Implementing Comprehensive HIV/STI Programmes with Sex Workers Implementing Comprehensive HIV/STI Programmes with | Page 53

2 Addressing Violence against Sex Workers

• Promoting workplace security by negotiating with owners and managers of sex establishments
to protect sex workers from perpetrators of violence. For example, the sex worker-led organization
Ashodaya in Karnataka, India, incentivized hotel or lodge owners to protect sex workers from abuse
by offering the owners access to free health services. Similarly, the KASH sex worker project in
Kenya partnered with bar managers and staff to display a hotline number, and initiated an SMSbased system that enables sex workers to send messages about experiences of violence and
receive feedback and support from KASH staff.
• Disseminating information or tips about safety to sex workers (e.g. asking sex workers to carry
mobile phones, inform friends before they go with clients, keep numbers to call in case they are
in dangerous situations; see Box 2.6). For example, sex worker organizations from five European
countries have developed a safety brochure in six languages as part of the “INDOORS” project
that supports the empowerment of sex workers in Europe, including migrant sex workers. The
brochure, titled “Safer Work”, includes practical tips for sex workers to stay safe from violence
and protect their health, as well as information about legislation in the five countries.

Box 2.6

Case example: Safety tips for sex workers from SWEAT, South Africa
• Always take down the car registration number, colour
and make.
• Try to check the boot of the car and the back seats
before you climb in.
• Don’t get into a car with more than one client in it.
• Don’t lean into the car when negotiating with a client—
if he means trouble, he can hurt you.
• Check that the car door handles work.
Source: Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), South Africa

• Creating safe spaces (drop-in centres) or shelters that allow sex workers to come together and
discuss common issues and problems they face, including violence, and develop and exchange
solutions. For example, the Brazilian sex work organization Fio da Alma opened a drop-in centre
where sex workers were encouraged to meet and to participate in workshops and activities such
as classes on violence prevention. The evaluation of the project’s broad set of interventions showed
an increase in the reported ability of sex workers to manage client risk behaviours related to drugs
and alcohol.
• Integrating violence prevention in HIV prevention counselling interventions with sex
workers. In settings such as Mongolia, South Africa and the USA, HIV prevention counselling
interventions that have integrated a safety-planning component have been evaluated and shown
to reduce violence against sex workers. Counselling strategies are broadly focused on information
and skills-building related to STI and HIV prevention. The violence prevention component includes:
›› Working with sex workers to assess potentially violent situations and develop a “safety plan”
to get out of such situations. For example, the Women’s Health CoOp project in Pretoria, South

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