News24 Wire reports that Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (Sweat) launched a report on Wednesday entitled ‘Why Sex Work Should be Decriminalised in South Africa’.  

The report documents the experiences of 46 sex workers in SA in an effort to get the status quo changed.  It is based on research conducted between May and June 2018 by HRW.  Interviews were conducted with female sex workers, including three transgender women, in 10 sites in three provinces.  Around 40 government and nongovernmental experts in health, law, and provisions of services for sex workers were also interviewed.  The report highlights deep inconsistencies between different government bodies in their approaches to sex work and services for sex workers.  “The most notable difference was between the national department of health, which makes efforts to support sex workers with access to health care and the criminal justice system, which take a punitive approach,” HRW observed.  According to the report, many interviewees had been raped by men who pretended to be clients and had been victims of robbery and violence, “including being beaten, whipped, and stabbed”.  In addition, the report notes that criminalisation is an obstruction to the prevention of diseases such as HIV/Aids.  Nosipho Vidima, human rights officer at Sweat, emphasised:  “South African sex workers deserve to live in dignity and provide for their families without fear and shame.  Decriminalising sex work is the clear way forward.”

• Read the full original of the above report at The Citizen

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