Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Trafficking Victims Get Help Where It's Needed Most

    The L’Chaim initiative consists of a group of volunteers who visit women working in prostitution to build relationships to help these women prevent sex trafficking and to help victims find a way out. During visits, volunteers educate women on their rights, raise awareness of sex trafficking, and help them understand they may be victims and then connect them with appropriate resources, serving as a liaison between “victims” and “rescuers.”

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  • Cell Groups Helping to Reduce HIV among Rwandan Sex Workers

    Leadership groups formed by sex workers are helping to reduce HIV rates by traveling door to door and hosting meetings to educate people on HIV/AIDS awareness and how those with the disease can care for themselves, encouraging regular visits to clinics and antiretroviral therapy use. The program began in 2013 and now has 12,000 sex workers from around the country who are trained to provide aid and advocate for those with HIV.

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  • Street medicine clinics bring much-needed care to L.A.'s unhoused

    Groups like the Sidewalk Project are gathering volunteers to provide street medicine and care to people experiencing homelessness, many of whom are trans sex workers in need of basic care items beyond just clothes and food. These volunteers come to those in need with lived experiences, as many of them have experienced homelessness themselves, making them easier to trust as they provide important services like HIV and trans wellness care.

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  • APAIT: Positively impacting LA's underserved communities

    The Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team (APAIT) works to positively impact the quality of life for medically underserved communities — particularly people of color within the LGBTQ+ community. APAIT’s primary focus is helping those with behavioral health challenges, housing insecurity, and who are at risk for HIV/AIDS, but has recently expanded its services to include helping those who are victims of sex trafficking.

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  • Safe, not seedy: How sex work changed after two decades of decrim in New Zealand

    Making sex work a legal, recognized profession allows sex workers to conduct business in a much safer way. The decriminalization of sex work has also helped to strengthen relationships between sex workers and law enforcement, ensuring they have someone to call upon in emergencies. There are also now clinics, like the New Zealand Sex Workers’ Collective, which provides specialized care to sex workers.

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  • Sex workers in Uganda rally to end spread of HIV through condom distribution and sensitization

    The WOMAN ORGANISATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY (WONETHA) provides free condoms to sex workers in Uganda to end the spread of HIV. The group distributes about four to five million condoms to regional centers. Everyone can access the free condoms simply by request, without facing stigma or discrimination. The group also carries out “sensitization” campaigns that teach sex workers how to practice safe sex and feel empowered to require condom use among clients. They also work with health care systems to address discrimination and social stigmas that sex workers often face when seeking health care.

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  • Surviving in One of the World's Deadliest Places for Trans People

    Mexico’s first official shelter for former trans sex workers, Casa Hogar Paola Buenrostro, provides residents with tools trans women cannot typically access such as health care, education, and job training.

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  • The Unlikely Story of a Sex Trafficking Survivor and the Instagram Account That Saved Her Life

    One woman's use of an Instagram account in her personal journey from sex-trafficking victim to sociology researcher enabled new sources of research, teaching, and victim aid. Megan Lundstrom's community of fellow sex workers formed through Instagram became the source for qualitative research into the experiences of sex workers, without being filtered by authorities. That led to the first peer-reviewed journal article of its kind, a new university program in sex trafficking, and the creation of a nonprofit, The Avery Center, aiding victims and collecting data on the industry.

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  • Solar lights help Kenyan women escape sex-for-fish trap

    A renewable energy project in Kenya is empowering women to catch their own fish instead of relying on “sex-for-fish” deals. Previously, men used to control the mechanisms for catching fish and would only sell to women who would have sex with them. About 400 women have received free solar lights, which allows them to fish at night. The batteries are lightweight and can run up to 120 hours on a single charge. For one woman, using the light also enables her to keep her fish stall open longer, earning her 10 times more than what she used to.

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  • Human trafficking operations surrounding the Super Bowl result in dozens of arrests for prostitution

    Law enforcement and a private organization, Rahab's Daughters, attacked human sex trafficking at the 2021 Super Bowl in Tampa by tracing leads from tens of thousands of advertisements for sexual services. While the private group says it provided housing, food, and clothing to 40 women, and the police said they identified six trafficking victims and connected them with needed protection and services, far more women were arrested on prostitution charges, along with a handful of men on trafficking charges. Critics say the harm from those arrests can overshadow the benefits from looking for actual victims.

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