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Dear Friends, Supporters & Allies, 

March has been a busy month for all of us! At the beginning of the month, we celebrated International Sex Worker Rights Day with marches and events across our community!

We welcomed our new ESWA Executive Director, Kali Sudhra and all met in person during our biannual team meeting in Athens, Greece. We stood up for sex workers’ rights at the European Parliament, on European television and through our online campaigns. We’re excited to share it with you all!

As always, thank you for your ongoing support.

In solidarity,
ESWA Team

By Elizabeth McGuinness (she/her), ESWA Policy Officer on Access to Justice

Last week, ESWA took to amplifying PICUM’s email campaign calling upon Members of European Parliament to reject a version of text for the contested “Return Regulation” written by the European People’s Party (EPP), in association with far-rights groups, including France’s National Rally, Germany’s Alternative for Germany, and Hungary’s Fidesz. Despite immense efforts of civil society, Thursday’s vote gave the green-light to what human rights actors warn will replicate ICE-inspired migration enforcement. 

The newly approved proposal introduces measures that would further restrict fundamental rights, paving the way for use of “Return Hubs” - migration detention centres in third-party countries where a migrant may never have even stepped foot. As negotiations progress toward final phases, all eyes are on the European Union to reverse the moving train toward democratic backsliding and mounting influence of the far right. 

Earlier this month, ESWA’s Policy Officer on Access to Justice appeared in a segment concerning sex worker’ rights on ARTE’s ‘Weekly.’ While grateful for the opportunity to represent the perspectives of sex workers in Europe, alongside Hydra, Berlin, ESWA was disappointed at the conflation between legalisation versus decriminalisation made within the segment, despite our best efforts to outline the differences in these distinct legal models. Our experience prompted the Team to set wheels in motion toward a “Responsible Journalism and Media Checklist for Fair Representation of Sex Work” (working title). Stay tuned for more. 

In other news, ESWA was grateful to attend the “Meeting of NGOs and Litigators on Bringing Cases to the European Court of Human Rights,” building on experiences of applicants among the sex worker community in the seminal case of M.A. and Others versus France. We also learned about  practicalities from the Court’s approach to prioritisation of applications to its new E-communications systems for third-party intervenors (a position of privilege ESWA hopes to reprise in future).

By Yigit Aydinalp (he/him), ESWA Interim Executive Director and Ana Ornelas (she/her), ESWA Policy Officer

Discussing the Protection of Minors at the European Parliament

Our Access to Justice Policy Officer Elizabeth McGuinness went to Brussels this Month to participate in a meeting hosted by the Parliament on the protection of minors online. As we know, protection of minors is one of the main arguments used to push for more censorship and discrimination against sex work online. This is why it was fundamental to have ESWA at the table and remind everyone how digital rights have been undermined for sex workers and this is also happening to the youth. Reactive measurements such as aggressive age verification and social media bans are not the solution to make the online environment safer.

The future of Digital Rights at the EU and the enforcement of the DSA

Our Policy Officer for Digital Rights, Ana Ornelas, has also participated in an online roundtable with other CSOs organized by DG CNECT, the European Commission’s unit taking care of digital rights. The meeting was focused on the importance of enforcing the Digital Services Act, and how the Commission is planning to work strongly around themes of access in 2026, including Age Verification strategies. She reinforced the importance of having sex workers’ voices amplified in this debate, especially when it comes to porn platforms.

By Wszebor Sienkiewicz (he/him), ESWA Director of  Communication and Campaigns

In March we have observed the International Sex Workers’ Rights Day, International Women’s Day, and Trans Day of Visibility.

For the Trans Day of Visibility, ESWA has joined the video campaign of TGEU - Transgender Europe and Central Asia, centering trans voices talking about the invisibilised aspects of their lives. To highlight intersections between sex workers’ rights and trans rights, sex worker’s rights activist Ines Anttila and ESWA Director of Communication and Campaigns Wszebor Sienkiewicz sent their contributions. You can see the campaign videos on TGEU’s instagram here.

Thank you everyone who joined the premiere and live stream of the community video on what sex workers wish the world knew. Being together, even in this small capacity, made the International Sex Workers’ Day on March 3rd special. For those of you who missed the video, check it out on ESWA YouTube below:

Please share with your networks!

View on YouTube

 AFEMTRAS (Asociación feminista de trabajadoras sexuales) in Spain   celebrated several wins and milestones over the past months. On March   8th, International Women’s Day, they marked the ten year anniversary of   their first participation in the 8M day marches. Additionally, in late January,   they celebrated the enormous win of the migrant regularisation campaign   in Spain, a success in which they played a significant role.

 On January 26th after years of advocacy by the “RegularizaciónYa” campaign, the Spanish Parliament approved a measure to regularise half a million people living with an irregular immigration status. Beyoncé, a   founding member of AFEMTRAS and leader in the sex workers and migrant rights movement in Madrid explained in an interview with La Labortoria posted on their instagram page that AFEMTRAS has actively formed part of the RegularizaciónYa campaign. “During the signature drive, we’ve been very active—we’ve collected signatures, attended meetings, and handled administrative matters. We’ve been closely following this issue for years. We’re part of RegularizaciónYa.”

 She added, “The rights of sex workers are anti-racist demands; many of us are migrants and people of color. Anti-racism is essential to combating the oppression that leaves us in precarious situations and forces us to work without rights, in poverty.” Although the move marks an enormous win after years of organising and activism,  Beyoncé emphasised that, “ It’s a big stone we’ve moved out of the way so we can keep moving forward, but there are still many more stones to move."

UTOPSI Celebrates Four Years of Decriminalisation This March!

On March 18th, UTSOPI, in partnership with Bruxelles Laïques, and the support of the organisations Espace P and Alias, held a Sex Work Decrim Party in Brussels to commemorate the four-year anniversary since the historic win of decriminalisation of sex work in Belgium in 2022. The event hosted a roundtable discussion and sex workers' performances that continued to affirm: "Nothing about us without us!"

The Grisélidis Association advocates for Repeal of Toulouse’s 2014 anti-prostitution Ordinances in Municipal Elections

The Grisélidis Association invited municipal candidates for this March’s elections in Toulouse to a meeting late last month, as well as community members to an open house the following day, to discuss anti-prostitution ordinances put into effect in 2014. 

They took the opportunity to propose alternatives to the candidates and explained how the 2014 anti-prostitution ordinances have resulted in workers being “pushed to the periphery in isolated, poorly served, and often poorly lit areas,” where they, “are subjected to more physical, sexual, and verbal abuse.” Three left-wing candidates who attended the conference committed to working towards a repeal of the ordinances yet the current mayor who originally introduced the 2014 ordinances did not accept the invitation to attend the event and was re-elected this past March. The Grisélidis Association underscores that, “The number of complaints of violence has increased at our organisation since 2014,” and they continue to advocate for their repeal.

Disclosure as an Unsafe Practice: An open access article on the impact of stigma and discrimination on the quality of care for Sex Workers in Victoria, Australia. This research explores sex workers´ experiences while disclosing sex work to mental health practitioners in Victoria, Australia.