Global Burden of Violence and Other Human Rights Violations Against Sex Workers

Abstract

Globally, sex workers experience a disproportionate burden of violence and human rights violations linked to criminalisation, punitive law enforcement, and lack of labour protections. Social injustices including poor working conditions, violence and victimisation, police harassment, and discrimination constitute severe violations of sex workers’ health, labour and human rights, and abuses of their freedom and dignity. Policymakers, researchers, and international bodies increasingly recognise violence as a critical public health and human rights concern among the general population; however, human rights violations against sex workers remain largely overlooked within international agendas on violence prevention and in human rights conventions. This chapter provides an overview of the global literature on violence against sex workers, other human rights violations, and drivers of elevated violence and rights inequities across settings. In addition to synthesising global research findings, this chapter features contributions and case studies from community partners in Asia Pacific. Guided by a structural determinants framework, and in recognising the right to live and work free from violence as a human right, this chapter provides an evidence base pertaining to violence against sex workers towards that informs the development of policy and public health interventions to uphold human rights among sex workers worldwide.