Human rights abuses and collective resilience among sex workers in four African countries: A qualitative study

Globalization and Health

Volumn 9, Issue 1, 2013, Pages

  Scorgie, Fiona ^a,b   Vasey, Katie ^c   Harper, Eric ^d   Richter, Marlise ^b,e   Nare, Prince ^f   Maseko, Sian ^g   Chersich, Matthew F ^a,e  

^a UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND   (South Africa)

^b UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND   (South Africa)

^c MONASH UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^d African Sex Worker Alliance   (United Kingdom)

^e GHENT UNIVERSITY   (Belgium)

^f UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA   (South Africa)

^g Sexual Rights Centre   (Zimbabwe)

Author keywords

Human rights; Kenya; Prostitution; Resilience; Sex work; South Africa; Uganda; Violence; Zimbabwe

Indexed keywords

COLLECTIVE ACTION; CRIME; HUMAN RIGHTS; PROSTITUTION; QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS; VIOLENCE;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AFRICA; ARTICLE; COPING BEHAVIOR; CRIMINAL LAW; EMPOWERMENT; FEMALE; HUMAN; HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE; INTERVIEW; KENYA; MALE; PHYSICAL ABUSE; PRIORITY JOURNAL; PROSTITUTION; QUALITATIVE RESEARCH; RAPE; SEXUAL ABUSE; SOCIAL DISCRIMINATION; SOCIAL STIGMA; SOUTH AFRICA; TRANSGENDERISM; UGANDA; WORK ENVIRONMENT; ZIMBABWE; HUMAN RELATION; INFORMATION PROCESSING; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; TRANSSEXUALITY; VIOLENCE;

KENYA; SOUTH AFRICA; UGANDA; ZIMBABWE;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AFRICA; FEMALE; FOCUS GROUPS; HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES; HUMANS; INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS; MALE; QUALITATIVE RESEARCH; RESILIENCE, PSYCHOLOGICAL; SEX WORKERS; TRANSGENDERED PERSONS; VIOLENCE; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84880865459     PISSN: None     EISSN: 17448603     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1186/1744-8603-9-33     Document Type: Article

References (36)

1. Secretariat The Global Commission on HIV and the Law: The Global Commission on HIV and the Law - risks, rights and health. Book The Global Commission on HIV and the Law - risks, rights and health 2012, UNDP, HIV/AIDS Group, Bureau for Development Policy, Secretariat.
2. South African Law Reform Commission Discussion Paper 0001/2009: Adult Prostitution. Book Discussion Paper 0001/2009: Adult Prostitution 2009, 300. South African: Law Reform Commission, South African Law Reform Commission.
3. Fick N. Sex Workers' experiences with the local law enforcement in South Africa. Research for Sex Work 2005, 8:4-8.
4. SWEAT The Sex worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce v Minister of Safety and Security and Others (Case No. 3378/07), Western Cape High Court, Cape Town. Book The Sex worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce v Minister of Safety and Security and Others (Case No. 3378/07) 2009, Cape Town: Western Cape High Court, SWEAT.
5. Biradavolu MR, Burris S, George A, Jena A, Blankenship KM. Can sex workers regulate police? Learning from an HIV prevention project for sex workers in southern India. Soc Sci Med 2009, 68:1541-1547. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.01.040, 19261364.
6. Manoek SL. " Stop Harassing Us! Tackle Real Crime!" : A Report on Human Rights Violations by Police against Sex Workers in South Africa 2012, Cape Town: Women's Legal Centre.
7. Open Society Foundations Criminalizing Condoms: How Policing Practices put Sex Workers and HIV Services at Risk in Kenya, Namibia, Russia, South Africa, the United States, and Zimbabwe. Report 2012, Open Society Foundations.
8. Elmore-Meegan M, Conroy RM, Agala CB. Sex workers in Kenya, numbers of clients and associated risks: an exploratory survey. Reprod Health Matters 2004, 12:50-57. 10.1016/S0968-8080(04)23125-1, 15242210.
9. Delany S, Nielson G. Female Sex Work: Putting the Spotlight on Men. The AIDS Letter 2000, 81:1-4.
10. Wolffers I, Van Beelen N. Public health and the human rights of sex workers. Lancet 1981, 2003:361.
11. Rekart ML. Sex-work harm reduction. Lancet 2005, 366:2123-2134.
12. Overs C, Hawkins K. Can rights stop the wrongs? Exploring the connections between framings of sex workers' rights and sexual and reproductive health. BMC Int Health Hum Rights 2011, 11:S6. 3287462, 22376152.
13. Naidoo NP. Report on the 1st African Sex Worker Conference: Building Solidarity and Strengthening Alliances 2009, Johannesburg, South Africa: Sex Worker Education & Advocacy Taskforce and Reproductive Health & HIV Research Unit.
14. Wechsberg WM, Luseno WK, Lam WK. Violence against substance-abusing South African sex workers: intersection with culture and HIV risk. AIDS Care 2005, 17(Suppl 1):S55-S64.
15. Okal J, Chersich MF, Tsui S, Sutherland E, Temmerman M, Luchters S. Sexual and physical violence against female sex workers in Kenya: a qualitative enquiry. AIDS Care 2011, 23:612-618. 10.1080/09540121.2010.525605, 21390890.
16. Groves J, Newton DC, Chen MY, Hocking J, Bradshaw CS, Fairley CK. Sex Workers Working within a Legalised Industry: Their Side of the Story. Sex Transm Infect 2008, 84:393-394. 10.1136/sti.2008.030668, 18550694.
17. Gould C, Fick N. Selling sex in Cape Town: Sex work and human trafficking in a South African city 2008, Pretoria/Tshwane: Institute for Security Studies.
18. Vearey J. Learning from HIV: Exploring migration and health in South Africa. Glob Public Health 2012, 7:58-70. 10.1080/17441692.2010.549494, 21360380.
19. Wong WC, Holroyd E, Chan EY, Griffiths S, Bingham A. " One country, two systems" : Sociopolitical implications for female migrant sex workers in Hong Kong. BMC Int Health Hum Rights 2008, 8:13. 10.1186/1472-698X-8-13, 2629761, 19077260.
20. Agustin L. Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry 2007, New York & London: Zed Books.
21. Scambler G, Paoli F. Health work, female sex workers and HIV/AIDS: Global and local dimensions of stigma and deviance as barriers to effective interventions. Soc Sci Med 2008, 66:1848-1862. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.01.002, 18295948.
22. Gesler WM, Kearns RA. Culture/Place/Health 2001, London: Routledge.
23. Smyth F. Medical geography: therapeutic places, spaces and networks. Prog Hum Geogr 2005, 29:488-495.
24. Hodgetts D, Radley A, Chamberlain K, Hodgetts A. Health inequalities and homelessness: considering material, spatial and relational dimensions. J Health Psychol 2007, 12:709-725. 10.1177/1359105307080593, 17855457.
25. Day S, Ward H. Sex workers and the control of sexually transmitted disease. Genitourin Med 1997, 73:161-168. 1195814, 9306894.
26. Richter ML, Chersich MF, Scorgie F, Luchters S, Temmerman M, Steen R. Sex work and the 2010 FIFA World Cup: time for public health imperatives to prevail. Global Health 2010, 6:1. 10.1186/1744-8603-6-1, 2829543, 20181213.
27. Shaver FM. Sex Work Research: Methodological and Ethical Challenges. J Interpers Violence 2005, 20:296-319. 10.1177/0886260504274340, 15684139.
28. Campbell C. Selling sex in the time of AIDS: the psycho-social context of condom use by sex workers on a Southern African mine. Soc Sci Med 2000, 50:479-494. 10.1016/S0277-9536(99)00317-2, 10641801.
29. Naidoo N. Report on the 1st African Sex Worker Conference: Building Solidarity and Strengthening Alliances. Book Report on the 1st African Sex Worker Conference: Building Solidarity and Strengthening Alliances 2009, City: Sex Worker Education and; Advocacy Taskforce, Reproductive Health and; HIV Research Unit.
30. Nairne D. 'We Want the Power' Findings from focus group discussion in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. Research for sex work 2000, 3:3-5.
31. Vearey J, Oliveira E, Madzimure T, Ntini B. Working the City: experiences of migrant women in inner-city Johannesburg. Southern Africa Gender and Media and Diversity Journal 2011, 9:228-233.
32. Oliveira E. Searching for the 'Land of Opportunities' A Story about a Migrant Zimbabwean Woman who Sells Sex in Johannesburg. Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration 2011, 1:58-63.
33. Chersich MF, Luchters S, Ntaganira I, Gerbase A, Lo YR, Scorgie F, Steen R. Priority interventions to reduce HIV transmission in sex work settings in sub-Saharan Africa and delivery of these services. J Int AIDS Soc 2013, 16:17980-17987. 3589546, 23462140.
34. Reza-Paul S, Lorway R, O'Brien N, Lazarus L, Jain J, Bhagya M, Steen R, Baer J, Raviprakash KN, Venukumar KT, Fathima Mary P. Sex worker-led structural interventions in India: a case study on addressing violence in HIV prevention through the Ashodaya Samithi collective in Mysore. Indian J Med Res 2012, 135:98-106. 10.4103/0971-5916.93431, 3307193, 22382190.
35. Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Kenya Documenting Human Rights Violations of Sex Workers in Kenya. Report 2008, http://www.soros.org/reports/documenting-human-rights-violations-sex-workers-kenya, Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Kenya.
36. Amnesty International 'I can't afford justice': Violence against women in Uganda continues unpunished and unchecked. Report 2010, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AFR59/001/2010, Amnesty International.