Sex workers unite

BY BROOKE LEWIS
Scarlet Alliance, in conjunction with the Migration Working Company, held its second annual Globalised Sex Work forum in Surry Hills on April 16.

Scarlet Alliance president and Migration Working Party convenor, Elena Jeffreys, said the purpose of the forum was to share knowledge and experience about sex worker issues in Australia and the region.

‘Sex work is work, no matter what country it is in, and our work is an important contributor to the gross national product in Australia, Indonesia, Thailand ‘ in all these countries,’ Jeffreys said.

‘We deserve labour rights like any other workers and that includes the right to migrate for work if we choose and the right to work in a workplace that isn’t criminalised, that doesn’t have police knocking down the door.’

The forum covered local and international issues including sex worker rights, HIV prevention, discrimination facing migrant sex workers, international policy development, multi-culturally sensitive approaches to health promotion and Australian partnerships with international sex worker organisations.

‘We’re also interested in sex worker led and sex worker driven responses to HIV,’ Jeffreys said. ‘Sex worker organisations are at the forefront of responding to HIV issues and there’s never been a recorded HIV transmission in the sex industry in Australia, ever.’

Educators and service providers who work in the health, migrant, human rights, legal and sex worker sectors attended the public forum.

For more information, contact info@scarletalliance.org.au