About the war and sex work in Ukraine with Inga Pavlenko, Vinnytsia town

Today we are talking with Inga Pavlenko, a paralegal of the community of sex workers of CO ‘Legalife-Ukraine’ in Vinnytsia.

Natalia Dorofeeva, CO “Legalife-Ukraine” (ND): Hello Inga! It’s not the first time we’ve had an interview with you, but we’ve never talked about your life before CO ‘Legalife-Ukraine’. Tell us a little bit about yourself, please.

Inga: I was born in Vinnytsia, and I lived and worked in my hometown almost all my life. I went to school and college, was married, have two grown-up children, and soon I will be a grandmother for the first time)).

I love travelling - it’s a hobby, a reboot, and a way to prevent burnout. Short trips and new experiences 3-4 times a year are enough for me to feel good. I love nature, animals, I have two cats, which are also a relaxation for me. I like to read and learn something new. I rest more often alone, or with loved ones, of which I have few.

Until I was forty, my life was no different from anyone else’s. But then I had cancer, and my life changed significantly. I believe that my recovery happened thanks to a “golden kick” into the social sphere, when I myself, first as a volunteer and then as a specialist, began to help people. I can’t say that I didn’t help people before, but it was some kind of dosed and targeted help.

My volunteering in the social sector opened my eyes to many of the problems that people face and the inability to solve these problems without help - when a persons cannot break the cycle in which they are spinning.

My first job in the social sector was as a social worker at the 100% Life Network. When I suffered from cancer, when I was learning to take hormone pills for life, I supported and accompanied people who were starting antiretroviral therapy (ART), which is also taken for life.

When I lacked knowledge and experience, I went to university and got a master’s degree in social work. At the moment, I am getting a second degree in psychology. I dream of becoming a psychotherapist. And I still need to study for about five years to achieve this.

ND: Why did you decide to join CO ‘Legalife-Ukraine’ and defend the rights of sex workers?

Inga: Before I started working at Legalife, I worked at the Centre for Social Services as a social work specialist. This is a state organisation and has its own nuances - requirements to fill in several forms when communicating with one person, paper and electronic reporting in such volumes that there is not enough time for live communication and assistance to the person... And when I was offered to apply for a paralegal position, I did not hesitate for a long time.

The work of a paralegal at Legalife is no different from any other job in the social sphere. Sex workers are people first and foremost. People who have rights, responsibilities, problems and achievements like all people, but they are less protected by law and people.

Unfortunately, the prejudice against the oldest profession in our society is not decreasing.  When I worked with HIV-positive people, I understood well how insecure they felt, how disclosure of their status sometimes affects their lives, work, and families. And sex workers are still outlawed, they are even more vulnerable.

ND: What did your family think of your choice?

Inga: I have quite close and frank relationships with my family, and my decision to defend the rights of sex workers was perceived rather with interest and faith that I would cope with this challenge.

ND: You’ve been with us for several years now, can you tell us what attracts you most about working with CO ‘Legalife-Ukraine’ and what challenges you?

Inga: Working at Legalife is dynamic and interesting, there are always new challenges and opportunities for development. In addition, I have the support of both management and colleagues.

There are difficulties in my work because working with people has never been easy. It is difficult with people who are supposed to protect the law but break it themselves. It is difficult with abusers who assert themselves at someone else’s expense. It’s hard with specialists who lack empathy and have only ever heard of impartiality. It is difficult with clients themselves when they refuse help.

ND: Do you ever think about giving up and changing your field of work?

Inga: It’s easy to quit your job as a paralegal, but there is a responsibility that obliges you to continue this work. And no matter how hard it is, there is always a solution to any problem.

In 2022, when this war started, there were thoughts of going abroad, but most people recovered and stayed here in Ukraine. Because someone has to clean up the mess. We need to keep helping people.

ND: Inga, please tell us what is happening today in lifes of SWs and in the sex work market in your region?

Inga: The war has affected everyone. Every person living in Ukraine cannot feel safe, and people who have gone abroad have no peace of mind while the war is on.

Our residents of Donetsk and Luhansk regions have the same problems. Many IDPs from the town of Donetsk came to our city, they have a number of problems related to the lack of housing, lack of money for food for children and lack of work.

During the curfew, no one actually has work. The problem is that competition between sex workers has increased, and there are much fewer clients - and this is the main problem in the sex work market. There are unhealthy relationships between girls because of the lack of clients and earnings.

Due to the state of heightened anxiety that occurs during air raids and shelling, psychological stress has increased, which not everyone can cope with without help. As a result, the psychological state of our employees has deteriorated.

The loss of housing and a familiar way of life also affects SWs and their family relationships. SWs try to find other jobs, but more often continue to earn part-time sex work. Prices for services and the ability of clients to pay depend on the situation. SW girls try to increase prices for services, but more often agree to the client’s price in order to earn at least something.

Military clients become more dangerous for girls both psychologically and physically, because when they are on vacation, they are usually in a state of alcoholic intoxication. But non-military men can also be aggressive - they look for someone weaker to take advantage of.

There is a tendency to increase the number of women in the sex work market who did not provide sex services before, but started to do so since the beginning of the war. There are also women who had left sex work before and returned with the outbreak of war. Some of them have other jobs, but do sex work in their spare time.

As for other work in the city, there is work because there are fewer men. But this work is not suitable for everyone, because it requires either a lot of physical activity or education. And there is also the problem of a small town, when it is difficult to hide the status of a SW for a long time, and the search for work does not lead to anything.

"Test purchases" that police officers conduct in saunas or apartments, with the aim of accusing people of pimping or creating places of debauchery, or pandering, will also continue until sex work is decriminalized. And what is even more disgusting is that the "guardians of order" themselves become "secret shoppers".

Inga Pavlenko

ND: All of our paralegals use the DataCheck mobile app to record and respond to offences. We have repeatedly presented the application on the website and advised sex workers to use it on their own to find legal assistance. But I think it will be better if you, as an active DataCheck user, share your practical experience with SWs. Could you please explain what kind of tool it is, how and why paralegals work with it, and what benefits it brings to sex workers?

Inga: The DataCheck mobile application has now become more commonplace in our work. Either the system itself has been improved, or I’m used to it. At the beginning it was difficult, the app would freeze, save data incorrectly, and I had to edit it.

Now DataCheck is working properly. In DataCheck, I enter the client’s data and a description of the violation of her rights. The client also has the opportunity to register and enter a description of the violation herself. However, for various reasons, SWs refuse to do this on their own. Either the phone is outdated, or the system seems complicated, or the phone is in a pawnshop...

Working with DataCheck, I have the opportunity to help our SWs defend their rights as citizens of Ukraine, collect statistics on violations, and see the overall picture of the required response to violations.

ND: In what areas SWs are facing violations most often by now?

Inga: I can’t say that since the beginning of the war, any violations have become more or less frequent. There are a lot of violations of the rights of SWs in general.

The most common violations of our clients’ rights by police officers are insults, humiliation and threats. Also, quite often our clients are illegally issued administrative reports for providing sex services. It is unlawful because at the time the protocol is drawn up, the client is either at a petrol station, a cafe or another public place and is definitely not providing any services, and there is no evidence to support such protocols. But such violations were often recorded before the war.

If the client does not refuse paralegal assistance (refusals are not uncommon due to fears of persecution by the police), I have considerable experience in appealing such protocols either with the heads of police stations or at administrative commissions at village councils.

The next group of violations of our clients’ rights is related to the provision of medical services, when women are denied examination or treatment due to stigma and discrimination. Proving such violations is extremely difficult and traumatic for clients. Therefore, there is often only one way out - to go to a private clinic with which they have a long-standing agreement. There, our clients can sign a declaration with their family doctor and receive all medical services without prejudice.

There is another group of violations that I would like to draw attention to - the unprofessional and sometimes criminal behaviour of some social service professionals, people who came to serve people, but who commit psychological violence against others. These professionals threaten to take away children, insult and humiliate them, and refuse to provide social services. Such cases of violation of clients’ rights are more common in rural areas where “everyone knows everything about everyone”. However, such cases are often easier to stop - a conversation with the management of such a specialist is enough, and no one touches our client anymore.

If we return to the topic of the war, the only violations that have not been committed before are attempts by ex-husbands to take their children away from their mothers by any means to get a deferment from service in the Armed Forces.

ND: Inga, given your vast practical experience, please give examples of cases in each of these areas separately and tell us how you manage to defend the rights of your clients. This will be not only interesting for readers, but also useful for our less experienced activists.

Inga: If a client needs help, I first provide paralegal advice. Then I either accompany the client to an organisation that can remedy the violation, or I refer the client to such organisations if she has the potential to handle it herself. I am in constant contact with the client, and we discuss over the phone what has been done, what the result is, and what else can be done.

There are many things to talk about in the medical field, most often it is the refusal to provide medical services, stigmatising attitudes, insults and humiliation. Family doctors or doctors of narrow specialisations refuse to provide free medical services, send clients to private clinics with the words ‘if you stand on the road, you will earn money for treatment’, or ‘it is dangerous for other people to be around you’.

There are also cases when my clients are demanded to pay for services that are free of charge according to the declaration with the family doctor, or the price of services is increased, or they are refused to sign the declaration at all. In such cases, the offender is rarely punished. In such cases, the heads of medical institutions begin to explain that the client somehow misunderstood the doctor, that there was a misunderstanding, or that the doctor has a full limit and cannot sign the declaration, etc. If there are really no places, we refer the client to a friendly family doctor, with whom she signs a declaration and receives all the medical care she needs and which cannot be postponed due to the client’s health condition.

In the social sphere, the most common violations are refusals to provide social services, child benefits or subsidies. There is also a considerable number of violations when specialists come to the clients’ homes to check their living conditions, behave defiantly, insult them and threaten to take away their children - and this is only because of their SW status. In such cases, together with the client, we go to the head of such specialists, listen to his concerns and promises to punish the workers, which we cannot find out for sure later, but the client and her family are left alone.

In the field of employment, there are more frequent violations related to the dismissal of clients or non-payment of wages, when the employer learns from someone that the client has the status of a SW person and begins to behave inappropriately.  In such cases, clients often refuse to resume work. And when there is a question of non-payment of money, in such cases we often go to the employer, and after a conversation and my hints about a possible appeal to the tax authorities or other punitive bodies, employers pay everything they owe.

I get the impression that the violators of rights do not expect anyone to stand up for SWs. They are shocked by the very fact that someone is fighting for the rights of sex workers, so they start to remember the law and act according to it.

As for the law enforcement sector, administrative protocols on sex work are a topic that will remain relevant until we achieve decriminalisation of sex work. And although it is no longer difficult to cancel such protocols at administrative commissions at village councils or with the heads of police stations, many such protocols are still being written.

The ‘control purchases’ that police arrange in saunas or apartments to accuse people of pimping or creating brothels will also continue until the decriminalisation of sex work is achieved. And what’s even more disgusting is that the ‘mystery shoppers’ are the ‘police officers’ themselves.  In such cases, my work is either to accompany them to the police station management or to lawyers in order to file complaints, counterclaims, or other procedural actions.

Violence at work or domestic violence by intimate partners also remains an urgent problem. This is due to the fact that victims are additionally traumatised by the prejudiced attitude of the police.

Victims are not often willing to stand up for their rights. Not every woman can talk about violence, and our SWs, which have experience of stigma, are generally closed. There are isolated cases where the SWs agreed to bring the case to trial.

In the photo: paralegal consultation with a SW

ND: In your opinion, what prevents SWs from solving these problems on their own, without your help?

Inga: Having experienced discrimination, if they decide to seek help, they often need support, protection and presence to avoid being rejected or insulted. The client referral service is effective when there is a clear agreement on my part with the subject of the referral and in the presence of the client, when she knows that an agreement has been made about her and that she is expected to provide assistance. Our SWs will not feel confident as long as they are outlawed.

ND: Which of your partners helps you to protect the rights of SWs?

Inga: The best partners in my work are Center for providing Free Secondary Legal Aid or lawyers from the Vinnytsia Human Rights Group, where you can get any legal advice. In terms of medical issues, it is the Centre for Infectious Diseases and the private Health Clinic, where a friendly family doctor is always ready to help. We have established cooperation with the CO ‘100% Life’, NGO ‘Independence’, and NGO ‘Flame of Hope’, but we mostly work with them to solve humanitarian problems of our clients.

ND: What advice would you like to give to aspiring paralegals and activists?

Inga: The only advice I have is to keep going when you encounter difficulties and obstacles. Trials make you harden and give you feeling that you are not living in vain!

ND: Thank you very much for this conversation, and finally I would like to ask you what needs to happen to make the lives of sex workers safer?

Inga: The only way to overcome the barrage of violations of the rights of sex workers is to decriminalise sex work. Stigma and discrimination will disappear when our sex workers can work officially, pay taxes, and have legal security.

Interview by Natalia Dorofeeva (CO ‘Legalife-Ukraine’)