INTERNATIONAL DAY TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST SEX WORKERS
Every year, human rights advocates come together in a powerful display of solidarity to promote the rights of sex workers, defend the safety of trafficking victims, mourn the lives of those lost to violence, and celebrate the liveliness and diversity of sex worker communities worldwide.
International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (D17) is a day of remembrance and solidarity observed on December 17 by sex workers and their allies, families, and communities. It originated as a vigil for the dozens of victims of a notorious serial killer who targeted sex workers in the Pacific Northwest.
Sex work is not inherently exploitative or dangerous. In fact, many sex workers love their jobs, but criminalisation makes the profession unsafe.
The criminalisation of consensual adult sex work creates hostility between sex workers and law enforcement, leaving them without a means to report abuse for fear of being arrested. Since their profession is illegal, sex workers don’t have the same labor rights as the rest of the population. Instead, they’re forced to work in secret, where they face dangerous situations that they can’t report.
Without access to safe working conditions or police protection, sex workers are left vulnerable. This creates the perfect environment for law enforcement to target them.
It’s these circumstances that make D17 so important.
This D17, UCLA’s Global Lab for Research in Action, in collaboration with Decriminalize Sex Work (DSW), New Moon Fund, Old Pros, and Woodhull Freedom Foundation, has launched the Red Umbrella Campaign (RUC), which will address the structural barriers faced by sex workers and advocate for a world with safe sex work through decriminalisation. RUC worked with dozens of real sex workers to share their stories of the violence and stigma they face under criminalisation.
Follow UCLA’s Global Lab for Research in Action on Instagram for updates on the Red Umbrella Campaign.
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