Can rights stop the wrongs? Exploring the connections between framings of sex workers’ rights and sexual and reproductive health
PROJECT Realising Rights
DATE 12/16/2011
AUTHOR(S) Cheryl Overs and Kate Hawkins
There is growing interest in the ways in which legal and human rights issues related to sex work affect sex workers’ vulnerability to HIV and abuses including human trafficking and sexual exploitation. International agencies, such as UNAIDS, have called for decriminalisation of sex work because the delivery of sexual and reproductive health services is affected by criminalisation and social exclusion as experienced by sex workers. The paper reflects on the connections in various actors’ framings between sex workers sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and the ways that international law is interpreted in policing and regulatory practices.