Open Letter supporting COE Commissioner’s Commentary on Human Rights of Sex Workers | Joint Statement

On 15/02/2024 the outgoing Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović published her Comment on Protecting the Human Rights of Sex Workers.

The undersigned organisations warmly welcome the Comment as a timely & important step forward in recognising the human rights of all sex workers.

The undersigned organisations are leading civil society networks & human rights organisations with a range of expertise that allows us to address issues affecting the rights of sx workers through an intersectional lens.

We thank Dunja Mijatović for this great farewell gift & look forward to cooperating with the new mandate holder!

Joint statement for a human rights perspective in EU Anti-Trafficking Directive Amendments

On EU Anti-trafficking Day, various organizations including C-EHRN are urging the Council, European Parliament and Commission to prioritize a human rights perspective in the trialogue negotiations on amending Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims.

The European Commission proposed criminalizing the use of services connected to trafficking in human beings with the knowledge that the person is a victim, and the Council suggested adding an element of intentional use of such services. However, the FEMM and LIBE Committees took a different stance by approving a report last week, considered the final position of the European Parliament. The report distinguishes between the “purpose” of exploitation and does not require knowledge or intention in the use of services of people who are the objects of exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation. Furthermore, the Parliament recommends Member States consider criminalizing clients of sex workers.

Such measures could overreach criminal law, deter reporting of trafficking cases, erode victim rights, and fail to target the true perpetrators. We, the organizations signing the statement, oppose to differentiating between types of human trafficking in the directive and to removing the knowledge requirement for the use of services to be a criminal offence, as it may worsen the situation for victims. Buyers often assist victims in escaping exploitation, and criminalization would deter such assistance. Additionally, the report’s call to criminalize all clients of sex work lacks evidence that it combats trafficking. The approach is stigmatizing and potentially conflating sex work with trafficking. We call for measures that empower all victims, ensure access to services, implement labour rights, and provide secure residence status.

Amsterdam on the front line of HIV prevention, highlighting the importance of access to PrEP

The Mayor of Amsterdam and Mark Vermeulen, the director of Aidsfonds – Soa Aids Nederland have just shared at the Fast-Track Cities 2023 conference* that Amsterdam had only 9 new HIV acquisitions last year and highlighted the importance of access to PrEP, trans-led services & sex worker community engagement.

 
As the figures show, 9 people were (estimated) infected with HIV in Amsterdam last year. According to the fund, the reason for the significant decrease in HIV acquisition is the increasing availability of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), a medicine that reduces the chances of getting HIV.
 
As Het Parool reports, these numbers have been rapidly declining for several years, with 66 people diagnosed with HIV in the city in 2021, compared to 128 in 2019. Aidsfonds – Soa Aids Nederland stated that the reason for the achievement is additional financing to make the HIV prevention medicine PrEP accessible to more people. PrEP is available from the general practitioner or the Municipal Health Service for people who are at increased risk: for men who have sex with men, for trans men and trans women who have sex with men and for some sex workers.
 
 
*The Fast-Track Cities 2023 conference, taking place between 25-27 September in Amsterdam, gathers people living with HIV, health professionals, mayors and many other experts from more than 500 cities from all over the world to create a platform for sharing successes and best practices and address challenges in urban HIV, tuberculosis, and Hepatitis C responses. This year, inclusion in healthcare is the conference’s primary focus.

Open letter to the Members of the European Parliament to vote against the Prostitution Report

13 organizations united under the European Coalition on Sex Workers’ Rights and Inclusion, including C-EHRN, addressed the Members of the European Parliament in an open letter, calling them to reject and vote against the report on the regulation of prostitution in the EU: its cross-border implications and impact on gender equality and women’s rights, 2022/2139(INI), which will be put to a vote in plenary on September 14.

“Our organisations are leading civil society networks and human rights organisations. We have decades of experience and expertise in addressing women’s rights and gender equality, human rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV, harm reduction, the rights of LGBTI people, digital rights, human trafficking, migration, racial justice and criminal justice. Within these numerous fields of expertise, all 13 organisations have come to the same conclusion: criminalisation of any aspect of sex work, which is proposed by this report, does not protect the rights of women and others engaged in sex work for manifold reasons, and does not help address the very serious issue of human trafficking and forced labour. It is only by adopting a human rights-based approach, decriminalising all aspects of sex work, and meaningfully including sex workers and sex workers’ human rights defenders in decision-making, that people selling sex, including victims of sexual exploitation, can be protected and serious human rights violations against people selling sex experience can be addressed.”

Read the reasons why we consider the report biased and harmful for people selling sex and other vulnerable groups in the open letter accessible below.

Open letter of European Coalition on Sex Workers’ Rights and Inclusion

Open letter of European Coalition on Sex Workers’ Rights and Inclusion to MEPs re: VAW Proposal

We, the 15 organisations united under the European Coalition on Sex Workers’ Rights and Inclusion  and the 170 organisations’ signatories attached call on all Members of the European Parliament to support sex workers’ rights and their inclusion and to reject any attempts to criminalise sex work as a part of the Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence Report 2022/0066(COD) that is currently being negotiated in the European Parliament.

Our organisations are leading civil society networks and human rights organisations. We have decades of experience and expertise in human rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV, harm reduction, the rights of LGBTI people, digital rights, anti-trafficking, migration, racial justice and criminal justice. Within these numerous fields of expertise, all 15 organisations have come to the same conclusion: criminalisation is not the solution. It is only by adopting a human rights based approach, decriminalising sex work, and meaningfully including sex workers and sex worker rights defenders in decision-making that sex workers can be protected.

The criminalisation of adult consensual sex that is subject to remuneration – including of sex workers, clients and third parties – continues to negatively impact sex workers’ lives and their access to health and justice in particular. Despite calls by some organisations to ‘abolish prostitution’ in order to protect and ‘rescue’ people who sell sex, there is no evidence that criminalising sex workers, their clients or third parties has any positive impact on the lives or human rights of sex workers. On the contrary, decades of evidence from academic research, civil society organisations and sex workers themselves clearly indicates that repressive policing and criminalisation directly harm the health, well-being and social inclusion of people who sell sex. This is the case in particular for those sex workers who are subject to multiple layers of marginalisation, such as racialised, LGBTIQ, and undocumented migrant sex workers.

We, the members of the Coalition of Sex Workers’ Rights and Inclusion, call on Members of the European Parliament to:

 

 

 

References

[1] The organisations who make up the Coalition are: Aids Action Europe (AAE), Amnesty International, Correlation European Harm Reduction Network (Correlation EHRN), European Aids Treatment Group (EATG), European Digital Rights (EDRi), European Network Against Racism (ENAR), European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance (ESWA), Equinox – Racial Justice Initiative, Fair Trials, Human Rights Watch, International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network (IPPF EN), The European Region of the  International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA-Europe), La Strada International (LSI), Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), and Transgender Europe (TGEU).

[2]  Amnesty International policy on state obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of sex workers, 2016, Human Rights Watch: Why Sex Work Should be Decriminalised?

[3]  The 170 organisations endorsing this Open Letter can be found in attachment.

Launch of European Coalition on Sex Workers’ Rights and Inclusion: Public Statement

We are proud to be one of the 15 organisations making up the European Coalition on Sex Workers’ Rights and Inclusion.

After the first European Sex Workers Alliance (ESWA) congress, a joint statement has been released announcing the launch of the new coalition aiming to end the criminalisation of sex work, protect sex workers from mass surveillance, include sex workers in the development and evaluation of laws, support the self organisation of sex workers, and to fund and support sex workers’ organisations and evidence based and person-centered policy-making.

“The organisations who make up the Coalition are: Aids Action Europe (AAE), Amnesty International, Correlation European Harm Reduction Network (Correlation EHRN), European Aids Treatment Group (EATG), European Digital Rights (EDRi), European Network Against Racism (ENAR), European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance (ESWA), Equinox – Racial Justice Initiative, Fair Trials, Human Rights Watch, International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network (IPPF EN), International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association Europe (ILGA-Europe), La Strada International (LSI), Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), and Transgender Europe (TGEU).”

We are proud to stand in solidarity with sex workers, sex worker rights defenders, and their organisations. We hope this joint statement helps implement the change which is urgently required.

For any information please contact info@eswalliance.org.

Harm Reduction International Abstract Submission Open

Abstract submission for HR23 is now open.

 

The theme for HR23 is Strength in Solidarity, with a particular interest in how harm reduction intersects with other social justice movements.

 

A list of starting point ideas includes;

  1. Indigenous, rural and underserved communities and harm reduction (particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ priorities for harm reduction)
  2. Prisons/services/compulsory drug treatment/decarceration/abolition
  3. Harm reduction and covid-19 (community-led responses, access to vaccines, enforcement & human rights violations)
  4. Sex work and harm reduction
  5. Racism/white supremacy/decolonising drug policy
  6. Financing/funding harm reduction (sustainability and resilience in challenging environments/budget advocacy for harm reduction)
  7. Death penalty for drug offences
  8. Harm reduction as an ethic
  9. Children, young people and adolescents
  10. LGBTQI+ communities and harm reduction
  11. Traditional and medicinal use of drugs
  12. Current peer- and drug user-led services, programmes and organisations – advantages, challenges and history
  13. Progress in harm reduction (DCRs/overdose prevention/harm reduction for stimulant users/integrated services/intersections with mental health)
  14. Safer nightlife/party drug harm reduction/drug checking
  15. Feminism and harm reduction
  16. Harm reduction activism (successes/new strategies/social media tools)
  17. Drugs and pleasure: beyond harm reduction
  18. Harm reduction in crises (war/migration/humanitarian disasters/climate crisis/pandemics)
  19. Civil disobedience and harm reduction (illicit provision of naloxone/unsanctioned DCRs/safe supply)
  20. Tainted drug supplies/markets – their threat, and what they illustrate (E.g., fentanyl, benzo dope)

 

The call for abstracts will close at 23.59 BST on 30 September 2022.

 

More information, and how to apply here.

C-EHRN Podcast Series #3: How to support broader decriminalisation processes?

Following the 5th European Harm Reduction Conference opening session Drug Policy, Decriminalisation: The next global step for Europe?, we recorded the 2nd episode of C-EHRN Podcast Series. Our guests discussed why there are still too few countries taking the bold step of decriminalisation even though it is proven that it works? 

Why are policymakers still addicted to prohibition, and what steps would be necessary to get them to rehab?

“I think the challenge is how different demographics of the population are involved in electoral politics. Older people with conservative backgrounds are more prominently voting, and younger people feel increasingly disillusioned with politics and struggle to engage. This creates a bias.” said Mat Southwell.

The Drug Policy Reform Session has centred on the decriminalisation of drugs. However, the work of Harm Reduction sits at the intersection of various movements. Many of the communities harm reductionists work with and belong to have also been criminalised through other legal frameworks: e. g. the criminalisation of sex work, migration, sexuality and reproduction (e.g. abortion) or poverty, just to name a few. 

What are mutual aid practices and support across movements still necessary to support broader decriminalisation processes, in your opinion?

Our session guests were Jochen Schroot of VAD – the Flemish centre of expertise on alcohol and other drugs, Iga Jeziorska of Youth Organisations for Drug Action (YODA), Mat Southwell of European Network of People who Use Drugs (EuroNPUD), Maria Plotko of Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) and Olga Belyaeva of Eurasian Network of People Who Use Drugs (ENPUD).

Enjoy listening to their conversation, and share your thoughts with us!

Whoop whoop! C-EHRN Podcast Series is out!

On Human Rights Day, 10th December, we launched C-EHRN Podcast Series. To kick off our long-awaited podcast series’ idea, we held roundtable sessions during the 5th European Harm Reduction Conference 2021 in Prague, talking to harm reductionists on several topics. We happily and excitedly present you with the first episode of the series about Human Rights.

For this session, we had four guests; Irena Molnar of ReGeneration, Machteld Busz of MainLINE, Sabrina Sanchez of ESWA and Aura Roig of Metzineres; four strong women representing the core of their work with boldness, kindness, sincerity and fire.

“We are the ones that avoid talking about human rights. Instead, we legitimise our services from a social control point of view. We need to break this cycle and indicate that we do our work for the health and well-being of the people.” said Aura Roig.

Would you agree? Do we tend to forget that everything we do is in the name of equal human rights?
Share your opinion with us.

Listen to the podcast here. Follow us for more.

Equality & Human Rights | The Core of Harm Reduction

Today is Human Rights Day. Every year on 10 December, Human Rights is observed worldwide, “to proclaim the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being.” As announced by the UN, the 2021 theme of the Day is EQUALITY – Reducing inequalities, advancing human rights.

COVID-19 has started to be referred to as the inequality virus in recent times. Since the beginning of the pandemic, pre-existing inequalities have been exposed and exacerbated. As a response, international awareness days this year have emphasised the political, social, cultural and economic importance of upholding equity and human rights with renewed strength. An example of this has been the focus of the recently endorsed international World AIDS Day. In alignment with the 2030 Agenda, which is rich in slowly-but-surely approaching elimination goals, including AIDS, HIV, and deep-rooted forms of discrimination.

Today’s Human Rights Day is a crucial and opportune moment for human rights and drug policy reform movements for at least two reasons. On the one hand, it affirms that the war on drugs continues to sustain abusive policing, over-incarceration, coercion and punishment globally. On the other, it highlights the profoundly unequal outcomes of such repressive drug policies.

To mark Human Rights Day, the IDPC has shared its open letter to Ms Ghada Waly, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, with a call to reform drug policies that entrench inequality. The letter “issues a strong statement on International Human Rights Day, calling on states to change the drug laws, policies and practices that violate health and human rights, and entrench inequality.” Please read the letter and ask your organisation to sign.

However, before you decide to sign such a letter, perhaps you would like to inform yourself more in-depth about current discussions on decriminalisation policies? During the 5th European Harm Reduction Conference 2021, EHRC21, we had a lively session titled “Drug policy: decriminalisation – the next logical step for Europe?” in which we discussed what you might be asking yourself now. What are the arguments for decriminalisation? If criminalisation can improve public health and human rights drastically, what are some of the complex and challenging questions that remain? You can watch it here. 

Also, remember to check the session titled “Mainstreaming Human Rights & Evidence-based Law Enforcement”. This EHRC21 session could also be a valuable look-back since in here essential discussions took place regarding the role that law enforcement agencies ought to have in addressing the needs of people who use drugs. Please watch it here. 

Today also marks the end of the #16DayActivism Challenge, which started on the International Day of Elimination of Violence against Women. The joint action by the International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD) and the Women and Harm Reduction International Network (WHRIN), addressing violence, stigma, and discrimination against women who use drugs, shares its concluding remarks today, on Human Rights Day. Please read them here. 

Finally, today we are also launching the C-EHRN Podcast Series. To kick off our long-awaited podcast series’ idea, we held roundtable sessions during the EHRC21, talking to harm reductionists on several topics. We happily and excitedly present you with the first episode of the series about Human Rights.

For this session, we had four guests; Irena Molnar of ReGeneration, Machteld Busz of MainLINE, Sabrina Sanchez of ESWA and Aura Roig of Metzineres; four strong women representing the core of their work with boldness, kindness, sincerity and fire.
“We are the ones that avoid talking about human rights. Instead, we legitimise our services from a social control point of view. We need to break this cycle and indicate that we do our work for the health and well-being of the people.” said Aura Roig. 

Would you agree? Do we tend to forget that everything we do is in the name of equal human rights?
Listen to the podcast here and share your opinion with us.