My goal is to create a safe and supportive environment for SWs / About war and sex work with Sheryl Chabanyuk, Kyiv, Ukraine

WE CONTINUE OUR SERIES OF INTERVIEWS ‘ABOUT WAR AND SEX WORK IN UKRAINE’ with our leaders and paralegals in 2026. Almost a year has passed since our last public conversation with our regional representatives, when we talked about the lives of Ukrainians, the fate of sex workers and the sphere of sex services in Ukraine during the war. This year, we return to this conversation to recall the events of four years of this war and analyse their impact on our community and society.

SHERYL CHABANYUK – leader of the sex worker community of the CO “LEGALIFE-UKRAINE” in Kyiv

Natalia Dorofeeva, CO “Legalife-Ukraine” (ND): Congratulations, Sheryl! I would like to note for our readers that you are our youngest leader, both in age and in work experience. You have been with us since 2025, so this is your first interview for our website. Tell us please about yourself, your childhood, dreams, hobbies and how you got into the human rights movement?

Sheryl Chabanyuk: Hello, my name is Sheryl, I am 22 years old. I am a native Kyiv resident in the 7th generation, from this we can understand that my city is Kyiv. From a very young age I was connected to nature. We had a house outside of the city, where we spent a lot of time. I could study quite well, but the school system was not for me at all. So instead of lessons, every Wednesday I went to the market to buy different flowers. That’s where my hobby came from - growing indoor and outdoor plants. And I also have a dog that I adopted from a shelter, so I devote all my time to my pet, mixing it with growing and caring for flowers.

What did I dream about, who did I think I would become? This is a rather difficult question, because I still don’t know. I started studying to be a biology teacher and HR manager, thought about studying landscape design, wanted to be a clothing designer, an ecologist, or a psychotherapist.  So many hobbies, and so few answers.

I started my career by working as a waitress, then a sales consultant in a clothing store, then as the Kyiv regional coordinator of the CO "Cohort" (ГО «Когорта»). Then one evening, a friend wrote to me: "Kusya (Куся), call me," and then said that the self-organization of sex workers is currently looking for a leader in Kyiv, and they would be happy if I joined the team. A few days later, I was already filling out documents for employment. And now, I work at the CO «Legalife-Ukraine».

ND: Why did you agree to this offer to protect the rights of sex workers and choose to cooperate with us? Maybe there was something that influenced this decision?

Cheryl: From the very beginning, before I became a grown person, I was subjected to violence. From the first grade to my student years. And despite this, I grew up as an empathetic altruist with an open heart. I realized that all the anger and resentment that had accumulated over many years can be lived productively, protecting those who need support.

ND: And how did your loved ones perceive the fact that you will be working with sex workers?

Cheryl: I have a fairly knowledgeable and modern family, my loved ones share my views, believing that everyone has the right to be protected.

ND: In almost a year of work, have you determined for yourself what you like, and on the other hand, what is the most difficult thing about working with our community and the team of CO “Legalife-Ukraine”?

Cheryl: What I like most is communicating with sex workers, hearing their stories, seeing their changes, being able to be there and lend a helping hand. The most difficult thing is probably that not all sex workers are visible, due to the risk of being convicted, discriminated against, or having problems with law enforcement agencies. Therefore, it is difficult to expand the number of our community so that more of them gain knowledge about self-care and have barrier-free access to medicine and their rights.

ND:  Cheryl, tell us more about SWs you are working with. How has the war affected them and what changes have you observed in the sex work market as a result of the war?

Cheryl: I didn’t work at Legalife-Ukraine before the full-scale invasion, so it’s hard for me to compare before and after. But I can say that the war has a negative impact on everyone, so sex workers experience everything that other Ukrainians do. Psychological pressure, air raids, power outages, water shortages, curfews — everything is stressful and painful.

Sleep, food, and safety are basic human needs, and when any of these are not met, the entire system and health suffer.

The women I talk to, both before the war and now, are mostly providing sex services on the street, just like before. I think it’s the type of work that’s hard to leave. So far, I don’t see any desire or opportunity for them to change anything, especially since the places where services are provided remain the same. But of course there is a significant portion of sex workers who do it online. It’s just that their needs and desires are somewhat different from those of sex workers who work on the streets.

As for clients, I think that most of them today have military status, we cannot ignore the mobilization processes and the high level of breakdown of military families. So I think that a significant part of them use sex services.

ND: Are there many IDP women among the SWs in Kyiv, why do they go into sex work, in your opinion?

Cheryl: I can’t speak for all of Kyiv, I get approached by girls who moved from the occupied territories, but that was back during the ATO. And in general, if we take into account the information that the state does not take good care of IDPs, I can assume that some of them go into sex work. But this is my assumption. I think that now sex workers are in a certain shadow, like most vulnerable groups. All the attention of society and the state is more on ending the war as soon as possible and keeping the country stable than on the rights and social protection of marginalized groups.

ND: Cheryl, tell me what requests sex workers have made to you and what assistance or services you have provided them as a community leader?

Cheryl: As a leader, I provide sex workers with individual consultations or conduct group consultations, as each of them is comfortable. I tell them how to protect themselves and their health: psychological, physical.

In self-help groups, we raise topics of self-worth, the ability to say no, to feel yourself and your needs, to know where to turn to during various personal needs, how to properly defend your rights, maintain your psychological health during this war, and learn self-help.

Self-help group for sex workers, Kyiv. The topic of the meeting is balance within. The girls met to talk about how to take care of their mental health, find support in themselves and support in the community. They shared their own ways to relieve tension, did simple practices for grounding and reminded themselves: taking care of yourself is not a luxury, but a necessity.

If necessary, and this happens quite often, I provide accompaniment to medical institutions, help to obtain medical services if the SW is afraid of facing discrimination.

Also, together with the SW, we contact the migration service in cases where it is necessary to replace or renew a passport. If the SW has limited mobility and needs to receive some services or renew documents, I provide transportation.

I help girls who find themselves in a crisis situation – violence, lost housing, etc. – to settle in crisis centers, and if necessary, I refer them to psychologists.

ND: Currently, our self-organization pays great attention to restoring the mental health of sex workers. How do your activists feel and how do you help them cope with stress in war conditions?

Cheryl: Indeed, war, power outages, heating have a negative impact on the psycho-emotional state of the SWs. And the work itself is very exhausting. Providing sex services is often about emotional exhaustion: you have to be good and right for each client, you often have to hide your work from your relatives and loved ones, that is, to live a double life. All this is accompanied by self-blame, a sense of shame for yourself and your work, discouragement and despair.

Therefore, I always raise the issue of self-worth in information sessions and self-help groups. Given the deep self-stigma in most of the girls, I try to convey to them that the most important, most valuable thing they have is themselves. And that they need to learn to accept themselves, take care of themselves, respect themselves and their needs, the needs of their body. Together with them, we learn to abstract, adapt to current conditions in order to make our own lives as easy as possible.

Thematic session with the Joint Venture "Cosmetology and Dermatology for Sex Workers" in Kyiv. We talked about skin care, prevention and safe practices. In a warm atmosphere, we support each other and take care of our health. Our girls are versatile and very talented, photo shows a beaded necklace created by one of the participants

ND: Do you have data from the SWs on the increase in cases of violence over the years? Do you discuss such risks and safety measures at your meetings?

Cheryl: I believe that law enforcement agencies play a big role in the field of security and violence. But unfortunately in Ukraine, police and other law enforcement officials have an extremely stigmatized attitude towards SWs. They often respond inadequately to appeals from SWs regarding violations of rights or violence, close or do not open cases, treat violators with loyalty and negatively towards victims. Therefore, in the classes we also touch on the topics of timely response to violations, how to behave with the police, what rights and services SWs can count on, where to turn and where to get support or referral.

ND: Cheryl, you recently completed training and, probably, you also intend to provide paralegal assistance to women. What violations of rights do SWs in Kyiv most often encounter?

Cheryl: Not much time has passed since I graduated and started working as a paralegal. So far, I have not had any appeals or serious cases, I am just starting out. But every time during our meetings with girls, I ask if they have encountered violations of their rights from the police, clients, in government agencies or in the medical field.

Right now, everything seems to be stable, quiet, so to speak. I don’t know, maybe it’s because in every class I raise the topic of timely response and algorithms of actions that would reduce the level of offenses, or maybe not all such situations are perceived by girls as offenses.

Although when interviewing them, I heard various cases from the past. Most often, these were violations of one’s own physical integrity by clients during the provision of sex services, theft of money, beatings and rapes.

I recall one case that SW told me about. A criminal client showed up at a location where the girls work. He drove up in a car, opened the window and greeted them with a smile. This behavior didn’t arouse any suspicion or concern in the girls about getting into that car. After the girls were in the car, he closed the door and began to beat them, rape them, take their money and finally take them out of town. This happened in the evening, so after the exhausted and abused girls had to return home on their own, many tens of kilometers away, without money.

Some girls tried to remember the license plate number and no longer communicate with this person, some passed the number to each other, but not all of them remembered, so there were cases when the girls got into this monster’s car several times.

At first, it was difficult to identify the perpetrator, due to the fact that there was no camera near the location that would film the license plates. Later, one of the victims filed a police report, but later the case was closed, and the perpetrator was never punished.

Meeting with Maksym Mishkin, regional coordinator of the CO “ALLIANCE.GLOBAL”. We signed a memorandum of cooperation between our organizations. This is an important step towards strengthening interaction between communities, in particular LGBTIQ, sex workers and people living with HIV. We are joining forces to expand access to quality medical and social services, as well as to combating STIs, tuberculosis and HIV. Our common goal is to create a safe and supportive environment where everyone has equal access to help, support and respect for their rights

ND: Do you think that the SWs has the ability to solve all the above problems and restore their rights independently without external intervention?

Cheryl: I think that every conscious person is able to solve their own problems and issues. But we are talking about a stigmatized and discriminated group that is under pressure and has its own history. They need help. Help from people who care about them as people.

Not everyone, going into this profession, knows that it is not only about earning money, but also about danger. And I am very happy to be a leader for this target audience. To help, mentor and be a support in a crisis situations.

ND: Who, besides CO «Legalife-Ukraine», provides support to the SWs in Kyiv? What organizations have you already established cooperation with and on what issues?

Cheryl: We cooperate with the CO "Convictus" (БО «Конвіктус»), they also work with the sex worker community. I can refer to them, for example, for testing for STIs, HIV, etc. And the NGO "DragStor" (ГО «ДрагСтор») specializes in the safe use of psychoactive substances and harm reduction. The NGO "Alliance.Global" (ГО «Альянс.Глобал») is also friendly to SWs and cooperates with us.

ND: Is it possible today to agree on assistance for SWs from private individuals, entrepreneurs or businesses?

Cheryl: If you have a good communication strategy, a plan and a willingness to forget everything we knew and build everything from scratch, the chances are very high. But it is worth considering the human factor of bias and intolerance. I think that in this issue in the long term, the media can help us, because it is one of the most important voices for society. And clarity is the path to understanding.

ND: As a leader with a year of experience, what advice would you give to other activists who are just starting their human rights journey?

Cheryl: My advice is to not be afraid to act. Only those who are ready to destroy the system and make efforts to build something new have a chance to remain in history. This is a very difficult and thorny path, so it is worth working for the future, rallying and building a world together in which everyone will feel important.

ND: Cheryl, I thank you for the interesting conversation! Finally, I have a traditional request for you: please share your expectations for the future. What, in your opinion, could make the life of sex workers safer and better?

Cheryl: I hope that the decriminalization of sex services will still happen. Because it should not be about prohibition, but about choice and safety. In our system, the system of order, I want to count on the police, the authorities and medicine as bodies that perform their functions of protection and support.

Interview by Natalia Dorofeeva, CO “Legalife-Ukraine”