Health-E News writes that female sex workers are more likely to be victimised, raped and killed than other women at the hands of both police and clients.  

So any conversation or initiatives on gender-based violence and rape needs the input of sex workers: one of the most vulnerable communities.  But it is said that as long as sex work remains illegal in SA, individuals are left at the mercy of a system that dehumanises them.  In May, a SA Law Reform Commission report released by the justice minister on Sexual Offences: Adult Prostitution recommended that the status quo be maintained, namely criminalisation.  As a second option, it recommended partial criminalisation where the client would become criminalised.  Yet in a contradictory approach, the SA National AIDS Council (Sanac) released a plan last year outlining the need for a public health approach to sex work to curb the spread of HIV.  It acknowledged that criminalisation aided stigma and prevented at-risk communities from accessing health services.  In July delegates at the ANC’s national policy conferences rejected a call to decriminalise sex work.

• Read this report by Health E’s Amy Green in full at Daily Maverick

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