Sex worker rights battle continues

In support of sex worker rights and combatting the abuses they face nationally and across the globe, human rights organisation Rights Not Rescue Trust (RNRT) Namibia is celebrating International Sex Workers' Rights Day this weekend.“This is the day that we voice ourselves as sex workers and we look back on our history and craft our future in regards to recognition, social justice and equality,” the organisation's executive director Nikodemus (Mama Africa) Aoxamub said in a press statement. According to the 2013-2014 Integrated Biological and Behavioural Survey among female sex workers in Namibia, it was at the time that an estimated 1 800 to 3 400 sex workers are active in Windhoek, 825 to 1 500 in Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, between 380 to 2 000 in Katima Mulilo and 775 to 2 750 in Oshikango.Several studies over the past two decades have underlined the lashing of human rights abuses and harassment sex workers face, often when seeking help from the police or health workers. This year's international sex workers' day is taking place under the theme 'Leaving no one behind'. In lieu of the commemoration, Rights Not Rescue is launching the results of a 2015 baseline survey, titled 'Hands Off', which looked at programmes to address the violence faced by sex workers and the sexual reproductive health and rights needs of sex workers. Aoxamub noted that the study will help “stimulate discussion, and raise awareness of the reality sex workers face in Namibia.”The 2017 Namibia Gender Analysis, compiled by the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) for the European Union delegation to Namibia, listed a number of studies on sex work in Namibia, and noted that the act of sex work for reward is not specifically outlawed in Namibia, but a host of surrounding activities are.The Combating of Immoral Practices Act 21 of 1980 prohibits brothels, the procurement of prostitutes, the soliciting of prostitutes and more.An LAC study from 2002 found that many sex workers were driven into the profession by poverty and “out of desperation to support themselves and their families”.Key concerns identified in the study included lack of access to healthcare and persecution from clients and police officials, based on the criminalisation of the work. Law-enforcement officials are frequently accused of perpetuating a host of abuses against sex workers, including “violence, extortion and abuse,” a 2012 United Nations report noted. Moreover, sex workers are denied “access to healthcare services due to stigma and discrimination from healthcare workers… severely compromising sex workers' access to equal protection under the law” and creating “a climate of impunity that fosters further violence and discrimination against sex workers in the community at large”.A 2013 report found that the police often confiscated condoms from sex workers, exposing them to high risks of diseases, including HIV.Moreover, police have used possession of condoms as a justification for detention and as evidence of illegal sex work. These actions discouraged many sex workers from carrying condoms, for fear of the police response. “The report concludes that criminalisation of sex work is harmful to sex workers' safety and that the described police practices, whether sanctioned or unsanctioned, discourage access to protection.”Further, criminalisation of sex work and police abuses discourages sex workers from reporting crimes against them. “The sex workers interviewed also complained that the laws criminalising sex work activities meant that they had no recourse against clients who refused to pay for sexual services, or against clients who physically abused or raped them.” According to the study, the “vast majority” of sex workers wanted to see their profession decriminalised “as a way to give them greater protection and security”.In contrast, almost 70% of the public surveyed felt that the laws should be changed to make sex work illegal for both the client and the sex worker. In 2010, a survey of about 400 young people in Windhoek and selected rural areas supported the decriminalisation of sex work.JANA-MARI SMITH

Sex worker rights battle continues

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-09

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Sex worker rights battle continues

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-09

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