We gather evidence to fuel advocacy, understand community needs, and push for change with recommendations rooted in lived experience. By combining research with insights from sex workers, we make sure our information is clear, accessible, and impactful. Our goal is to use this evidence to demand fairer, rights-based policies and hold policymakers accountable for decisions that affect us.
This assessment on the impact of COVID-19 on sex workers’ access to health services in Europe and Central Asia was developed by the Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN) and the International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE) and through consultations with their membership. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe and […]
Legal frameworks designed to control and regulate sex work have undergone major transformations in the last three decades in CentralEastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA). These changes are largely due to turbulent political events defining the modern history of the region, such as the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Socialist Federal Republic of […]
The global sex worker movement has been advocating for the meaningful involvement of sex workers in the design, development, implementation, management, monitoring, and evaluation in programming, research, legislation, and policy-making for decades. In 2017, the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) held an expert meeting with sex workers from all over the world to […]
This community guide was developed through the “Regional Civil Society and Community Support, Coordination and Communication Platform – EECA”. The EECA regional platform is supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria within the Community, Rights and Gender (CRG) Special Initiative together with 5 other Regional Platforms from different parts of the […]
This booklet is aimed at sex workers, sex worker groups, organisations working with sex workers, women’s groups, drug users’ groups, LGBT groups, human rights organisations and other friends who want to know more about efforts to prevent and respond to violence against sex workers. We are sharing our experiences in the hope that it proves […]
SWAN presents “FAILURES OF JUSTICE State and Non-State Violence Against Sex Workers and the Search for Safety and Redress”: A Community Based Research Project of SWAN in Central and Eastgern Europe and Central Asia This publication is about sex workers’ experiences of state and non-state violence, and hindered attempts to access justice in Central and […]
SWAN proudly presents “A Guide For SEX WORKER HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS”. This publication is aimed at sex workers of all genders and backgrounds, sex worker projects, human rights organizations and advocates. It contains practical information on how to start human rights documenting projects, to organize human rights campaigns and to use formal human rights mechanisms. In […]
SWAN releases “Stronger Together: Addressing Violence against Female, Male and Transgender Sex Workers in Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia. This booklet is aimed at sex workers, sex worker groups, organizations working with sex workers, women’s groups, drug users’ groups, LGBT groups, human rights organizations and other friends who want to know more about efforts […]
SWAN is proud to announce our new publication ‘REPORTING FROM THE SHADOWS: Using CEDAW to Advocate for Sex Workers’ Rights in Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia’. This booklet is aimed at sex workers, sex worker groups, organizations working with sex workers, women’s groups, drug users’ groups, LGBT groups, human rights organizations and other allies […]
This booklet is a compilation of articles that were written for the SWAN, the Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network of Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In 2007, I had the great honour of being asked by the Sexual Health and Rights Project (SHARP) of the Open Society Institute (OSI) to work for SWAN. At […]