swopusa: Yay for sex workers coming out and talking about their experiences! http://t.co/80O0A4dI

swopusa: Cause OMG! Teenagers can not know about sex or sex work. UGH. http://t.co/jDBCN6Z0

swopusa: RT @JessicaLand: Awesome International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers website by @SWOPUSA http://t.co/eylhPTzv #sexwork #Dec17 ...

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By Anna-Louisa Crago
What is the Global Commission on HIV and the Law (GCHL)?
It is a commission put in place by the UN to study the impact of different laws on HIV-prevention, treatment and care. It also studies the impact of laws on discrimination and violence against people living with HIV or at high-risk of HIV.

The commissioners are a group of highly respected individuals and experts from around the world and include former heads of state, judges and policy experts. They are advised by a committee of technical experts with extensive knowledge about HIV and the law.

The commission is particular because it is independent of the UN. That means that the commissioners can come to their own conclusions, even if coutries within the UN or UN workers disagree with these.

What does the GCHL have to do with SWAN?

Individuals and groups from the CEE/CA, as well as other regions,were invited to submit testimony about the impact of different laws and HIV. SWAN submitted a submission that tried to include experiences from all across the region. Many other SWAN groups individually submitted such as HOPS (Macedonia), Lega-Life (Ukraine) and HESED (Bulgaria).

In the end, Odyseus (Slovakia), SZEXE (Hungary), TAIS PLUS (Kyrgyzstan), Association for Assistance (Russia) and SWAN were accepted to present in front of the commissioners at a regional meeting in Moldova in May, 2011.

How did SWAN prepare?

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By Marija Tosheva, HOPS

In late June, 2011 the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, hosted a meeting in Budapest for 30 delegates from the countries of Central and South East Europe (SWAN was also represented), with supporters from Western Europe, to launch the Network of Low Prevalence Countries in Central and South East Europe – NeLP (http://nelp-hiv.org/budapest-declaration).

The general conclusion of the delegates was that national governments and the general population in our region don’t yet see HIV as a major problem. With fewer people living with HIV, fewer supporters and fewer medical staff, the capacity to respond to HIV in our countries is muted. With less overall societal impact, the perceived need to respond is less urgent.

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By Petra Timmermans, ICRSE Coordinator and Rayna Dimitrova, HESED

Recently in Bulgaria sex workers have taken the first tentative steps to mobilising for their rights.
On 29 August plans were put into place for a demonstration in response to recent police activity that has focused on arresting and detaining sex workers working along the main ring road around Sofia. Charges related to immoral behavior and/or causing traffic accidents are being used in what could be described as an attempt to rid Sofia of prostitutes. However, the demonstration did not take place as planned. Although around 20 sex workers showed up there were so many journalists taking photographs that most of the women became nervous and left.

Some news clippings in Bulgarian:
• http://www.dnes.bg
• http://dariknews.bg
• http://bnt.bghttp://tv7.bg

Briefly it is said in these videos that sex workers in Sofia organize a protest against the police activity because recently all outdoor sex workers were detained by the police for 24 hours and were not able to do sex work. They want their profession to be legalized, to pay taxes and to be able to work undisturbed. These are mostly independent sex workers who have no pimps and work for themselves.

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By Aliya Rakhmetova
Beginning of November 2011, Ukrainian Verhovnaya Rada (a supreme body similar to Parliament) reviewed a bill on changing the legislation around ‘prostitution’. In the background note, Mogilev, the Minister of Interior, writes that the reason for the reform is the fact that existing legislation is not working (news article link http://cripo.com.ua/index.php?sect_id=10&aid=125635 ).

According to the authors of the bill, right now only city administrative committees (within city executive body) can deal with these cases, the village committees are not authorized to take the case. Since the cases should be addressed by the executive bodies in the location where the person is officially registered, most of cases on individual sex work remain unaddressed because most of fined sex workers come from smaller towns and villages.

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swopusa: Aww, we got put in the news thanks to Jessie and the LA chapter. http://t.co/2iKqNf7p

swopusa: As we approach December 17th, do you have people to remember?

swopusa: http://t.co/ts4zeARj -- Ohio man gets 20 years for 2 women's deaths

swopusa: Ohio Craigslist Murders: Purported Chaplain's Criminal Past Includes Managing Prostitutes - ABC News http://t.co/F9jl8Igh (via @ABC)

swopusa: RT @WISHWellness: http://t.co/yeEPRufp has fantastic research resources. Read some hard-to-find research on #sexwork particularly rare t ...

swopusa: RT @PLRI: USA Summit on #sexwork and human rights to be held in Asheville Dec. 2     http://t.co/LMrxWyJc

swopusa: RT @JessicaLand: "End Demand" in Massachusetts http://t.co/Bcm612qw #sexwork #trafficking

swopusa: RT @apnsw: Laura Agustin vs Nicholas Kristof. #trafficking #sexwork @NickKristof http://t.co/4UJDWB8r

swopusa: RT @Scarleteen: Lube. It's the correct, one-word answer to around 50% of all questions we're asked about pleasure, pain, comfort or blee ...

swopusa: RT @furrygirl: VV on trafficking: "If someone is caught shipping contraband through the Post Office, we do not shut down the US mail." h ...

swopusa: RT @furrygirl: Some cyclists have high-end bikes. Some poor folk ride bikes as their only option. We don't claim bicycles are oppressive ...

swopusa: RT @SWOPbay: We have a facebook page! Like us-keep updated on interesting reads about sex work, activism in the bay, & fierce events htt ...

swopusa: RT @charlieglickman: Stopping Police and DAs from Using Condoms to Convict Sex Workers http://t.co/liGkkW5x