On 25th-29th April 2010, the 21st International Harm Reduction Conference is taking place where it was first established in Liverpool, England.
Here is an update about sex worker and allies involvement, so far, in the conference. A major session on sex work has been accepted as part of the program, this is supported by the International Sex Work Harm Reduction Caucus. The caucus is an informal network bringing together sex worker organizations and representatives and was formed in order to promote the inclusion of sex workers in debates about harm reduction and human rights particularly within this international forum. It is challenging to get a major session in the program so this is good news! The session entitled “The War Against Sex Workers” currently includes presentations from ALCIS in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tais Plus based in Kyrgyzstan , Scarlett Alliance (Australia) reflecting on sex worker peer to peer capacity development in Fiji & He Jin Kim presenting on transgender issues. It is hoped the session will go ahead as accepted but there are still some funding issues to support participation to be confirmed.
In addition a concurrent session supported by UKNSWP entitled “Sex Work & Harm Reduction in the UK: Safety, Skills & the Struggle for Social Inclusion” has been accepted. Also a couple of other sex workers organisations have been accepted to present in other none sex work specific sessions for example Pye JaKobsen (Rose Alliance, Sweden) and Marija Tosheva (HOPS, Macedonia).
So there will be quite a gathering in the Liverpool in spring and an opportunity to influence people in the harm reduction field internationally.