Here is an update about sex worker and allies involvement, so far, in the conference. A major session on sex work has been accepted, this is supported by the International Sex Work Harm Reduction Caucus. The caucus is an informal network bringing together sex worker organizations and representatives and was formed in order to promote the inclusion of sex workers in debates about harm reduction and human rights particularly within this international forum. It is challenging to get a major session in the program so this is good news!

The session entitled “The War Against Sex Workers” currently includes presentations from ALCIS in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tais Plus based in Kyrgyzstan, Scarlett Alliance (Australia) reflecting on sex worker peer to peer capacity development in Fiji & He Jin Kim presenting on transgender issues. It is hoped the session will go ahead as accepted but there are still some funding matters related to supporting participation to be confirmed.

In addition a concurrent session supported by UKNSWP entitled “Sex Work & Harm Reduction in the UK: Safety, Skills & the Struggle for Social Inclusion” has been accepted. Beside the sex work-related sessions, a couple of other organizations have been accepted to present in other, non sex work-specific sessions as well, like Pye Jakobsen (Rose Alliance, Sweden) and Marija Tosheva (HOPS, Macedonia).

For more information about the conference go to: http://www.ihra.net/Liverpool/Home