SEX WORK AND THE LAW - HIV/AIDS Data Hub

4.2 Donors should support NGOs and professional associations to provide legal aid
services to sex workers, and education about their legal rights and mechanisms
for enforcing rights.
4.3 Ministries of Justice and the legal profession should ensure the creation of
a trained and sensitized legal work force that has expertise in providing legal
services to sex workers including to defend prosecutions, to complain against
excessive police conduct or discrimination and to seek justice for sex workers
subjected to violence and abuse.
5. Research, evidence and monitoring
5.1 Detailed mapping of the legal environments of sex workers should be used to
inform an agenda for action in each country, using the rapid policy assessment
and response methodology. 53 These mapping exercises should be led by sex
worker organizations where feasible and informed by qualitative studies on the
impact of laws and law enforcement practices on the health and human rights of
sex workers.
5.2 Donors and national AIDS authorities should support social research to investigate
the impact on HIV responses of sex work laws and law enforcement practices.
5.3 Human rights violations experienced by sex workers need to be systematically
documented so that redress can be sought. Documentation should be used
to inform planning of protective measures and for advocacy with policy and
decision-makers to prevent future violations of rights from occurring.
5.4 National AIDS authorities should promote the sharing of evidence of successes and
lessons learnt from programmes that support sex workers and their organizations
to advocate for their human rights and improved legal environments.
6. National planning of HIV responses
6.1 Governments should ensure that national HIV Strategies and Plans recognize
the importance of ensuring non-punitive, enabling legal environments for HIV
responses among sex workers and their clients.
6.2 National HIV Strategies and Plans should address the legal and policy
environment, including law reform priorities, participation of sex workers in
legal reform and policy processes, support to the advocacy and policy role of sex
worker organizations, community legal education, access to legal and advocacy
services, harm reduction, social protection and empowerment programmes.
6.3 Governments should support participation of representatives of sex worker
communities in national planning of HIV responses.
7. National human rights institutions
7.1 National human rights institutions should ensure that resources are applied
to protecting and promoting the human rights of sex workers, and to raising
awareness of the harms to HIV responses caused by violations of the human
53 Rapid Policy Assessment and Response (RPAR) methodology is being implemented in Fiji and Malaysia by
Paulo Longo Research Initiative and has been implemented by Project Parivartan and the Lawyers Collective to
map the legal environment for sex workers in Andhra Pradesh, India.
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