effective programming on HIV and sex work

Strategic Partnerships
Partnerships at national, local and community levels should be strengthened to remove the
barriers that sex workers face to service access and enjoyment of their human rights. To
ensure effective programming on HIV and sex work, the UN should promote and support
regional, national, and local partnerships and/or coordinating structures, between judicial,law enforcement, health, and other government sectors, communities, organizations and
networks of sex workers, trade unions, women’s organizations, and other civil society
organizations. Such efforts can encourage the implementation of policies and programmes
to educate and train these and other constituencies and support monitoring and review
mechanisms that document and hold officials accountable for implementation of rights
based policies.67 At the community level, culturally sensitive advocacy and appropriate
education efforts should be directed towards opinion leaders and law enforcement authorities
to increase support for, and the success of, HIV interventions focused on sex workers.
Community efforts should reinforce and monitor implementation of supportive policies
and laws developed at the national level.
Partnerships with sex workers and sex work community organizations, health professionals,
technical advisors, partners, families, and communities, will facilitate delivery of a comprehensive
package of effective, evidence-informed services.Partnership between sex workers, health services and law enforcement to
reduce violence
The Resourcing Health and Education Centre (RhED) in Melbourne, Australia and the
Scottish Prostitutes Education Project (SCOT-PEP), in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, provide
examples of effective working partnerships between sex workers, sex work projects, health
professionals and law enforcement agencies to reduce sex workers’ vulnerability to, and
experience of, crime and violence. A Remote Reporting Scheme encourages sex workers
to report crimes for both intelligence and investigation to the police through community
based organizations. An “Ugly Mug Scheme” provides an early warning system for sex
workers about potentially violent clients and other criminals, helping reduce their vulnerability
to violence.68