Uruguay recommendation to US: look at human rights violations!
In early November there was a Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations. The Best Practices Policy Project, Desiree Alliance, and the Sexual Rights Initiative wrote and presented a report that focuses on civil and human rights violations of those engaged, or perceived to be engaged, in sexual trade and sex work in the U.S. You can read that report online here: http://beatpracticespolicy.org/UPRreport2010.html. At the review Uruguay made a recommendation for the United States to take a closer look at its human rights violations specifically toward sex workers and the LGBTQ communities.
The United Nations will meet again in March. In the meantime, sex work activists are organizing. So far we have a coalition of 40-some-odd individuals from Universities, the organizations that wrote the above report, and still many others. These folks are writing to the media, developing materials for dissemination (fact-based, academic and political pamphlets, and policy briefs), setting up meetings with people at the State Department and other politicians and policy makers, seeking organizational endorsements, procuring letters from experts in the field, media outreach, presenting issue in public forums, reaching out to finding community, and organizing still other actions.
The coalitions goals:
Our goals:
1. to get the United States government to say that they will adopt Uruguay’s recommendation to “ensure access to public services paying attention to the special vulnerability of sex workers to violence and human rights abuses.”
2. To include one or more of our coalition’s recommended strategies for addressing human rights violations.
3. To educate and raise awareness of sex worker issues in mainstream media, public forums, policy circles and funding communities.
4. To increase our capacity to create positive change for sex workers through coalition-building, media outreach and grass roots organizing.
Stay tuned for updates as they are available!
Categories: All Posts, NW-SWOP Updates, Uncategorized
