La Strada Documentation Center

Rights Not Rescue: A Report on Female, Trans, and Male Sex Workers’ Human Rights in Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa

Document number
2161
Date
2008
Title
Rights Not Rescue: A Report on Female, Trans, and Male Sex Workers’ Human Rights in Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa
Author/publisher
Sexual Health and Rights Project, Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa
Availability
LSI library
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Sex tourism, Pornography, Domestic violence, Prostitution, Rape, Sexual harassment, Women's rights; Women; Control and regulation of prostitution, Protection, Punishable forms of prostitution,
Summary
Rights Not Rescue finds that the criminalization of sex work in each of these countries leaves sex workers particularly vulnerable to sexual and physical abuse from law enforcement officials. In all three countries, sex workers say they experience routine violence from police, including rape, physical assault, and having their genitals sprayed with pepper-spray. In Botswana and South Africa, migrant sex workers from Zimbabwe are often subjected to more severe violence from police and border guards. An executive summary is available for download here.
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