On May 19th, India’s Supreme Court made a historic step towards advancing the rights of sex workers and ensuring their protection under the law: It issued a set of directives that acknowledges sex work as a dignified profession and mandates freedom from violence for those who practice it. These new guidelines have the potential to …
Read More
Last year, I conducted research on how sex worker-led organisations are dealing with the issue of human trafficking. I interviewed members of 13 different sex worker-led organisations in 13 different countries. At least eight of my respondents were sex workers themselves. The interviews addressed how the respondents defined and approached the topic of human trafficking, …
Read More
Should New York be the first city in the United States to decriminalize prostitution? The blue-ribbon panel that just issued a forceful argument for closing the jails on Rikers Island within ten years thinks so. Led by the Honorable Jonathan Lippman, the former chief judge of New York, the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal …
Read More
Originally published in Out Magazine. Lesbian couple Pen Nol, left, and Chhon Nhoeng, live together on their farm in rural Cambodia. They are members of Rainbow Community Kampuchea (RoCK), a Phnom Phen-based LGBT advocacy organization supported by AJWS. Nheap Pen, center left, and Yarn Mok, center right, live with their grandchildren in rural Cambodia. The …
Read More
WONETHA is a human rights-based organization and registered NGO, based in Uganda. WONETHA seeks to improve the health, social and economic wellbeing of female adult sex workers in Uganda. Veshya Anyay Mukti Parishad (VAMP), India, is a collective of women in sex work against injustice who have mobilized in order to speak out about HIV …
Read More
Advocating for the dignity and human rights of sex workers
Read MoreAnu Mokal was four months pregnant the night policemen brutally assaulted her at a bus stop in Satara, India. They beat her so severely that she suffered a miscarriage. When she later filed a complaint against them, no investigation took place, despite the presence of witnesses. Why? Because she was a sex worker, and the policemen—who had charged her with soliciting clients at the bus stop—were just ‘doing their job.’
Read More“Ball, ball,” came the voice from the stroller as we walked down Broadway toward the synagogue one Shabbat morning. I looked around for the ball that evoked my daughter’s first word; no ball in sight. “A ball,” I questioned? “Ball.” My eyes combed the sidewalk, the street, and the shop windows. If there was a …
Read MoreThis Dvar Tzedek was adapted from Ruth Messinger’s talk for JDOV, a program that invites interesting and creative thinkers to give “the Jewish talk of their life.” Watch the full video of Ruth’s talk here. Parashat Va’etchanan includes the words of the Sh’ma[1]—a prayer so important, that many Jews recite it twice a day. Our …
Read More