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
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Items by kate
Paulo Longo Research Initiative
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Bridging Populations—Sexual Risk Behaviors and HIV Prevalence in Clients and Partners of Female Sex Workers, Bangkok, Thailand 2007
Posted: August 1st, 2011, 6:57am PDT by kate
off Artcile in the Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, Vol. 88, No. 3. The aim of this study is to estimate HIV prevalence and assess sexual behaviors in a high-risk and difficult-to-reach population of clients of female sex workers (FSWs). A modified variation of respondent-driven sampling was conducted among FSWs in Bangkok, where FSWs recruited 3 FSW peers, 1 client, and 1 nonpaying partner. Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Health and HIVBridging 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
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Paulo Longo Research Initiative Newsletter
Posted: July 19th, 2011, 6:41am PDT by kate
Editorial ‘Treatment as Prevention’: How might the game change for sex workers?by Cheryl Overs
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‘Treatment as Prevention’: How might the game change for sex workers?
Posted: July 19th, 2011, 6:39am PDT by kate
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.
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“Maybe it will be better once this World Cup has passed” Research findings regarding the impact of the 2010 Soccer World Cup on Sex Work in South Africa
Posted: July 19th, 2011, 4:35am PDT by kate
offInternational 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
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GET THAT WOMAN OFF THE ROAD
Posted: July 17th, 2011, 4:37am PDT by kate
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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Men and Development: Politicizing Masculinities
Posted: July 15th, 2011, 3:54am PDT by kate
off'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] -
The Invisible Men: finding and engaging with the male partners of street sex workers
Posted: July 12th, 2011, 7:53am PDT by kate
offAn 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 -
Sex Workers Demand a Place in the Constitution
Posted: July 12th, 2011, 7:39am PDT by kate
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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The International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society 2011 Conference: A summary of the content related to sex work
Posted: July 11th, 2011, 6:17am PDT by kate
off The 8th Conference of the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society took place in Madrid from the 6-9 July 2011. The theme of the conference was the multiple ways that equality and inequality are articulated through sexuality. Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Economics and Development Theme: Gender and Sexuality Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law Theme: Migration and Mobility
abstracts from IASSCS.rtf
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Sex Work coverage at the South African AIDS conferences: What’s the verdict?
Posted: June 29th, 2011, 2:41am PDT by kate
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.)
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“I expect to be abused and I have fear”: Sex workers’ experiences of human rights violations and barriers to accessing healthcare in four African countries
Posted: June 27th, 2011, 2:42am PDT by kate
off
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
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An Exploratory Study of the Social Contexts, Practices and Risks of Men Who Sell Sex in Southern and Eastern Africa
Posted: June 27th, 2011, 2:19am PDT by kate
offThe 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
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The African Sex Worker Alliance launch new research on human rights
Posted: June 14th, 2011, 8:28am PDT by kate
off
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 -
Monthly sex worker tests are ridiculous, health experts say
Posted: June 12th, 2011, 11:49pm PDT by kate
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.
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Indigenous Peoples In the Sex Trade - Speaking For Ourselves
Posted: June 12th, 2011, 10:10pm PDT by kate
offBy 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 -
Ain't I a Woman? A Global Dialogue between the Sex Workers’ Rights movement and the Stop Violence Against Women Movement
Posted: June 6th, 2011, 11:38pm PDT by kate
featureA 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
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Prostitution latest target of Rio's Olympic change
Posted: June 3rd, 2011, 1:29am PDT by kate
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.
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Malawi: Case Challenging Mandatory HIV Testing of Sex Workers Filed in High Court
Posted: June 2nd, 2011, 11:56pm PDT by kate
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.
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High cost of living in Kenya forces women into prostitution
Posted: May 26th, 2011, 7:05am PDT by kate
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
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Why Do Women in India Become Sex Workers?
Posted: May 26th, 2011, 12:35am PDT by kate
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.
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Loss of follow-up among HIV infected female sex workers receiving antiretrovirals in Dakar, Senegal
Posted: May 25th, 2011, 2:22am PDT by kate
offArticle 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 -
The role of brothels in reducing HIV risk in Sonagachi, India
Posted: May 25th, 2011, 12:59am PDT by kate
offArticle 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 -
Demystifying Sex Work and Sex Workers
Posted: May 25th, 2011, 12:20am PDT by kate
feature
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 -
Cost effectiveness of targeted HIV prevention interventions for female sex workers in India
Posted: May 24th, 2011, 4:03am PDT by kate
offArticle 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 -
Sex and the City: Are raids the answer?
Posted: May 23rd, 2011, 1:41am PDT by kate
rescued.jpg
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?
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Is sex work exploitation? A discussion at the launch of the pan-India survey
Posted: May 23rd, 2011, 1:05am PDT by kate
offThis 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 -
Myanmar's sex worker clinics offer solace from stigma
Posted: May 23rd, 2011, 12:50am PDT by kate
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.
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HIV treatment as prevention—it works
Posted: May 20th, 2011, 5:45am PDT by kate
featureArticle 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 -
Universal voluntary HIV testing with immediate antiretroviral therapy as a strategy for elimination of HIV transmission: a mathematical model
Posted: May 13th, 2011, 4:10am PDT by kate
featureAn article by Granich RM, Gilks CF, Dye C, et al in the Lancet 2009, 373: 48–57.
Year of publication: 2010 Theme: Health and HIV Author: Granich RM, Gilks CF, Dye C, et al Relevant URL: Link">[http%3a] to the article for free on the Lancet website -
Heterosexual HIV-1 transmission after initiation of antiretroviral therapy: a prospective cohort analysis
Posted: May 13th, 2011, 2:00am PDT by kate
offArticle by Donnell D, Baeten JM, Kiarie J, et al. in the Lancet, 2010; 375(9731):2092-2098.
Year of publication: 2010 Theme: Health and HIV Author: Donnell D, Baeten JM, Kiarie J, et al. Relevant URL: Download the article for free from the Lancet website -
Choice in the labour market – sex work as “work”
Posted: May 7th, 2011, 4:43am PDT by kate
offA blog post by Nivedita Menon on Kafila, 6 May 2011.
The summary of preliminary findings of the first pan-India survey of sex-workers is now available on-line. 3000 women from 14 states and 1 UT were surveyed, all of them from outside collectivised/organised and therefore politically active spaces, precisely “in order to bring forth the voices of a hitherto silent section of sex workers.”
The significant finding is this: About 71 percent of them said they had entered the profession willingly.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Economics and Development Author: Nivedita Menon Relevant URL: Link to the blog on the Kafila site -
Call for submissions for the Africa regional dialogue of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law
Posted: May 4th, 2011, 1:12am PDT by kate
commission.jpg
The Regional Dialogue will take place on 3-4 August 2011 in Johannesburg, South Africa. In addition to giving voice to regional and country perspectives on issues of HIV and the law, the dialogue aims to contribute to regional efforts for creating enabling legal environments which support effective HIV responses.
The Commission looks forward to hearing from you if you have worked or presently work in Africa on the following issues.
(1) Laws and practices that effectively criminalise people living with HIV and vulnerable to HIV;
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70 per cent women enter flesh trade voluntarily: study
Posted: May 3rd, 2011, 2:57am PDT by kate
offAn article in the Indian Express by Shruti Nambiar on the 3 May 2011.
Pune: Seventy per cent of women sex workers are not pushed or forced into flesh trade but are drawn to it by the lure of higher income, according to the preliminary result of a survey released by women’s group Akshara.
The preliminary results of the first leg of a pan-India study being conducted by two University of Pune researchers was released on April 30.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Economics and Development Author: Shruti Nambiar Relevant URL: Link to the article on the Indian Express website -
Majority of female sex workers join the trade voluntarily-survey says
Posted: May 2nd, 2011, 3:10am PDT by kate
offA news story in the Health(Y) Destination on May 1 2011.
A recent survey conducted at Pune reveals that 70 percent of the female sex workers join the trade voluntarily and they were not forced or sold.
Most of the sex workers join the trade only in their later age after relieved from other labour such as domestic work and construction of building work. It is revealed that the sex work is also felt by them as that of the other labour work.
The findings were revealed by a survey conducted by ‘First pan-India survey of sex workers’ at Pune University.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Economics and Development Relevant URL: Link to the original story -
Better livelihood prospect drives poor Indian women to prostitution
Posted: May 2nd, 2011, 2:54am PDT by kate
offAn article by Subir Ghosh in Digital World published on the 1 May 2011.
New Delhi, India. Four out of five female sex workers in India have joined the profession voluntarily; they were not forced or sold into it. Prostitution is just one among several livelihood options available to women from poor backgrounds, says a new survey.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Economics and Development Author: Subir Ghosh Relevant URL: Link to the article online -
'70% sex workers opt for prostitution'
Posted: May 2nd, 2011, 1:23am PDT by kate
featureThis news story was written by Aarefa Johari for the Hindustan Times on the 1 May 2011. The story is a write up of the launch of the 'First pan-India survey of sex workers', conducted by Pune University academicians Rohini Sahni and V Kalyan Shankar.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Economics and Development Author: Aarefa Johari Relevant URL: Link to the story on the Hindustan Times site -
'Better pay drives women to prostitution'
Posted: May 2nd, 2011, 12:21am PDT by kate
featureA news story in the Times of India by Anahita Mukherji which highlights our research on sex work's position in the labour market in India. This story was published on Labour Day, or May Day, 2011.
Year of publication: 2011 Theme: Economics and Development Author: Anahita Mukherji Relevant URL: Link to the story on the Times of India site -
First Pan-India Survey of Female Sex Workers: Release of preliminary findings on the eve of Labour Day
Posted: April 25th, 2011, 5:17am PDT by kate
The first pan-India survey of female sex workers, sponsored by the Centre for Advocacy on Stigma and Marginalization, Sangli, was conducted by Rohini Sahni and V Kalyan Shakar of the Department of Economics at the University of Pune. This unique survey documents the lived realities of sex workers; delves into the complex details of their day-to-day interactions; the stigma and marginalisation they experience and attempts to understand the challenges they face as well as their responses. The survey pools a large national level sample of 3000 unorganised sex workers from 14 states. Date: 30 April 2011 - 3:00pm -
The Global Commission on HIV and the Law seeks submissions from the Latin America region
Posted: April 4th, 2011, 4:31am PDT by kate
On the 26-27 June 2011 the Global Commission on HIV and the Law will hold a consultation on the Latin America region. The Commission is working to improve HIV responses by addressing key legal barriers and promoting enabling legal environments.
You can read more about the commission on their website.
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Shining a RhED light: the 2011 Health and Sex Work Research Symposium
Posted: April 4th, 2011, 3:48am PDT by kate
Inner South Community Health Service – provider of the ‘Resourcing Health and Education’ programme for people working in the legal and illegal sex industries in Victoria – invite members of the research, public health and sex working communities to attend their inaugural research symposium. The symposium will take place at the Victoria University City Convention Centre, Level 12, 300 Flinders Street Melbourne, between 9am and 3:45pm on Wednesday 25th May 2011.
Date: 25 May 2011 - 9:00am -
International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers
Posted: December 17th, 2010, 2:41am PST by kate
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This is a selection of some of the links to information about sex work published in the last months of 2010 by PLRI. To keep up with news about sex work, human rights and law around the world follow PLRI on Twitter. twitter.com/PLRI
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Press Release: Sex workers, governments and UN join hands to boost AIDS response in Asia-Pacific region
Posted: October 18th, 2010, 10:28am PDT by kate
PATTAYA, Thailand, 15 October 2010 - At the first-ever Asia-Pacific consultation on HIV and sex work, sex workers, government officials and United Nations participants emphasized the need for urgent action to increase focus and positioning of sex work within HIV responses in the region.
Close to 150 delegates from eight countries (China, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and Thailand) met in Pattaya, Thailand, to form partnerships and review policies and laws that keep sex workers from accessing HIV services and sexual and reproductive health services.
“Sex work interventions must be central to scaling up the HIV response, and listening to sex workers is crucial,” said Jan Beagle, Deputy-Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) who spoke at the consultation. “Sex workers experience firsthand the effects of laws and harmful enforcement practices that violate their human rights and hamper progress on HIV,” he said.
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African Sex Worker Alliance Statement
Posted: October 8th, 2010, 7:51am PDT by kate
Delegates from the African Sex Worker Alliance (ASWA) and a church leader from Nigeria gathered in Pretoria from the 28th September to 10th October for a second historic meeting as a follow up to the first ever African sex worker lead conference in February 2009.
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Helen Clark: Remarks at Inaugural meeting of HIV Global Commission
Posted: October 8th, 2010, 7:47am PDT by kate
On the Occasion of the Inaugural Meeting of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
First of all, a very warm welcome from me to all Commissioners who have been able to attend this inaugural meeting of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law.
I would like to express my gratitude to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso for hosting the meeting at his institute in Brazil – a nation which has long been a leader in the global AIDS response.
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No Excuses: A Living Experience of the Struggle for Rights
Posted: August 24th, 2010, 9:02am PDT by kate
featurePLRI partner Meena Seshu gave the prestigious Jonathan Mann Memorial Lecture at the 2010 International AIDS Conference.
Meena reflects on the approach that her organisation SANGRAM has used to support the work of VAMP the collective of women in sex work.
She introduces SANGRAM’s Bill of Rights which sets out guidelines for programming interventions around HIV and AIDS:
Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law Author: Meena Seshu Relevant URL: Link to the film on the International Women's Health Coalition website -
AIDS 2010, Conference Wrap Up
Posted: August 19th, 2010, 8:23am PDT by kate
by Cheryl Overs
For me AIDS 2010 was the culmination of months of work as a Community Programming Committee (CPC) member and co-chair of the Global Village. It was also the first time in several years that I have seen all the global and regional sex workers rights activists. In that time the Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) and other networks have formalised and gathered funding and rights awareness has spread to more countries. So it was wonderful to see old friends and to meet the wonderful new activists from countries as diverse as Guyana, Kenya, USA, South Africa, UK, China and Uganda.
It was great to catch up with people who have gone from being peer educators to managing programmes and public advocacy, to see the materials sex workers are producing and to see the NSWP itself thriving under the leadership of my old friend Ruth Morgan Thomas (three months older than me). I am sure that for many people the Red Umbrellas would be the most potent symbol of the struggle for human rights they remember from the conference.
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Chinese Government Detains Sex Worker Activist Calling for the Decriminalisation of Sex Work
Posted: August 11th, 2010, 3:37am PDT by kate
On Monday August 2, 2010 police in Beijing detained Ye Haiyan, an activist with community based organisation the China Women's Rights Workshop, after she joined other sex workers in publicly petitioning for the Chinese government to decriminalise prostitution.
The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) have released a statement in which they explain how they stand in solidarity with Ye Haiyan, human rights defenders, and sex workers who speak up against stigma, discrimination, and the criminalisation of their livelihoods.
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NEW! When I dare to be powerful - Sex Worker Oral Herstory
Posted: March 16th, 2010, 4:03am PDT by kate
featureA Publication by Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA), written by Zawadi Nyong’o and edited by Christine Butegwa and Solome Nakaweesi-Kimbugwe.
AMwA has been working in partnership with sex worker activists in Uganda and other countries in East Africa. This oral history project allowed women to speak for themselves to try and better understand the politics behind sexuality, sexual rights and sex work.
The research tries to present the multiple dimensions of women’s lives,
Year of publication: 2010 Theme: Economics and Development Theme: Gender and Sexuality Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law Author: Zawadi Nyong’o Relevant URL: Link to the pdf on the NSWP website -
NEW! Update from Rwanda on proposed law reform
Posted: February 26th, 2010, 3:31am PST by kate
By Matthew Greenall, independent consultant
According to reports, the new penal code currently being considered by Rwanda's Senate includes a provision to criminalise sex work. The existing penal code, which dates from the 1970s, gives judicial authorities the option of placing restrictions on the movement of sex workers, and contains a number of provisions against facilitating or promoting sex work, running sex work establishments and living off the earnings of prostitution. The proposed new article would introduce jail terms and fines for sex workers themselves.
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NEW! A right to be: A film about sex work in the Caribbean
Posted: February 25th, 2010, 1:37am PST by kate
featureA film from the Caribbean Treatment Action Group and the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition about the problems faced by sex workers in the Caribbean. There is a focus on migrant workers, HIV, abuse from the state, stigma and discrimination from the community and efforts to overcome them.
Year of publication: 2010 Theme: Economics and Development Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law Theme: Migration and Mobility Author: The Caribbean Treatment Action Group and the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition -
NEW! The Curious Sex Workers Guide to attending the 18th International AIDS Conference
Posted: December 21st, 2009, 5:37am PST by kate
featureThe 18th International AIDS Conference, will take place in Vienna, Austria, from the 18th to the 23rd of July 2010. The International Network of Sex Work Projects has been working hard to ensure that sex workers are a strong presence at the conference as always. Sex workers will have a Networking Zone and several exhibition booths, some dedicated sessions, speakers, a pre-meeting, a rally and, as always, a party.
Year of publication: 2009 Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Research Ethics and Methods
The Curious Sex Workers Guide to Attending the IAC2010.pdf
Author:
International Network of Sex Work Projects
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NEW! PLRI website launched on International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers
Posted: December 16th, 2009, 1:33am PST by kate
Welcome to the website of the Paulo Longo Research Initiative. We are launching the site on December 17, the Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers in support of sex worker organisations in dozens of countries who are demanding action to stop violence. -
NEW! The Global Network of Sex Work Projects, the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers and the Paulo Longo Research Initiative will produce a new version of Making Sex Work Safe
Posted: September 11th, 2009, 4:38am PDT by kate
Making Sex Work Safe was developed by sex workers from the early International Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP). It was written by Paulo Longo and Cheryl Overs. It provides global perspectives on information about sex workers, analysis of law and policy and guidance about how to ensure that programmes on sex work are rights based and grounded in communities.
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Recognize sex work as legitimate work
Posted: September 10th, 2009, 8:29am PDT by kate
feature
An article by Reynaga, E. in the HIV/AIDS Policy Law Review, 2008 Dec;13(2-3):97-8. It is accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation of Elena Reynaga's plenary address at the International AIDS Conference.
Year of publication: 2008 Theme: Health and HIV Theme: Human Rights and Law
Reynaga E IAC plenary.ppt
Author:
Reynaga, E.
Relevant URL:
Link to the article in the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network: HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review
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PLRI on the Internet
Posted: June 23rd, 2009, 7:11am PDT by kate
The Paulo Longo Research Initiative blog provides easily accessible snippets of sex work news from colleagues and the media. Visit the blog and sign up for alerts. The current theme on the blog is Human Rights and Law. [plri.wordpress.com] .
We are also on Twitter. Please become a follower to keep an eye on news, resources and studies about issues that affect sex workers [twitter.com] .
