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Researchers put lens on sexual violence and sex work

Researchers put lens on sexual violence and sex work

Key Correspondents - "Over 350 researchers, gender activists, policy makers, practitioners and survivors from around the world convened in South Africa for the Sexual Violence Research Initiative Forum this week.

The three-day forum, hosted by the Medical Research Council of South Africa, which took place in Stellenbosch (15-17 September), aims to foster and strengthen research in the areas of sexual violence, intimate partner violence and child abuse.

(...) Links between gender-based violence and HIV, including in relation to sex workers, were highlighted on the first day of the conference. In many settings, sex work is criminalised and sex workers are often open to exploitation, harassment, physical and sexual abuse making it difficult for them to negotiate HIV protection and to get access to health care and justice.

Sex workers at high risk of violence

(...) “Across a range of studies, violence was experienced by as much as three-quarters of the sex worker population. Sex workers continue to be at risk of HIV, and gender-based violence – one of the structural drivers of their risk – is mounting. We need to promote safety for this vulnerable population, and reduce the HIV risk that is underpinned by violence and related trauma,” said Decker. “More advocacy for policy promoting access to health care and justice is urgently needed for sex workers.”

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