ČTK | 22 September 2011
Prague, Sept 21 (CTK) - The Czech bill on prostitution does not take into account the rights of those who offer sexual services, unlike the respective laws in other Western countries, experts from foreign universities agreed at a conference in Prague yesterday.

The law should not only address the needs of the state and municipalities but also of those of the prostitutes, namely protect them against violence, remove the stigma of being unacceptable from them and give them more rights in relation to their clients, the experts said.

However, the participants in the conference appreciated that the bill setting the rules for prostitution in the Czech Republic has been gradually developing.

"Godesses of Love" protest in Sofia.
Legalization of prostitution in the country. This was announced by a dozen prostitutes who gathered this afternoon on spontaneous protest in Sofia. They insist on a special law on prostitution, as they say in most Western countries. "

Source: http://bnt.bg

July 18-23, Vienna, Austria – This year sex workers and allies from Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia had a chance to talk about barriers and issues that sex workers face in their countries, to show what groups and organizations have achieved in addressing the pandemics and violations in their region. The Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN) was represented by 11 activists from Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Macedonia and Montenegro, a team of young and energetic volunteers from Odyseus, Slovakia and a performance group from Bliss without Risk, Czech Republic.

(from AIDS 2010 official website)
• 19,300 participants, including:
      - 16,012 delegates
      - 845 participants from Austria (does not include general public participation in the Global Village, which is difficult to estimate.)
      - 1,218 participants from Eastern Europe and Central Asia
      - 848 scholarship recipients
      - 1,276 media delegates

(Extracts from the Smart Sex Workers’ Guide by NSWP)
From 18 to 23 July 2010, the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP), together with allies brought together representatives from nearly 40 countries to take part in the NSWP pre-conference and the actual IAC 2010.

By Katerina Partinova, HOPS, Macedonia
The Global Village at the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna was officially opened on 19th July by the Mayor of Vienna and Laxmi Narayan Tripathi of the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW).
The Global Village was a space where communities from all over the world gather to meet, share the experience and learn from each other.

July 20, 2010, Vienna – Sex workers’ rights advocates and their allies held a protest against the politics of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The harm is mostly expressed in forcing NGOs to sign the USA's Anti-prostitution Pledge in exchange for funding and to make them turn their backs on sex workers excluding them from prevention programs.

By Anna-Louise Crago, SWAN
The next International AIDS Conference is set to be held in Washington D.C. in 2012 and already sex workers are mounting a campaign. They want to make sure they won't be stopped at the border! More…

The Vienna Declaration is a scientific statement stressing that conventional illicit drug policies have failed to achieve their intended objectives and that evidence-based public health approaches are urgently needed.

Rosie Campbell provides SWAN News with a review of sex worker presentation at International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA (www.ihra.net) conference which took place in Liverpool this spring.