Welcome to the Network of Sex Work Projects!
In 1991 an informal alliance of sex workers and organizations that provide services to sex workers formed as the Network of Sex Work Projects. NSWP is a legally constituted international organisation for promoting sex workers' health and human rights. With member organizations in more than 40 countries, the Network develops partnerships with technical support agencies to work on independently-financed projects.
Last update: August 05, 2008
What's HOT at NSWP?
- Iraqi refugees forced into prostitution
- The latest video from citizen journalism project Alive in Baghdad features interviews with two Iraqi women living in Syria who have been forced to support themselves through sex work.
- AIDS Conference Pre-Conference Declaration
- Sex workers attending the AIDS Conference in Mexico City have issued a declaration.
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- Declaration (English) [PDF, 56K]
- Declaration (Spanish) [PDF, 56K]
- Declaration (Russian) [PDF, 48K]
- Research for Sex Work 10
- Celebrate a decade of Research for Sex Work! The tenth issue has been released. It is bilingual, with text in Spanish and English.
- Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act — 1 July 2008
- In July, the Parliament of India will vote on an amendment to India's 2006 Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Amendment Bill that will further stigmatize and violate the human rights of sex workers by criminalizing the purchase of sexual services in India.
- Sex workers and advocates in India held a national day of action to protest the ITPA on July 1. Meena Seshu has spoken out against the amendment
- Links to press coverage of the National Day of Action are now available.
- Sex Workers at the UN High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS — 10-11 June 2008
- Sex workers were very active during the UN High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS. Press statements were released to thank Ban Ki Moon for his support for the recommendations of the Report of the Commission on HIV/AIDS in Asia, including decriminalization of sex work. Gulnara Kurmanova spoke about sex work at the UN High Level meeting on HIV/AIDS. Sex workers and activists protested human rights abuses of sex workers in Cambodia, and a fabulous party was held. All the statements and photos are accessible on the UNGASS activity page.
- NSWP Donor Guidelines
- The Network of Sex Work Projects offers this guidance for donors and agencies considering funding or implementing projects for sex workers. It describes the basic guidelines for best practices for addressing HIV prevention, treatment and care among sex workers and combating abuses in sex work whilst respecting the human rights of sex workers.
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- Guidelines (print version) [PDF, 1020K]
- Guidelines (screen version) [PDF, 64K]
- COSWAS Parade — 3 March 2008
- Taiwan's COSWAS held a parade and demonstration 8 March 2008, Women's Day, to hold open conversations with the presidential candidates.
- Global Working Group Letter to Dr Peter Piot, Director of UNAIDS (PDF)
- This letter was sent by the Global Working Group to Dr. Peter Piot, Director of UNAIDS, sent 14 February, to request a meeting to discuss and resolve the state of the guidance note. To date, the UN Reference Group on Human Rights and UNAIDS' Programme Coordinating Board, have stood behind the GWG, but the GWG has yet to receive direct communication from UNAIDS or UNFPA.
- Carol Jenkins — 22 January 2008
- Carol Jenkins passed away at 11 pm on 22nd January, 2008, in Bangkok, Thailand, of cancer. Carol was a great supporter of sex workers and a member of the inaugural board of the NSWP. Her recent work and publications included a study of life opportunities for transgenders in Thailand, a study of rape of sex workers in Cambodia, and HIV assessments in the Middle East and North Africa. She pioneered the use of respondent driven sampling with sex workers, in Fiji, Cambodia and elsewhere. You can leave comments about Carol on this website in her memory.
- You can also download a PDF of the obituary written by Melissa Ditmore and Christine Stewart, which was published in Culture, Health and Sexuality for which Carol served on the international editorial advisory board.
- Support for sex workers' participation in abstract sessions at AIDS2008 (PDF)
- APROASE Mexico and the Network of Sex Work Projects are encouraging and coordinating the participation of male, transgender and female sex workers, sex work projects, advocates and networks in the International AIDS Conference which will take place in Mexico City from 3-8 August 2008.
- Response to UNAIDS Guidance Note — December 2007
- Meena Seshu spoke to the United Nations Human Rights Reference Group about the Guidance Note in December 2007. Here are her slides. In response, the Reference Group supported the NSWP Global Working Group in its recommendations that the guidance be rewritten taking the comments provided by the Reference Group into account, that the Reference Group be consulted on the ongoing drafting of the document, and that a Reference Group member be invited to participate in the meeting that will discuss the draft guidance.
- Riots and protests in El Alto — Bolivia, October 19, 2007
- The red-light area of the city of El Alto in Bolivia has been ransacked. Local residents destroyed bars and brothels and assaulted sex workers. Following the attacks, sex workers have been arrested, jailed, and detained. Some have sewn their lips shut in protest.
- Susan Lopez Embury has drafted a letter to send to the Bolivian government to support the sex workers in El Alto. Please see our page about El Alto in the Rights section for more information and for copies of the letter in English and Spanish.
- NSWP Coordinated Response to UNAIDS Draft Guidance on Sex Work — September 03, 2007
- UNAIDS held a global consultation on sex work a year ago, and sex workers were well-represented, but our input is not reflected in the UNAIDS guidance note on sex work. The UNAIDS paper combines some of the most repressive approaches to sex work and HIV, ones that do little to empower sex worker to protect themselves but instead stigmatise sex work more and make working conditions even worse. A committee of volunteers, the Expert Group on UN HIV and Sex Work Policy coordinated by NSWP, is re-writing the UNAIDS guidance and this will be presented to UNAIDS by the Indian National Network of Sex Workers later this month.
- It is important for sex workers to stand together. Your voice is critical to this effort. NSWP is soliciting input from sex workers from all regions, in particular Latin America and Africa. Send your reactions and slogans and questions to rights @ nswp dot org before September 14!
- ICAAP 2007 Presentations — Sri Lanka, August 19-23, 2007
- Khartini Slamah of the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers made two presentations at the 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP)
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- "Intensifying prevention for sex workers" by Khartini Slamah and Andrew Hunter [Powerpoint, 2.1MB]
- "International NGO and CBO to assist country in HIV prevention for sex workers and clients" by Khartini Slamah [Powerpoint, 1.5MB]
- Final Report of the NSWP organizational consultation [PDF, 544K] — August 15, 2007
- New organizational directions for the Network of Sex Work Projects.
- Policing Morality in Channapatna [PDF, 1.4MB] — Channapatna, India, August 2007
- The People's Union of Civil Liberties has published a report on the events surrounding the arrest and trial of four women under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.
- A response to Janice Raymond's : '10 reasons for 'Not Legalizing Prostitution' [PDF] — By Dr Helen J. Self
- A response to Janice Raymond's article arguing against legalization of prostitution
- One-person-one-letter campaign against police raids on one-apartment women — Hong Kong, China, July 04, 2007
- Recently, the police have started extensive raids on one-apartment women's websites and flat owners. They also visit sex workers' workplaces and force sex workers to provide all kinds of information.
- Meena Seshu, Hazera Bagum, Raju Ahmed visit USA — Atlanta, USA, June 28, 2007
- NSWP members Meena Seshu, Hazera Bagum and Raju Ahmed visited the USA to speak about the effects of funding restrictions in New York, Washington D.C and Atlanta.
- UNAIDS PCB Meeting — Geneva, Switzerland, June 25, 2007
- UNAIDS PCB met in Geneva and the APNSW spearheaded efforts with NGOs to demonstrate the ways that the proposed UNAIDS Guidance on Sex Work violated UN human rights documents.
- Bar girls evicted from Maharashtra by Shiv Sena — Maharashtra, India, June 07, 2007
- A regional and communal group is using force to evict bargirls from the city of Maharashtra, with the tacit support of local police.
- In the Name of Rescue [PDF, 272] — Uttam Nagar, Miraj, Maharashtra, India, May 12, 2007
- Report of the Fact-Finding Committee Investigation into the Alleged Molestation/Rape of a Minor Girl by a Decoy Customer.
- Advocates criticize moralistic policy that Randall Tobias enforced [PDF, 220K] — May 01, 2007
- NSWP and Sexworkers Project joint statement on the resignation of USAID director Randall Tobias
- Fostering Enabling Legal and Policy Environments to Protect the Health and Rights of Sex Workers — Johannesburg, South Africa, June 22-24, 2006
- Provides a few details about the goals of the meeting, and about the funder, as well as a link to the OSI report.
- Call for Articles: Research for Sex Work No. 10 — Sex Workers' Rights Movement.
- Deadline for all submissions is February 15, 2007; the maximum number of words is 1,200.
- NSWP 2006 Year End Report — From Melissa Ditmore, January 3, 2007
- Will the Gates Foundation please stop funding the kidnapping and illegal detention of sex workers — September 2006
- Sex Work and Money [PDF]
- Research for Sex Work, No. 9 (August 2006)
- NSWP at the XVI AIDS Conference in Toronto, August 2006
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- XVIAIDS-REPORT.PDF — Conference Report by Cheryl Overs, with photos from NSWP members.
- Sex Worker Health and Rights: Where is the Funding? [PDF] — June 2006
- From Sexual Health and Rights Project (SHARP), Open Society Institute, June 2006.
- Network of Sex Work Projects Meeting — Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 16-19 July 2006
- A small group NSWP members from all over the world met in July to discuss the structure of the network. Proposals were made and feedback from each region will determine the future structure of the NSWP. This report includes descriptions of proposals and two draft mission statements. Please read them and write to the rapporteur from your region with your suggestions. Do not limit your suggestions to the structures here! You may have a better idea for the future of NSWP.
- There are two proposals of "networks of networks," which are similar but one has clearer criteria. The proposals differ in whether to adapt the mission statement or to start over, and even in creating a new network with a new name. A second level of organizing as a social movement was also proposed — which is important — from North America and Africa where networks are less formal. Another proposal was very much like the current amorphous structure and this was not discussed further.
- The draft mission statements both borrow from the ICRSE Declaration of the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe. However, one has been altered to push labour rights to the top of the list of rights for sex workers.
- Amsterdam Report — By Andrew Sorfleet, September, 1992
- The VIII International Conference on AIDS/III STD World Congress, July 19-24, 1992, Amsterdam.
- Contains the NSWP's original list of concerns and goals to guide the organization.
- Why Women Should NOT use Lemon or Lime Juice as a microbicide — Global Campaign for Microbicides. June 24, 2006
- NSWP Reports on UNGASS 2006 — June 2, 2006
- The United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS — New York, May 31 - June 2, 2006
Taking the Pledge
sexworkerspresent.blip.tv: "Taking the Pledge" is a 13-minute film about the ways the anti-prostitution pledge required for US funds has affected sex workers around the world. The film features interviews with sex workers from Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Mali, Thailand and more. Produced by NSWP.
Other videos from sex work projects are also posted here. They include video from Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers, Durjoy Nari Shangho's "When We Walk the Streets", "A Day in the Life" by India's Sex Workers Forum of Kerala. And more!
