Elimination of violence against sex workers

Elimination of violence against sex workers
Sex workers are often victimized by violence, including gender-based violence, perpetrated
by clients, controllers, managers of sex work establishments, law enforcement officers50 and
other government officials. Sex workers may also experience violence and discrimination
from intimate partners51, families, neighbours, partners and work colleagues.52 They are
sometimes coerced into providing sex to police in exchange for freedom from detainment,
arrest and fines53. Violence is associated with unprotected sex and heightened risk of HIV
transmission. All people selling sex must be protected from violence, coercion and other
forms of abuse, and be ensured of their rights to legal assistance and access to judicial and
extra-judicial mechanisms. Experience teaches that violence towards sex workers can be
reduced when law enforcement agencies, the judiciary, health services, and other arms of
government are engaged and cooperate fully with sex worker organizations and other civil
society groups.54 Actions to protect sex workers should include addressing clients’ misuse of
alcohol and consequent violence towards sex workers.55
Sex workers living with HIV
For sex workers living with HIV, the stigma surrounding HIV is compounded by the
stigma associated with sex work, which often further diminishes their access to essential
HIV services. Sex workers living with HIV require access to the standard of HIV
treatment, care and support services on a non-discriminatory basis. For sex workers who
test positive, support and quality counselling that addresses potential discrimination and
loss of income should be readily available. Education and encouragement about healthy
living and positive prevention56 can help protect their sexual and reproductive health and
well-being, avoid other sexually transmitted infections, delay HIV disease progression, avoid
development of resistant strains of HIV and opportunistic infections, and prevent further
transmission of the virus.
Increased access to antiretroviral therapy creates the need and opportunity for long term,
sustainable strategies that engage sex workers in life-long positive prevention. The success
of antiretroviral therapy in reducing illness and prolonging life can alter people’s perceptions
of risk, including by sex workers and their clients, underscoring the need to couple
treatment scale-up with the simultaneous expansion of access to focused HIV prevention
services. Antiretroviral treatment programmes, along with reproductive health and family
planning services, should promote correct and consistent condom use to reduce further
possibilities for HIV transmission.