Implementing Comprehensive HIV/STI Programmes with Sex Workers Implementing Comprehensive HIV/STI Programmes with | Page 50

2 Addressing Violence against Sex Workers

Box 2.3

Case example: “Someone you know is a sex worker” campaign,
San Francisco, USA
The St. James Infirmary developed a campaign to convey that:
• sex workers are everyday people and valued members of the community
• sex workers are equal members of society, and their rights are human rights
• sex work is real work and sex workers deserve labour rights.
The campaign involved interviewing and photographing sex workers, their partners and service providers
affiliated with the St. James Infirmary. The campaign messages were reviewed by sex workers and others
not involved in sex work.
Large advertisements were displayed on the sides of city buses for one month. Posters were also distributed
to social and health-care agencies.

Source: Barbara DeGenevieve and Rachel Schreiber, media campaign for the St. James Infirmary, San Francisco, USA

Target audiences of such advocacy and sensitization may include: local and national government
officials responsible for law enforcement; justice, military and security personnel; media (e.g. print,
television, radio, social); religious and political leaders; parliamentarians; local, municipal, district and
provincial governments (e.g. mayors, local councils); NGOs that work on human rights more broadly;
women’s organizations; health-care providers and health-care professional organizations; United
Nations organizations; and international NGOs.
Advocacy efforts may need to strike a balance between targeting frontline staff in different sectors
(e.g. police or health workers) and decision-makers (e.g. administrators and managers), as frontline
staff may respond to pressure from decision-makers.
Advocacy and sensitization activities may include:
• public campaigns to highlight sex work as work (see Box 2.3)
• sensitization workshops
• highlighting the issue of violence against sex workers on specific international and national days
and in campaigns relevant to HIV, sex work, gender-based violence and human rights
• disseminating print and other multimedia materials about violence against sex workers

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