“LEGALIFE-UKRAINE” NEWS ON INTERNATIONAL “SEX WORKERS‘ DAY” 2024

Every year, on 2nd June, the international sex worker community celebrates International Sex Workers’ Day. Its main theme is defined as ‘access to justice’, namely ensuring rights and justice for all sex workers.

[Historical background: On 2 June 1975, around 100 sex workers occupied the Saint-Nizier church in Lyon to protest against criminalisation and exploitation. At 5 a.m. on 10 June, police cleared the church by force. This event gave rise to a national movement, and the day of 2 June has become a memorable date in Europe and around the world].

This year we have prepared an infographic to remind society and the authorities that sex work in Ukraine is still criminalised and stigmatised. This leaves sex workers vulnerable in many areas of life: social, economic, human rights, etc. Sex workers of Ukraine are vulnerable to violence and violations of their rights, and this has become particularly evident in times of war.

(Full set of our infographics is present in original Ukrainian article via link here)

Ensuring rights and justice for sex workers of Ukraine via our paralegals

(Paralegal aid is primary legal aid in case of rights violations provided by specially trained paralegals. It includes providing a prompt professional and legal assessment of the fact of rights violation, advising on available solutions to restore the violated rights and on further actions that can be taken to restore them.)

Since January 2024, we have expanded the network of SW paralegals to 16 regions of Ukraine: Vinnytsia, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih, Cherkasy, Sumy, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kropyvnytskyi, Zhytomyr, Lutsk, Lviv, Kyiv, Rivne, Chernivtsi, Odesa (Вінниця, Полтава, Харків, Кривий Ріг, Черкаси, Суми, Дніпро, Миколаїв, Кропивницький, Житомир, Луцьк, Львів, Київ, Рівне, Чернівці, Одеса). The community uses the DataCheck app to record and respond to human rights violations.

The system helps to record and respond to human rights violations in the following areas: Healthcare, Justice, Work, Community, Education, Emergencies.

According to our surveys among the SWs, the percentage of SWs who face violations of their rights during the war is increasing. Almost half of those we surveyed admit that this war and its consequences have negatively affected their ability to protect their rights.

Our paralegals record complaints from SWs about violations of their rights and provide legal assistance to the SWs if they need it and agree to it. The most common issues that affected persons face are: refusals to provide services in medical and social institutions, ignoring complaints and statements from affected persons by law enforcement agencies, delaying the process of applying for social benefits and demanding charitable contributions for the opportunity to receive services, etc.

During January - May 2024, paralegals of CO ‘Legalife-Ukraine’ recorded 350 appeals on violations of the rights of SWs, 132 of which have already been resolved successfully.

The most frequent clients of paralegals were women, with the highest number of appeals recorded in Poltava, Dnipro, Kirovohrad and Vinnytsia regions (Полтавська, Дніпропетровська, Кіровоградська  та Вінницька області).

The medical sector ranks first in terms of the number of appeals from sex workers about violations of their rights: a total of 156 cases were recorded concerning pregnancy and childbirth, diagnosis, examination, treatment of STIs, HIV, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis, general diseases, opioid substitution therapy, etc.

Violations of rights by law enforcement agencies rank second, with 77 cases recorded to date. Due to criminalisation and high levels of stigmatisation, SWs continue to suffer from discrimination and violence by law enforcement in Ukraine.

On this important day, we reiterate that sex work is not a crime. In order for sex workers to be perceived not as criminals or victims, but as citizens who have equal rights, freedoms and responsibilities with other citizens, Ukraine must fully decriminalise sex work.

The community continues its struggle and defends the rights of each of its members, bringing positive changes not only for themselves and their families, but also for the whole society of Ukraine.

Let’s stay together and continue to work to overcome this war and protect the rights of the community!

Team CO “Legalife-Ukraine”, 2 June, 2024