National Sex Workers Helpline in Ukraine results for the first half of 2025

During the first half of 2025, the National Sex Workers Helpline team of the CO “Legalife-Ukraine”, consisting of operators, psychologists, lawyers and online consultants, provided highly qualified counselling support to sex workers in Ukraine.

From January to June 2025, 1,632 calls from sex workers were recorded, for which immediate counselling or referral was provided.

In total, sex workers received 2,019 consultations, including:

  − 296 psychological consultations;

  − 246 legal consultations;

  − 823 peer-to-peer consultations;

  − 654 referrals to other organisations and specialists.

Compared to last year, the number of calls and consultations to the Helpline has almost doubled.

PROBLEMS FACED BY SEX WORKERS OF UKRAINE IN 2025

Most often, we were contacted by women who found themselves in difficult life situations, for example:

• police officers demand money, force them to draw up/sign illegal reports, conduct illegal searches;
• the police using physical and psychological violence against SWs (moral humiliation, insults, coercion to cooperate, coercion to have sex, rape);
• the sex workers experiencing violence;
• attempts are being made to take away the sex worker’s child/deprive them of their parental rights, citing the type of her work;
• sex workers being blackmailed, intimidated or their freedom is being restricted;
• sex workers does not know where to obtain medical/social/legal services or are being denied such services, citing their type of work;
• SWs experiencing psychological discomfort, depression, panic attacks, are unable to overcome family problems or establish contact with their children;
• SWs need help in obtaining a passport, registering, signing a declaration with a family doctor.

Additional problems include insufficient information for SWs about available services and their rights to receive them, a shortage of qualified doctors/specialists, and the working hours of SW and medical institutions. Corruption and insufficient funding for programmes also prevent them from receiving free services in government institutions.

PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSISTANCE

Most often, sex workers (SWs) seek help because of deterioration of their mental health and socio-economic situation as a result of the military actions in Ukraine. Our research shows that 92% of SWs confirmed deterioration in their psycho-emotional state and mental health due to the war. Also SWs are complaining about 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 mobilization.

In second place in the rating of problems are problems with employment and reduced earnings. Many sex workers were forced to leave sex work and found themselves without a livelihood. 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 women’s psychological and emotional state and negatively affects their health.

LEGAL SUPPORT

The lawyer of the CO Legalife-Ukraine provided legal advice on appeals from SWs, most of which concerned violations of rights in the areas of medicine and social protection, human rights, as well as family relations, gender and domestic violence. Most often, SWs complain about refusals to provide medical or social services, or refusals to accept statements from law enforcement agencies. SWs often face disclosure of medical secrets or other confidential data by government officials. SWs also need legal support in resolving family relationships, particularly in cases of domestic violence.

The organisation’s lawyer also provides consultations on property issues such as inheritance, restoration of parental rights, writing applications to various authorities, registering an individual entrepreneur, etc., which are not related to rights violations.

In only 13 cases of rights violations did clients agree to further legal action. They were referred to the DataCheck system, where they received legal support until the problem was fully resolved and the perpetrators were punished. Most of these appeals do not end up in the general DataCheck database of offences due to fear of publicity and the applicants’ refusal to give permission for the processing of personal data.

TELEPHONE HOTLINE AND ONLINE CHAT

Telephone hotline and online chat operators provide peer-to-peer counselling and/or refer SWs to the appropriate services based on their needs: to psychologists and lawyers at Legalife-Ukraine, to government agencies and non-governmental organisations, to professionals, regional leaders, paralegals, etc. to receive medical, social, legal, HIV-related services.

The main issues that SWs raised with operators were:

• Deterioration of SWs’ psycho-emotional state, relationships with family, partners, and children. Stress and fears, panic attacks and anxiety caused by the war;
• HIV/STI prevention during sex work, opportunities for testing and treatment for HIV, syphilis, hepatitis, fears of disease detection and living with HIV (sexual and reproductive health);
• Problems with work, reduced 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 SMT (Substitution Maintenance Therapy);
• Renewal of Ukrainian citizenship passport;
• Registration as an individual entrepreneur and payment of taxes to the budget. Other sex workers were interested in how to terminate their activities as individual entrepreneurs;
• Violations of sex workers’ rights by medical and social workers, law enforcement officers, and the Territorial Center of Recruitment and Social Support in relation to the close relatives of sex workers;
• Social protection issues: pensions, guardianship;
• Loan debts.

We are grateful to our partners for supporting sex workers in Ukraine: Aidsfonds, Global Fund for Women, SWAN, NSWP, 100 PERCENT LIFE Charitable Organisation, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Team of the CO “Legalife-Ukraine”