SEX WORK IN AFRICA ADVOCACY AND CEDAW

The African Sex Workers Alliance is looking to establish its constituents’ knowledge, capacity and skills regarding the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), one of the world’s major human rights treaties. CEDAW is often described as ‘an international bill of rights for women’ and its focus is on achieving gender equality. The Convention aims to guarantee women the rights to equal protection under the law and freedom from discrimination, freedom from violence, right to work, right to privacy and freedom from arbitrary interference, right to health, right to marriage and family life and right to economic and social security. Sex work, and the rights of women sex workers as a group, are not specifically addressed in CEDAW, however Article 6 states: “State Parties shall take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women.” The vagueness of the language used in Article 6 of CEDAW and the potential for the Convention to be used to advance fundamental feminist and abolitionist groups’ perspectives on sex work means it is essential for sex workers and sex workers’ rights activists to engage with the Convention and shape the CEDAW Committee’s recommendations on sex work. Therefore, it is an important institution for activists to be aware of, as it is responsible for monitoring the progress that States make in implementing the Convention.

ASWA would like to find out how sex workers engage with the mechanism to build up their evidence-based advocacy on global mechanisms. The term ‘sex workers’ reflects the immense diversity within the sex worker community.