‣ AFEMTRAS marks ten years in the streets for 8M and Celebrates Major RegularizaciónYa Campaign Success in Spain.
AFEMTRAS (Asociación feminista de trabajadoras sexuales) in Spain celebrated several wins and milestones over the past months. On March 8th, International Women’s Day, they marked the ten year anniversary of their first participation in the 8M day marches. Additionally, in late January, they celebrated the enormous win of the migrant regularisation campaign in Spain, a success in which they played a significant role.
On January 26th after years of advocacy by the “RegularizaciónYa” campaign, the Spanish Parliament approved a measure to regularise half a million people living with an irregular immigration status. Beyoncé, a founding member of AFEMTRAS and leader in the sex workers and migrant rights movement in Madrid explained in an interview with La Labortoria posted on their instagram page¹ that AFEMTRAS has actively formed part of the RegularizaciónYa campaign. “During the signature drive, we’ve been very active—we’ve collected signatures, attended meetings, and handled administrative matters. We’ve been closely following this issue for years. We’re part of RegularizaciónYa.”
She added, “The rights of sex workers are anti-racist demands; many of us are migrants and people of color. Anti-racism is essential to combating the oppression that leaves us in precarious situations and forces us to work without rights, in poverty.” Although the move marks an enormous win after years of organising and activism, Beyoncé emphasised that, “ It’s a big stone we’ve moved out of the way so we can keep moving forward, but there are still many more stones to move."
¹ https://www.instagram.com/p/DUGU5btjONS/
[See also (post noting and linking to the interview, in Spanish): 🐘 https://kolektiva.social/@yenndc/116350806095343258]
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‣ UTSOPI Celebrates Four Years of Decriminalisation This March!
On March 18th, UTSOPI,² in partnership with Bruxelles Laïques, and the support of the organisations Espace P and Alias, held a Sex Work Decrim Party³ in Brussels to commemorate the four-year anniversary since the historic win of decriminalisation of sex work in Belgium in 2022. The event hosted a roundtable discussion and sex workers' performances that continued to affirm: "Nothing about us without us!"
² https://www.utsopi.be
³ https://www.utsopi.be/agenda/sex-work-decrim-party
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‣ The Grisélidis Association advocates for Repeal of Toulouse’s 2014 anti-prostitution Ordinances in Municipal Elections.
The Grisélidis Association⁴ invited municipal candidates for this March’s elections in Toulouse to a meeting late last month, as well as community members to an open house the following day, to discuss anti-prostitution ordinances put into effect in 2014.
They took the opportunity to propose alternatives to the candidates and explained how the 2014 anti-prostitution ordinances have resulted in workers being “pushed to the periphery in isolated, poorly served, and often poorly lit areas,” where they, “are subjected to more physical, sexual, and verbal abuse.” Three left-wing candidates who attended the conference committed to working towards a repeal of the ordinances yet the current mayor who originally introduced the 2014 ordinances did not accept the invitation to attend the event and was re-elected this past March. The Grisélidis Association underscores that, “The number of complaints of violence has increased at our organisation since 2014,” and they continue to advocate for their repeal.
⁴ https://griselidis.com
#SexWork #AFEMTRAS #UTSOPI #Grisélidis
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