ASTRA’s representative participated at a press conference organized by association ”Equal Rights“ on the occasion of International Sex Worker Rights Day, March 3 2016. The goal of the conference was to raise awareness about bad conditions for sex workers in Serbia and the fact that legal solutions do not contribute to the improvement of their rights. Speakers at the conference were representatives of the association ”Equal Rights“, Institute of Public Health of Serbia ”Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut“ and ASTRA. All participants expressed their disagreement with new changes of the Law on Public Peace and Order according to which penalties for sex workers have been increased and punishment of clients has been introduced. Further, referring to the UN Declaration on Human Rights, all speakers agreed that prohibition of sex work is the crudest violation of human rights, violating every individual’s right to work and to free choice of occupation. Under the slogans ”Sex work is a work“ and ”Stop violence“, the participants called on the state institutions to protect sex workers’ rights in order to prevent that bad legislation results in increased violence against this marginalized group.
