Implementing Comprehensive HIV/STI Programmes with Sex Workers Implementing Comprehensive HIV/STI Programmes with | Page 48

2 Addressing Violence against Sex Workers

• Recognize that programmes may have unintended harmful impacts for sex workers, such as
retaliatory or “backlash” violence. Prepare for this possibility and monitor programmes for such
unintended consequences.
• Evaluate programmes to identify strategies that reduce risk factors and levels of violence faced
by sex workers, in order to build the evidence base and ensure that resources are directed to the
most beneficial strategies. Include measurable objectives that articulate results to reduce violence
against sex workers.

2.2 Promising interventions and strategies
This section suggests strategies to prevent and respond to violence against sex workers. Many of
these strategies were developed as good practices by sex workers. Unless explicitly stated, these
strategies have not been formally evaluated for their impact on reducing risk factors or levels of
violence against sex workers. It is recommended that before any of the strategies suggested below
are scaled up, they are monitored for any unintended consequences and evaluated to establish
whether they work in preventing or reducing violence against sex workers.

2.2.1 Community empowerment
Stages of community empowerment are detailed in Chapter 1. Community empowerment can
contribute to violence reduction by:
• providing a mechanism for sex workers to engage in critical reflection on their rights, their problems,
including violence, and the root causes of these problems
• building collective solidarity for sex workers to mobilize and advocate to challenge and change
behaviours of powerful groups or institutions that deny them their rights and perpetuate violence
and other abuses.

2.2.2 Building the capacity of sex workers
Several kinds of activities build sex workers’ knowledge of their rights in relation to sex work and
violence, and their confidence to claim these rights.
Training and sensitizing sex workers about sex work-related laws and their human rights
This generates awareness and encourages sex workers to report and challenge violence. Activities
may include training and advocacy workshops, production and dissemination of written and visual
materials about violence and the human rights of sex workers, community meetings and face-to-face
counselling from community outreach workers5 (see Box 2.2). Training and print materials should factor
in the differing learning needs and literacy levels of sex workers. Topics covered may include: sources
of and reasons for violence faced by sex workers; knowledge of sex work laws and laws that affect
sex workers (e.g. municipal statutes, laws related to homosexual sex, drug use); sex workers’ rights
when arrested, charged or detained by the police, and correct police procedures; and legal services.

5 In this tool, “community outreach worker” is used to mean a sex worker who conducts outreach to other sex workers, and who is not generally full-time staff of an HIV
prevention intervention (full-time staff might be called “staff outreach workers” or also simply “outreach workers”). Community outreach workers may also be known by
other terms, including “peer educators”, “peer outreach workers” or simply “outreach workers”. The terms “community” or “peer” should not, however, be understood or
used to imply that they are less qualified or less capable than staff outreach workers.

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