HARC, the HIV/AIDS Research and Welfare Centre organized a national sex workers conference in Dhaka Bangladesh on 17th and 18th July 2017. Over 100 sex workers attended this two-day conference with the theme “Nothing for us without us.” Red Umbrella Fund supported the event. … More Sex Workers in Bangladesh hold national conference
Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW) held a five-day “SWIT” regional training from 24-28th April 2017 in Bangkok, Thailand. Participants came from Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Myanmar and China. During the regional training participants shared their experiences of how many SWIT-related activities are currently happening in their countries. … Despite the SWIT being published in 2013, and being a WHO reference document for public health policy, it is clear many states in Asia and the Pacific have not yet engaged with these guidelines. … More Sex workers assess implementation of SWIT
The National Network of Sex Workers has released a statement challenging the conference being organised by the “The Coalition for the Abolition of Prostitution International (Cap Intl).” The statement has been signed by over 2000 sex workers in India who reject the conflation of trafficking with sex work, and the conflation of sex work with violence. … More India: Over 2000 sex workers sign National Network of Sex Workers (NNSW) Statement, 25 Jan 2017
Part One of this article looked at barriers to sex worker community empowerment in Indonesia. Part Two summarizes discussions about addressing violence against sex workers, and community engagement in service provision. … More SWIT Training in Jakarta, Indonesia (Part Two)
The Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers in collaboration with Organisasi Perubahan Sosial Indonesia (OPSI) conducted a national training in Jakarta from 15-17 November 2016. The training focused on the Sex Worker Implementation Tool (SWIT) – a guide for implementing comprehensive HIV/STI programmes with sex workers, published by the World Health Organisation (WHO). … More SWIT Training in Jakarta, Indonesia (Part One)
The Scarlet Alliance National Training and Assessment Program (SANTAP) provides a unique example of how sex workers have pro-actively responded to stigma, discrimination, and ignorance about our profession. … More Resourced and organised: achieving formal recognition of sex workers’ skills in Australia
Sex workers in Sonagachi, West Bengal, in India have taken a number of initiatives to improve education of sex workers and sex workers’ children. They include adult literacy and numeracy classes for sex workers, primary schools for young children of sex workers, a boarding hostel with private tuition for older children, and a co-operative banking system. … More “Making education safe for all” in Sonagachi, India
The Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW) in collaboration with the Vietnam Sex Workers Network (VNSW) organised a training from the 22-24 August in Hanoi, Vietnam on the Global Fund. Seventeen sex workers representing 12 sex worker-led organisations from across the nation attended the training. … More APNSW and VNSW host Global Fund Training in Hanoi, Vietnam
The Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW) facilitated a 3-day training in Kathmandu, Nepal from the 21-23 of September. The training aimed to teach participants about the structure and function of the Global Fund (GF) from a community perspective. … More APNSW hosts Global Fund Training for Sex Workers in Kathmandu, Nepal
Midnight Blue followed the cases of more than 40 transgender sex workers who were arrested in Hong Kong over a period of four years. They found that the actions of law enforcement agencies seriously infringed the human rights of sex workers, and caused them significant psychological and emotional harm. … More Midnight Blue protests mistreatment of arrested transgender sex workers
APNSW in collaboration with the HIV/AIDS Research and Welfare Centre (HARC) organised a 3-day training from 4-6 September 2016. The SWIT training programme focused on community empowerment, human rights, violence against sex workers, and community-led services, rather than only HIV prevention. … More SWIT training in Dhaka, Bangladesh
The museum brings to life the history of sex workers and sex worker skills and culture. It uses interactive displays to challenge the stereotypes and preconceptions about sex work. … More “This is Us” Sex Work Museum Opens in Bangkok, Thailand
The highlight of the week for me was the presentation of VAMP’s work in building a collective to respond to HIV in India. … More Asia Pacific voices at Durban 2016 – Interview with Kiran Deshmukh
The Australian State Government of New South Wales has continued its support for decriminalisation. Sex workers were concerned the inquiry into brothel regulation that begun in 2015 could have resulted in the introduction of a licensing framework and/or a specialised police squad for the sex industry. These measures would end decriminalisation, despite its documented success … More New South Wales Continues Support for Decriminalisation
… thirty nine sex workers took part in the workshop in Rajshahi … [which] focussed on three themes: human rights, community empowerment and leadership. … More HARC Hosts Regional Training on Community Empowerment
The situation for sex workers in Timor-Leste is very difficult. Sex work is criminalised, and it is hard to work. … More Red Umbrella Fund Provides Funding to $carlet Timor Collective
A session called “Reclaiming Rights: Sex Workers Speak” was held on the first day of the 12th International Conference on AIDS in the Asia Pacific (ICAAP) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The conference ran from the 12 -14 of March. The session was organised by SANGRAM (India) and hosted by the National Network of Sex Workers India … More “Reclaiming Rights: Sex Workers Speak” ICAAP Session
Sex Workers in West Bengal are using the upcoming election to remind politicians they need to keep their promises. … More Sex Workers in West Bengal Demand Respect from Politicians
Participants identified five priorities that APNSW and Pacific members will work on over the next three years … More Pacific Members Set Strategic Priorities
““If all the recommendations made in the report get accepted by the court it would decriminalise sex workers running a brothel by themselves. It would make a huge change, which will stop police harassment” – Ms. Bharati Dey, panel member. … More News from Supreme Court for Indian Sex Workers
Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers 