[Picture from same article - copyright guardian.co.uk,
04/01/2013 – Image Bertrand Langlois/AFP/Getty Images]
04.01.2013. "Save us from
saviours" is the piercing refrain of a growing human rights movement
demanding that sex workers be recognised as more than victims to be rescued or
strategic populations to be targeted for public health campaigns. It's likely
to strike a nerve among some in the traditional aid and development industry,
often criticised for top-down, paternalistic projects.
"Sex workers are discriminated
against and their human rights unrecognised around the world, even where sex
work isn't illegal," says Nadia van der Linde, co-ordinator of the RedUmbrella Fund, the first global grant-making mechanism set up to give sex
workers more control of projects that directly concern them. "Even when
they stand up for themselves, it's very hard for them to find support."
The fund, which was launched in April
2012, and will announce this month who will receive its first grants, grew out
of a multi-year collaboration between sex worker organisations and interested
donors, who first met five years ago to discuss campaigns to curb human
trafficking.
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