Publications & Tools

“Sex workers already face many forms of financial and tech-based discrimination….Here’s what to know about financial discrimination against sex workers, how we’re fighting back, and what Mastercard must do now – and in the longrun – to protect sex workers’ rights.”

“Sex workers and their communities are at the forefront of the Harm
Reduction movement because there are strong similarities between drug
use and sex work. Both are heavily stigmatized. And, much like people
who use drugs, people who engage in sex work are marginalized and
criminalized for the choices they make about their bodies.” HRC provides a Fact Sheet o nSex Work and Harm Reduction as well as relevant resources.

“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.

“We reviewed evidence from more than 800 studies and reports on the burden and HIV implications of human rights violations against sex workers. Published research documents widespread abuses of human rights perpetrated by both state and non-state actors. Such violations directly and indirectly increase HIV susceptibility, and undermine effective HIV-prevention and intervention efforts. Violations include homicide; physical and sexual violence, from law enforcement, clients, and intimate partners; unlawful arrest and detention; discrimination in accessing health services; and forced HIV testing. Abuses occur across all policy regimes, although most profoundly where sex work is criminalised through punitive law. Protection of sex workers is essential to respect, protect, and meet their human rights, and to improve their health and wellbeing. Research findings affirm the value of rights-based HIV responses for sex workers, and underscore the obligation of states to uphold the rights of this marginalised population.”

The European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance is proud to launch its latest Impact Report which highlights our key successes between 2010-2020. This report aims to educate members, partners, funders and other stakeholders on the impact of ESWA work over the last 10 years in areas such as advocacy, policy, capacity building and sub granting to its members. In these turbulent political times, fighting for sex workers’ rights and promoting a human rights and public health-based approach to sex work can be very challenging. We hope this Impact Report highlights some of the important changes ESWA and its members have achieved in our region.

In 2013, The WHO together with UNFPA, UNAIDS, UNDP the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) and the World Bank published ‘Implementing Comprehensive HIV/STI Programmes with Sex Workers: Practical Approaches from Collaborative Interventions’ (or the SWIT as the document has become known). The SWIT reaffirms that the health of sex workers doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and that countries should work towards the decriminalisation of sex work, and the empowerment and self-determination of sex working communities, as a fundamental part of the fight against HIV.

In 2017, Red Umbrella Fund commissioned research by Wendelijn Vollbehr on how sex worker-led organisations are dealing with the issue of human trafficking. She interviewed members of 13 organisations in 13 different countries. “The interviews addressed how the respondents defined and approached the topic of human trafficking, how they experienced anti-trafficking policies and practices, and if and how their organisations dealt with trafficking situations.”

As the world has been shaken by COVID-19, those most marginalized, stigmatized, and criminalized have been pushed further into poverty, to the grave detriment of their health and human rights. Sex workers have not only been seriously impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also by governments’ emergency responses that, in many contexts, have been punitive, overbroad, and/or discriminatory. Amnesty International urges governments to take targeted action to address the disparate impact of COVID-19 on sex workers and to protect their health and other human rights, including through tackling the key issues of concern that sex workers have raised since the outbreak of COVID-19, such as their
exclusion from social and economic support schemes, increased criminalization and lack of protection from violence, and diminished access to health services.

This toolkit summarises each Intersection Briefing Paper developed over the last three years on sex workers’ rights as migrant rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, labour rights and right to health issues. It furthermore includes an infographic on sex work legal frameworks and recommendations to sex workers and allies on how to build intersectional social justice movements, inclusive of all sex workers.

An e-book with a collection of articles focusing on why anti-trafficking advocates should not hesitate supporting sex workers’ rights.

This volume focuses upon three main questions:
– Why are so many anti-trafficking organisations reluctant to take a clear position on the status of sex work?
– What are the main effects of fence-sitting upon politics and policy?
– What would encourage anti-traffickers to get off the fence and directly support sex workers’ rights?

“The Beyond Trafficking and Slavery editorial team is not on the fence. We strongly favour and support sex workers’ rights.”

A reference brief by OSF that “aims to clarify terms and illustrate examples of alternatives to the use of criminal law as a response to sex work.”

“The lives of LGBTQ sex workers in Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia are impacted by many hardships, including precarious living conditions, various forms and levels of criminalisation and discrimination as well as violence and human rights violations. […] This briefing paper developed by SWAN aims to fill the gap in knowledge about LGBTQ sex workers in Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.” Available in English and Russian.

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.”

“The Advancing Human Rights initiative tracks the evolving state of global human rights funding. It is a collaboration between Candid and Human Rights Funders Network, in partnership with Ariadne and Prospera. Our aim is to strengthen funders’ decision-making, promote collaborations, and improve the effectiveness of human rights philanthropy.”

“One of the main findings, as detailed in the recent FCAA and Elton John AIDS Foundation “Converging Epidemics: COVID-19, HIV & Inequality” report, was that HIV-related intermediary funders are best positioned to provide flexible, strategic support for the most critical needs of community members and community-led groups working at the intersection of HIV, human rights and racial justice.
The purpose of this follow-up briefing paper is to help make the case for greater investment in HIV-related intermediaries, particularly those that are community-rooted and community-led.
It explores their role, added value and impact, and key challenges and needs. It also looks at the strategic and practical considerations that donors who currently support intermediaries take into account when developing relationships with their intermediary partners.
Finally, this briefing paper also offers new benchmark data to contextualize the level of HIV-related philanthropy moving to intermediary and community-rooted funding organizations.
We hope that the case studies and insights from interviews conducted and data analyzed for this paper will encourage donors — whether public or private, large or small — to invest in community-rooted funders and/or adopt some of the community-rooted practices described within.
A series of recommendations for putting this into practice is included at the conclusion of this briefing paper.”

Read the full report.
Read the individual report case studies
Initiative Sankofa d’Afrique de l’Ouest
Southern AIDS Coalition and the Contigo Fund
Global Network of Young People Living with HIV and Advocates for Youth
Red Umbrella Fund
Read the accompanying report: Converging Epidemics: COVID-19, HIV and Inequality