Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce

Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) is the first sex workers' rights organization to be established in southern Africa and is renowned as the most prominent sex worker movement on the continent, according to scholars.[1]

SWEAT's work primarily focuses on organizing, advocating for and delivering services to South African sex workers.[2][3][4][5] The organization supports the decriminalization of sex work.[6] SWEAT are affiliated with the transgender sex worker support group SistaazHood.[7]

History

SWEAT was founded in November 1994 in Cape Town, South Africa by Shane Petzer (a male sex worker) and Ilse Pauw (clinical psychologist).[8] Initially associated with the Triangle Project, a South African LGBTQ+ rights organization, SWEAT's advocates recognized the need for a human rights approach to provide services and assistance to sex workers, leading to their separation in 1996.[1]

During a SWEAT conference held in Cape Town in 2003, Sisonke, a sex worker-led movement, was established in response to the lack of sex worker leadership in SWEAT. Sisonke's members work to empower and educate sex workers, while advocating for policy and legal reforms that promote the health, safety, and human rights of sex workers in South Africa. SWEAT remains supportive of Sisonke and other sex worker-led organizations by providing health and human rights training to promote sex worker's rights in South Africa.[1]

Programs

SWEAT has helped sex workers gain access to services such as healthcare, legal assistance, counseling, and training programs, as well as engaging in advocacy efforts to promote sex worker's rights, including advocating for policy and legal reforms that safeguard their health and human rights.[9][10]

Notable work

SWEAT won an interdict on high court in Cape Town prohibiting the arrest of sex workers for an ulterior purpose. [11][12]

Research

SWEAT have carried out a number of research projects:[13]

  • Violence against sex workers 1996
  • Policing Sex Workers/Violence against Sex workers 1996/2004
  • Demographic Survey 2005
  • Coping with Stigma/Health Care Gaps 2005
  • Selling Sex in Cape Town 2008
  • Outdoor organisational assessment 2010
  • Monitoring of human rights violations 2010
  • Indoor sector research 2010

References

  1. ^ a b c Mgbako, Chi (2016). To live freely in this world : sex worker activism in Africa. New York. ISBN 978-1-4798-4464-7. OCLC 927438073.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ "Lockdown worsens mental health of sex workers". TimesLIVE.
  3. ^ "SWEAT". Global Network of Sex Work Projects. 1 December 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  4. ^ "Sex workers abandoned as Covid-19 crackdowns undo Africa's HIV efforts". The Mail & Guardian. 4 June 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  5. ^ "Study shows extent of PTSD problem among SA's sex workers". Medical Brief. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  6. ^ "Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce Campaigns for Legal Reform in South Africa". www.opensocietyfoundations.org. 30 December 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Meet SistaazHood: Cape Town's trans sex workers fuelled by fashion". LOVE. 10 April 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  8. ^ "Timeline". Sweat. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  9. ^ "SWEEEP".
  10. ^ "Police treat sex workers like they are 'nothing'". The Mail & Guardian. 10 June 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  11. ^ "Timeline".
  12. ^ "The Sex worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce v Minister of Safety and Security and Others (3378/07) [2009] ZAWCHC 64; 2009 (6) SA 513 (WCC) (20 April 2009)". www.saflii.org. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  13. ^ "Sex work research and advocacy" (PDF). www.svri.org. Retrieved 17 October 2020.