Today, 17 December, is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. This day is important as sex workers face many forms of violence, which often remains unpunished. The protection of their rights, investigating and prosecuting all violent offences against anyone working in the sex sector is hard to put into practise if sex work itself is considered as violence against women and thus criminalised.
In July, the ECHR ruled against sex workers in the case Sex Workers vs. France, where more than 250 sex workers took their case to the European Court of Human Rights to challenge whether the criminalisation of clients was compatible with their fundamental rights: the freedom to pursue a professional activity, the right to personal autonomy and sexual freedom, and the rights to physical integrity and life. La Strada International and other CSOs expressed their deep regret about this ruling, which hinders meaningful inclusion and reinforces social stigma. The work of CSOs over the years has shown that the overuse of criminal laws to solve societal problems actually harms those most vulnerable in our society..
Later this year, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) delayed the vote on the resolution to protect the human rights of sex workers, a resolution which calls on states, irrespective of their policy model, to adopt a human rights-based approach and address the stigma and marginalisation, violence and abuse, and high levels of discrimination that sex workers continue to face in Europe. We hope to see a positive outcome regarding this resolution in 2025 and will continue to support it, jointly with the European Sex Workers Rights Alliance (ESWA) of which LSI is a member.
Several members of La Strada International have outreach and empowerment programmes to support sex workers, these include our new associate member SHOP in the Netherlands, Pro Tukipiste in Finland.