Analysis of calls to the Ukrainian Hotline for Sex Workers in 2025

INTRODUCTION

The socio-economic consequences of war in Ukraine are particularly severe for those who were already vulnerable. Stigmatised and marginalised sections of society, in particular criminalised sex workers and other vulnerable groups, are most affected by the negative consequences. This war has a negative impact on the socio-economic situation of sex workers and the sex service sector. We know from SWs that they find themselves in a difficult situation – unemployed, often homeless, without state assistance due to their illegal status, and without support from civil society due to high levels of stigma and discrimination. In addition, levels of violence always increase in areas of military conflict, and Ukraine is no exception. SWs are especially vulnerable to violence and rights violations, and war only exacerbates this vulnerability and defencelessness of sex workers.

The exacerbation of vulnerabilities and the growing need for support has led to a significant burden on the medical, psychological support, legal protection and social protection sectors, among others. Despite the ongoing work of non-governmental organisations and state institutions within the framework of national programmes, sex workers (SWs) in Ukraine continue to experience difficulties in accessing medical, legal and social services, including in the areas of harm reduction, diagnosis, prevention, HIV treatment, as well as in the human rights field.

Support for the Hotline for SWs (hereinafter referred to as HL) is one of the most important areas of activity of the CO «Legalife-Ukraine», aimed at expanding SWs access to services and overcoming barriers related to human rights, stigma and discrimination. The organisation has been working to ensure the continuation of the HL activities and has been developing it since 2015. During this time, thousands of SWs have received much-needed help and support by contacting our specialists. Taking into account the needs of the community, the organisation is expanding the types and number of services it offers, as well as its counselling tools, and is training counsellors to provide round-the-clock access to legal, psychological and informational support for SWs throughout Ukraine.

The HelpLine includes two telephone lines and an online chat on the website. Since the start of the war, the number of requests increased exponentially and continues to grow. Thus, during 2024, almost 1,900 SWs received more than 3,000 consultations, and in 2025, in just six months, 1,632 SWs received more than 2,000 consultations.

SWs in Ukraine remain vulnerable to rights violations and suffer from various forms of violence from the police, relatives, partners and strangers. Due to criminalisation, marginalisation, stigma and discrimination, SWs do not dare to turn to state institutions or even NGOs in cases of violence, violations of their rights, need for medical/social services, etc. but prefer the Hotline for SWs, because:

• it is available 24/7, requires little time and provides easy access to information and consultations/referrals for friendly services (no need to go anywhere, look for services, just dial the number);
• it does not require them to disclose personal, confidential data;
• it does not involve communication with another social group, and associating oneself with sex work does not cause difficulties, because the hotline is also staffed by sex workers, whom sex workers have a certain degree of trust.

RESULTS OF THE ANALYSIS OF CALLS/APPEALS TO THE HOTLINE DURING THE PERIOD 01.01.2025 – 31.05.2025.

In total, between 1 January 2025 and 31 May 2025, Hotline counsellors (operators/peer-to-peer consultants, psychologists, lawyer, online consultant) provided 1,598 consultations on various needs of SWs in Ukraine. Telephone line operators/peer-to-peer counsellors provided 985 telephone consultations. Online chat operators/peer-to-peer counsellors provided 366 online consultations. Hotline psychologists provided 167 psychological consultations. The lawyer of the CO «Legalife-Ukraine» provided legal consultations and support for 80 requests from SWs.

GEOGRAPHY

According to geographical coverage, most of the appeals came from Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zakarpattia and Odesa regions. The fewest appeals were recorded from Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Kherson and Chernivtsi regions.

TELEPHONE LINE AND ONLINE CHAT

From 01.01.2025 to 31.05.2025, online chat operators/peer counsellors provided 366 online consultations.

Of these, 176 were peer-to-peer consultations, 133 were consultations on legal issues, and 57 were referrals to receive medical, social, legal, HIV services.

The main questions asked by SWs to online operators were:

• Deterioration of the psycho-emotional state of SWs, relationships in the family, with partners, with children. Stress and fears, panic attacks, anxiety, etc. caused by the war;
• HIV/STI (sexually transmitted infection) prevention during sex work, opportunities for testing and treatment of HIV, syphilis, hepatitis, fears of disease detection and living with HIV (sexual and reproductive health);
• Difficulties with work, decrease in income;
• Moving to another country;
• High level of danger, risks of violence in sex work and how to avoid them, rules for dealing with aggressive clients, rules for communicating with military clients, etc.;
• Receiving humanitarian aid;
• Receiving social, medical, and psychological services;
• Receiving harm reduction and HIV prevention/treatment services, receiving ART and STI treatment;
• Renewal of Ukrainian citizenship passports;
• Registration as an individual entrepreneur and payment of taxes to the budget: registration procedure, types of KVEDs, taxation systems, reporting, etc. Other sex workers were interested in how to terminate their activities as individual entrepreneurs;
• Violation of sex workers’ rights by medical and social workers, law enforcement officers, and the Territorial Center of Recruitment and Social Support (TCRSS) in relation to close relatives of sex workers;
• Social protection issues: pensions, guardianship;
• Loan debts, etc.

All applications were provided with written consultation and/or referral as needed by the SWs: to a psychologist, a lawyer from CO "Legalife-Ukraine", to government agencies, NGOs, to professionals, regional leaders, paralegals, etc. to obtain services for sex workers.

Telephone line operators/peer-to-peer consultants provided 985 telephone consultations, including: 530 peer-to-peer consultations, 465 redirections for services as needed by SWs.

Sex workers often contacted us because of deterioration of their mental health and emotional crises caused by the war affecting them and/or their family members.

The next in the ranking of SWs needs are the needs for legal/juridical support and assistance. Sex workers contacted the Hotline:

• for information support and technical assistance on various legal issues (algorithms for appeals, writing statements, filing complaints, rules and procedures for social protection of the population, pensions, registration/renewal of Ukrainian passports, tax accounting, credit relations, etc.)
• as well as regarding violations of their rights by medical and social workers, the TCRSS and law enforcement officers.

For each appeal of the SWs verbal consultation was provided and/or referral was made to receive professional services as needed by the SWs to government agencies, NGOs, professionals, regional leaders, paralegals, etc. to receive SWs services.

PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSISTANCE

From 1 January 2025 to 31 May 2025, Hotline psychologists provided 167 psychological consultations to 74 SWs (10% of the total number of consultations).

Most often, SWs sought help due to deterioration of mental health and socio-economic situation as a result of military actions in Ukraine. SWs complain of various psycho-emotional disorders: anxiety, fears, nightmares or insomnia, stress, panic attacks, exhaustion, suicidal thoughts, etc., which appear in them or their family members. The war and its consequences lead to a deterioration in relationships within the family, with partners, children, and often to domestic violence.

Sex workers also need psychological support in cases of loss of loved ones (death, injury or death of relatives, partners) or due to fear of losing loved ones in the context of mobilisation.

In second place in the ranking of problems are employment issues and reduced earnings. Many sex workers have been forced to leave sex work and find themselves without a means of subsistence. On the other hand, women who did not provide sex services before the war are now forced to engage in sex work due to their difficult financial situation. All this leads to a deterioration in the psycho-emotional state of women and negatively affects their health.

LEGAL SUPPORT

The lawyer of the CO “Legalife-Ukraine” provided legal advice and support on 80 applications from SWs (8% of the total number of consultations), most of which concerned violations of SWs’ rights in the fields of medicine and social protection, in the human rights field, as well as in the field of family relations, gender and domestic violence.

In 7 separate cases of SWs appeals to the Hotline regarding violations of their rights by medical professionals, law enforcement and social services, domestic violence, etc., clients received initial legal advice and agreed to further human rights actions. Clients were referred to the DataCheck system for continued legal support and resolution of the problem. Other cases of rights violations were not entered into the DataCheck system due to the applicants’ refusal to provide permission to process personal data.

CONCLUSIONS

HL facilitates SWs access to timely and qualified medical, psychological and legal assistance, HIV, TB and STI prevention and treatment services, and social protection by providing:

• Highly qualified, round-the-clock telephone and online counselling support for SWs. Barrier-free access for SWs to qualified psychological and legal assistance;
• Rapid response to violations of rights and referral to a paralegal/lawyer for legal assistance, provision of remote legal assistance by a lawyer;
• Prompt response to violence and referral to a lawyer/psychologist/specialised services for assistance, provision of remote legal and psychological assistance;
• Remote psychological support for SWs in crisis emotional states;
• Psycho-emotional support for SWs through peer-to-peer counseling;
• Maintaining the relevance of the database of NGOs, institutions and organizations that provide services to SWs for further effective referral (online map on the website);
• Referral and remote support for SWs to HIV service organisations;
• Referral and remote support for SWs to medical and social protection;
• Achievement of strategic and operational goals and fulfilling the main tasks to reduce morbidity and prevent new cases of HIV infection, as defined by the State Strategy for Combating HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Viral Hepatitis for the period up to 2030;
• Recording cases of violence and violations of rights, monitoring and evaluating the accessibility and quality of services for SWs;
• Referring SWs to other services, institutions, and specialists who provide legal, medical, and social assistance to vulnerable groups, including sex workers, according to their needs.

The main needs of SWs remain psychological assistance in crisis situations (almost a third of all requests) and legal assistance (more than half of appeals). Legal assistance includes providing information on social protection tools and procedures, pensions, tax accounting, credit relations, and technical support in preparing the necessary documents: applications, complaints, lawsuits, as well as counselling and support in cases of violation of their rights by medical and social workers, TCRSS, and law enforcement officers.

A significant part of SWs requests also concern safety issues in sex work, including HIV/STI prevention, sexual and reproductive health, pregnancy, alcohol and psychoactive substance use, rules of conduct with aggressive clients and military personnel with Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), general safety rules when providing sex services, etc.

Due to persistent stigma, discrimination, criminalisation and self-stigma, SWs continue to choose to communicate and receive services anonymously and confidentially. SWs are more likely to seek advice from peer counsellors than from professional counsellors (psychologists, lawyers). Even in cases of violence and violation of rights, SWs are only willing to receive information and support/instruction only anonymously, refusing to disclose personal data and receive legal support through the DataCheck system. And although almost half of the appeals end with referral to specialists, unfortunately, it is not possible to track whether SWs actually access the specific services to which they were referred.

The exponential growth of calls to the Hotline demonstrates the growing relevance of this service for SWs. Thus, throughout 2024, the Hotline received 1,900 requests, for which 3,000 consultations were provided, and in 2025, in just six months, more than 1,600 requests have already been processed and more than 2,000 consultations have been provided (as of 30 June 2025).

The charitable organisation LEGALIFE-UKRAINE has a unique position as an organisation that unites the sex worker community and promotes the rights of women who have experienced marginalisation. This provides it with deep contact with target groups, a high level of trust at the local level, and expertise in identifying barriers that are rarely noticed by traditional monitoring systems.

Thanks to its easy access, complete anonymity and confidentiality, the Hotline provides sex workers with access to medical, social, legal and psychological services and information, which is especially important in cases where sex workers have suffered gender-based violence, their rights have been violated, and in the early stages (identification) for first-time clients. It is precisely counselling through HL that makes it possible to raise awareness among SWs and prevent new cases of HIV infection, through referral to bring SWs to HIV testing and treatment, ensuring full coverage of HIV services.

In addition to being an accessible, friendly service, HL can be an effective tool for collecting data on SWs needs and recording violations of SWs rights, which will be used for CLM (Customer Lifecycle Management) and advocacy.

However, the HL does not have stable funding – HL functions are often performed within other projects or on a voluntary basis. For example, in 2025, the HL is only funded until 30 June 2025. There are also a number of vulnerabilities in the CLM structure of the SWs community that hinder scaling and the transformation of incident data into systematic analytics and political influence: there is a lack of formalisation, data collection is not automated, and the fragmentation of formats hinders verification and analytics. There is also a lack of financial support for CLM – functions are often performed within other projects or on a voluntary basis, which jeopardises sustainability.

According to the results of the Analysis of SWs Hotline Calls in 2025, conducted by CO “Legalife-Ukraine”