The 18th International Harm Reduction Conference was held in Warsaw, Poland from May 13th – 17th. Representation by sex worker rights advocates at the conference helped strengthen the relationship between the global sex worker and harm reduction communities.
Rachel Wotton from Scarlet Alliance, a sex worker rights group from Australia was one of the plenary speakers. Resources from sex worker health and rights groups from around the world, among them from the SWAN News and the SWAN Network, were available at the Sex Worker Health and Rights Booth in the Exhibition Area. Sex worker rights advocates were staffing the booth and discussed sex work topics with other conference delegates.
The film Taking the Pledge, produced by NSWP, which includes interviews with advocates whose groups have negatively been affected by the pledge was shown in the Film Festival Lounge. This film highlights the impact of the U.S. Government’s anti-prostitution pledge on organizations working with sex workers to address HIV/AIDS prevention efforts around the world.
„This has been an incredible experience and we are forming many new alliances here at this conference. We have been given a very warm reception and people are glad to see the sex workers here. We have spent several days answering questions to the many NGO’s and CBO’s that are working with sex workers. Most people here are not coming from a prohibitionist standpoint and realize the harms of criminalization. We have been invited back next year, the conference will be in Barcelona, Spain”- says Robin Few from NSWP, one of the conference delegates and representatives of sex workers.
„We appreciate the hard work of our USA friends Penny Saunders, Best Practice Policy Project, Aubrey Brennan and Sue Simon, OSI, Erika Smith, Different Avenues and Tori Powell, SWOP USA. We send special thanks to our wonderful new parent organization, Desiree Alliance. We look forward to working with our peers, Tada, Poland, Asian Pacific Network of Sex Workers, Malaysia , Rise, Pakistan, Correlation Network, Netherlands, SWAN, HOPS, Macedonia, Odyseus, Slovakia, Parasol, Poland, Caribbean Harm Reduction Coalition and the International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe” – concludes Few.
Watch a statement on sex work as work given by Robin Few to the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) here