Sex Worker involvement in 2010 IHRA conference
On 25th-29th April 2010, the 21st International Harm Reduction Conference is taking place where it was first established in Liverpool, England.
Here is an update about sex worker and allies involvement, so far, in the conference. A major session on sex work has been accepted as part of the program, this is supported by the International Sex Work Harm Reduction Caucus. The caucus is an informal network bringing together sex worker organizations and representatives and was formed in order to promote the inclusion of sex workers in debates about harm reduction and human rights particularly within this international forum. It is challenging to get a major session in the program so this is good news! The session entitled “The War Against Sex Workers” currently includes presentations from ALCIS in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tais Plus based in Kyrgyzstan , Scarlett Alliance (Australia) reflecting on sex worker peer to peer capacity development in Fiji & He Jin Kim presenting on transgender issues. It is hoped the session will go ahead as accepted but there are still some funding issues to support participation to be confirmed.
In addition a concurrent session supported by UKNSWP entitled “Sex Work & Harm Reduction in the UK: Safety, Skills & the Struggle for Social Inclusion” has been accepted. Also a couple of other sex workers organisations have been accepted to present in other none sex work specific sessions for example Pye JaKobsen (Rose Alliance, Sweden) and Marija Tosheva (HOPS, Macedonia).
So there will be quite a gathering in the Liverpool in spring and an opportunity to influence people in the harm reduction field internationally.
The International Sex Worker Harm Reduction Caucus agreed a statement on sex work and harm reduction for the 19th IHRA Conference, Barcelona 2008 with key messages about sex worker rights and harm reduction messages, amongst these was that sex work is not harm, it also affirmed that sex workers are players in promoting human rights and harm reduction. In May of 2008 the ICRSE highlighted this statement on sexworkeurope.org where you will find it available for download in English, Russian, Spanish and Danish.
A further update about the conference will be provided to ICRSE.
For more information about the conference and registration go to the conference website.
Rosie Campbell
Rosie is a member of the International Sex Work Harm Reduction Caucus. She is based in Liverpool, and is a member of the Local Organising Committee for the IHRA conference 2010 representing UK Network of Sex Work Projects.
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it : Please do let Rosie know if you attending so we can do our best to welcome you in Liverpool.