developed in the near future; it should be the product of thoughtful consultation and research, a collaborative process in which affected individuals and experts from across humanitarian and non-humanitarian communities participate.