East Africa Sex Workers Alliance (EASWA)
The East Africa Sex Workers Alliance (EASWA) is a non-Governmental coalition led by sex workers organizations, networks and groups in East Africa. It was established in October 2018 to empower female, male and transgender sex workers all over East Africa and to amplify their voice in advocating for the rights, social-economic welfare, and capacity building of sex workers’ organization members and towards the safety and security for East Africa sex workers in general.
EASWA works to serve the needs of these organizations, networks and groups led by sex workers in East Africa, mainly by guides and support advocacy primarily focused on basic human rights, strengthening sex worker-led leadership and organizations, networks and groups, ensuring sex work is accepted as work, basic civil rights, access to HIV treatment and other health services, promoting access to justice protection from violence such as brutality and assaults by police officers during raids and arrests of sex workers, and ensuring the inclusion of male, female and transgender sex workers in the broader context.
EASWA also supports male, female and transgender sex workers’ organizations, groups and networks’ issues to become part of the broader social justice movement through promotion of the entrepreneurship skills of sex workers among other initiatives.
EASWA's primary goal is to create an enabling environment for East Africa sex workers to access justice and to protect them against human rights violations and reduce their vulnerability to HIV transmission. EASWA's mission is to contribute to the improved human rights status of all East Africa sex workers by designing and implementing evidence- based advocacy campaigns which influence public policy and practice in the field of human rights. EASWA's vision is to see a society in which all East Africa sex workers are able to enjoy fundamental rights and are free from violence.
Its overall objective is to make human rights and health a reality in response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the East Africa sex workers' community. It's specific objectives are to strengthen and scale-up a coordinated sex workers' community response on health and human rights to maximize civil society impact on national HIV programming; to create awareness on issues of human rights for sex workers; to conduct strategic research on poverty, health and social services that affect the sex workers' community; to accommodate a good environment/ safe place for sex workers; to increase accountability for health and human rights literacy among sex workers in the national human rights violation & HIV response; to promote improvement of nutrition, housing, sanitation, recreation, economic, or working conditions and other aspects of environmental hygiene of the sex workers' community.
EASWA is a member of the Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) and the African Sex Worker Alliance (ASWA).
