Regional Assessment of the Impact of the War in Ukraine on Sex-Workers and Sex-Worker-Led Organisations in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia
This report documents the impact of the war in Ukraine on sex workers and sex worker-led organisations in the CEECA region. Firstly, it explores how the war affected the living and working conditions of sex workers in Ukraine. It looks, specifically, at sex workers’ economic and work-related precarities, and their access to healthcare and other basic services, including adequate housing and social protections. Centring sex workers’ needs and vulnerabilities in the context of the war, it also looks into community-driven responses to this humanitarian crisis, primarily provided by the sex worker-led organisation Legalife-Ukraine.
This report additionally analyses the impact of the war on sex worker communities and organisations in other countries in the CEECA region that have been directly and indirectly affected by the war. Whilst acknowledging that the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory weighed negatively on the political, economic, and social situation across the Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA) region, this report focuses on the challenges faced by sex workers, including those fleeing Ukraine, in various CEECA countries. It asks how sex worker groups across the CEECA region have responded to the crises, economic and socio- political shifts caused by the war, and how they have in turn supported and secured the basic needs of sex worker communities, including Ukrainian refugees.
Finally, this report looks into the challenges faced by sex worker-led organisations and initiatives and includes an assessment of the impact of donor strategies and flexibility in programming and implementation, providing recommendations for interventions and funding streams that could overcome or soften the adverse effects of the war on sex worker communities and organisations.