[Viva] Fwd: Sex workers must not be left behind in the response to COVID-19

Wed Apr 8 09:36:08 PDT 2020

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: UNAIDS <communications at unaids.org>
Date: Wed, Apr 8, 2020 at 4:26 AM
Subject: Sex workers must not be left behind in the response to COVID-19
To: <dbecker106 at gmail.com>

The Global Network of Sex Work Projects and UNAIDS are calling on countries
to ensure the respect, protection and fulfilment of sex workers’ rights.
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*JOINT STATEMENT*

*Sex workers must not be left behind in the response to COVID-19*

*GENEVA, 8 April 2020—*UNAIDS The COVID-19 pandemic, as with other health
crises, exposes existing inequalities and disproportionately affects people
already criminalized, marginalized and living in financially precarious
situations, often outside social protection mechanisms.

During these difficult times, the Global Network of Sex Work Projects
(NSWP) and UNAIDS wish to draw attention to the particular hardships and
concerns facing sex workers globally, and are calling on countries to
ensure the respect, protection and fulfilment of sex workers’ human rights.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, sex workers all over the world are
experiencing hardship, a total loss of income and increased discrimination
and harassment. The criminalization of various aspects of sex work in the
majority of countries serves to magnify the already precarious situation of
sex workers in the informal economy. As sex workers and their clients
self-isolate, sex workers are left unprotected, increasingly vulnerable and
unable to provide for themselves and their families.

Sex worker-led organizations from all regions are reporting a lack of
access to national social protection schemes and exclusion from emergency
social protection measures being put in place for other workers,
particularly where sex work is criminalized. Whenever and wherever
possible, sex workers are responsibly self-isolating in response to
governments’ calls. However, when they are excluded from COVID-19 social
protection responses, sex workers are faced with putting their safety,
their health and their lives at increased risk just to survive.

NSWP and UNAIDS are furthermore concerned at reports of punitive crackdowns
against sex workers, resulting in the raiding of homes, compulsory COVID-19
testing, arrest and threatened deportation of migrant sex workers.

UNAIDS calls on countries to take immediate, critical action, grounded in
human rights principles, to protect the health and rights of sex workers.
Measures should include:

   - Access to national social protection schemes for sex workers,
   including income support schemes.
   - An immediate firewall between health services and immigration
   authorities in order to ensure that migrant sex workers can access health
   services.
   - Emergency financial support for sex workers facing destitution,
   particularly migrants who are unable to access residency-based financial
   support.
   - An immediate end to evictions and access to appropriate emergency
   housing for homeless sex workers.
   - Stopping raids on sex workers’ homes and sex work premises and
   ensuring that all measures to protect public health are proportionate.
   - An immediate halt to arrests and prosecutions for sex work-related
   activity, moving away from punitive measures and criminalization towards
   reaching and serving those most in need.
   - An immediate end to the use of criminal law to enforce
   COVID-19-related restrictions, including forced COVID-19 testing and
   related prosecutions.
   - Automatic extensions on visas due to expire as travel restrictions
   tighten. Immigration detention systems must support detainees in safe
   accommodation.
   - The engagement of sex worker communities in responses—the meaningful
   involvement of sex worker-led organizations in emergency public health
   planning groups.

UNAIDS, as ever, stands ready to support countries in the implementation of
the above recommendations
*UNAIDS*
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires
the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero
discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of
11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO,
UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national
partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. Learn more at unaids.org
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*CONTACT*

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communications at unaids.org

NSWP
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secretariat at nswp.org

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