> Today is March 3rd: International Sex Workers’ Rights Day! 🚩☂️

> Our movement didn't start in a boardroom—it started on the streets of Kolkata, India, in 1844. Thousands of sex workers rose up against colonial oppression and police violence. ✊

— APNSW 🌏

❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

#SexWork #ISWRD #ISWRD2026 #APNSW #AsiaPacific

> “Sex Work is Work” is more than a slogan it is a demand for human rights.
> This 3 March, the African Sex Workers Alliance stands firm in the fight for decriminalization and universal healthcare. We won't stop until every sex worker can live and work with safety and dignity.
> Solidarity forever! ✊✊✊

— ASWA 🌍

#SexWork #ISWRD #ISWRD2026 #ASWA #Africa

> RED UMBRELLAS FOR SEX WORKERS' RIGHTS
> March 3rd is the International Sex Workers' Rights Day, a day to reinforce that SEX WORK IS WORK, to stand against stigma, discrimination, racism, and intolerance.
> March 3rd is the day to reflect about the LACK OF LABOUR AND SOCIAL RIGHTS that sex workers face daily, worldwide. A day to show solidarity with all, i.e. female, male, transgender, and migrant sex workers.
> Europe has forgotten the Human Rights of Migrant Sex Workers.
> IT IS TIME TO UNITE TO FIGHT FOR SEX WORKERS' RIGHTS!

> Figure: “MARIE, sex worker, works in Berlin”. By Veronica Munk.

— TAMPEP 🇪🇺

https://tampep.eu/march-3-international-sex-workers-rights-day-3/

#SexWork #ISWRD #ISWRD2026 #Europe #TAMPEP

RE: https://kolektiva.social/@yenndc/116164894449459637

▶ Starting NOW~! 🇪🇺👠👥🎞️❤️‍🔥

«3 March: International Sex Workers' Rights Day»

Joint statement by [Turkish] organizations working with and for trans communities. 👠🇹🇷🏳‍⚧

> 3 March marks the anniversary of the historic march launched by thousands of sex workers in India in 2001 to demand their rights!

> Today, from Türkiye, we salute the legacy of that struggle. March 3 is not merely a date on the calendar; it symbolizes a global voice raised for the recognition of sex workers' labor, for working conditions free from violence, and for the demand for equal citizenship.

> Yet we commemorate this meaningful day amid acute rights violations in Türkiye, intensified under the declaration of the “Year of the Family” which directly targets the living and working spaces of sex workers.

> Today, sex workers are subjected to systematic repression under vague justifications such as “public morality” and “public order”.

> Over the past year, this regime of pressure in Türkiye has evolved into a process in which arbitrary home sealings have become normalized, judicial harassment and open targeting have increased, and allegations of ‘obscenity’ have been transformed into systematic tools of punishment for sex workers.

> Our constitutional right to housing is being violated through unlawful home sealings; sex workers pushed onto the streets are exposed to economic violence through arbitrary and unjust administrative fines imposed under the Misdemeanors Law.

> Efforts to exist and create working spaces in digital spheres are also criminalized; social media posts and online communication activities are used as grounds for investigations and prosecutions under claims of “obscenity” and “immorality”, keeping sex workers under constant threat of judicial harassment.

> These punitive practices not only push sex workers into deeper poverty but also render them unprotected and vulnerable to hate crimes, physical violence, and systematic abuse.

> For trans sex workers, these violations intersect with social exclusion and employment discrimination, resulting in even harsher isolation and life-threatening risks.

> As organizations working with and for trans communities, we firmly assert that sex workers are entitles to full and equal rights, and that our labor must be legally recognized and protected. The closure of safe working spaces, the sealing of brothels, and policies that force people into unregistered and precarious work disregard occupational safety and endanger our lives.

> We raise our voices against all arbitrary and unlawful practices, against stigmatizing language, and against impunity policies that fuel violence.

> On this March 3, we once again declare:

> In the face of criminalization and isolation, our greatest strength is our organized struggle and solidarity.

> We will continue to defend one another's rights and stand shoulder to shoulder in courts, in the streets, and in every sphere of life.

> We will not give up our right to and desire for an equal, just, and violence-free life.

> FOR OUR RIGHTS AND OUR LIVES, WE STAND SIDE BY SIDE!

• Pink Life LGBTI+ Solidarity Association.
• Red Umbrella Sexual Health and Human Rights Association.
• 20 November Association Against Hate Crimes.
• Mersin LGTB 7 Colors Research and Solidarity Association.
• Kapsama Alanı.

Signatory International Organizations:
• SWAN: The Sex Workers' Rights Advocacy Network.
• ESWA: European Sex Workers' Rights Alliance.
• Red Umbrella Athens.

👏👏👏👏👏 😍

#SexWork #ISWRD #ISWRD2026 #Trans #Turkey #Türkiye #SWAN #ESWA

> On this International Sex Workers' Rights Day, we at Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee stand together from Kolkata, India and beyond in solidarity for dignity and equality.

> Sex work is work. Our voices matter. Our rights matter.

> ✊🏽 Respect. Recognition.

— DMSC 🇮🇳

#SexWork #ISWRD #ISWRD2026 #India #DMSC

‣ Today is International Sex Workers’ Rights Day
Sex work is work, and sex workers deserve respect, equality, and the same rights and protections as all workers.

On 3 March 2001, over 25,000 sex workers in India gathered for the Kolkata Sex Worker Freedom Festival to advocate for sex worker rights, including safety at work. Prohibitionist groups tried to prevent the festival from taking place by pressuring the government to revoke the group’s permit, but were unsuccessful.

Since then, 3 March has become an important date to promote sex worker rights, highlighting the need for sex work to be recognised as legitimate work and for sex workers to be protected under the law. Recognising sex work as work is a vital step towards fighting for decriminalisation, anti-discrimination protections and labour rights.

Did you know that in some parts of unceded Australia, sex work and sex workers are still criminalised?

The fight for sex work to be recognised as real work in Australia is far from over. Until all sex workers are free from discrimination, stigma and criminalisation, none of us are truly free.

‣ But I thought sex work was “legal” in Australia?

Decriminalisation removes laws and penalties criminalising all aspects of sex work between consenting adults. Sex work is then covered under existing health and safety laws.

Legalisation involves laws and regulations permitting sex work under certain conditions, while all other sex work remains criminalised. Under legalisation, governments impose special regulations just for the sex industry.

Sex work is partially criminalised in WA.

Full criminalisation in SA.

Sex work is decriminalised in NSW, NT, QLD and VIC.
There are gaps in NSW and VIC regarding street based sex work. The NT and QLD have fully decriminalised street based sex work.

Sex work in the ACT operates under a licensing model.

Sex work is partially criminalised in TAS.

‣ Why is decriminalisation the best legislative model for sex work?

Decriminalisation is fundamental to upholding sex workers' right to participate fully in public lie and achieve economic empowerment; enabling financial agency, security, and independence.

• Criminalisation of sex work, along with stigma and discrimination, increases sex workers' vulnerabilities to violence.
• Decriminalisation is the only model of sex industry regulation to enable evidence-based public health outcomes.
• Decriminalisation in Australian jurisdictions has also enabled the development of workplace health and safety guidance for the sex industry.

#SexWork #ISWRD #ISWRD2026 #Australia #ScarletAlliance

International Sex Workers' Rights Day.

👥 SIN SA 🇦🇺

«5 Reasons to Decriminalise Sex Work»

1. Decriminalisation improves safety and reduces violence.

Sex work is not inherently violent; it is criminalisation that places sex workers at greatest risk.
Studios show in jurisdictions that have decriminalised sex work, such as New Zealand, sex workers have an increased ability to screen clients, work in safer areas with better access to secure services, and refer to police in cases of violence.¹⁻²

2. Decriminalisation leads to better health outcomes.

Decriminalisation removes legal barriers for sex workers seeking out healthcare, including STI and BBV testing and treatment, sexual and reproductive health services, harm reduction, and other essential care.
This empowers sex workers to make autonomous decisions about our own health, fostering positive health-seeking behaviours and reducing stigma and discrimination in healthcare settings.³

3. Decriminalisation reduces stigma and discrimination.

Decriminalisation recognises sex work as real work. In turn this helps contribute to a more inclusive and equitable society which empowers and uplifts the voices of marginalised groups. Although decriminalisation is not a fix-all for eliminating stigma, discrimination, and violence, it is an essential step to addressing structural barriers to sex workers' health and human rights.⁴

4. Decriminalisation improves access to justice.

Laws that criminalise sex work cause sex workers to feel unsafe reporting crimes, including violent crimes, because we fear prosecution, police surveillance, stigma, and discrimination.⁵
In settings where sex work has been decriminalised, sex workers who have experiences discrimination, violence, or abuse can report incidents and seek out support without fear of legal repercussions.⁶

5. Decriminalisation respects human rights and dignity.

There are many reasons why people engage in sex work, and whatever the reasons, sex work is work, and sex workers should be treated with dignity.
Sex workers' human rights cannot be fully realized as long as criminal laws threaten our access to justice, health, and social services; undermine our right to labour and workplace protections; as well as expose us to violence, discrimination, and arbitrary arrest.⁷

‣ References:
1. Armstrong, Lynzi, “Screening clients in a decriminalised street-based sex industry: Insights into the experiences of New Zealand sex workers”.
Australias and New Zealand Journal of Criminology 0(00 (2014); 1-16.
2. New Zealand Ministry of Justice, Report of the Prostitution Law Review Committee on the operatioOperation of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003, (2008).
3. NSWP, “Decriminalisation vs Legalisation: Understanding Key Differences in Sex Work Legislation” (2024).
4. ibid.
5. Decker M. R. et al., “Human rights violations against sex workers: burden and effect on HIV”, The Lancet HIV and Sex Workers, (2014); 60-73.
6. Gillian Abel, “A decade of decriminalization: Sex work ‘down under’ but not underground”, Criminology and Criminal Justice (14(5) (2014); 580-592.
7. International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe, “Declaration of the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe” (2005).

#SexWork #ISWRD #ISWRD2026 #Australia #SIN_SA

International Sex Workers' Rights Day.

👥 SWOP NSW 🇦🇺

Recommended here —
«International Sex Workers Rights Day: Give Inglenook the Boot» on RC Radical Radio:
🎧 https://www.3cr.org.au/globalintifada/episode/international-sex-worker-rights-day-give-inglenook-boot

#SexWork #ISWRD #ISWRD2026 #Australia #SWOP_NWS

International Sex Workers' Rights Day.

👥 Decrim WA, Magenta, Meridian ACT and Respect Inc. respectively. 🇦🇺

#SexWork #ISWRD #ISWRD2026 #Australia #DecrimWA #Magenta #Meridian #RespectInc