In 2007, GAATW organised a convening of its self-organised members, in order to explore the benefits of self-organising. We found that self-organising provides a space in which: (1) lived experiences of oppression and social exclusion can be used as a valuable resource to assist other women in need; (2) meaningful social roles can be created for women and negative social identities can be challenged; (3) women can gain self-confidence; (4) women can access and create new analyses, new skills, and new ways of perceiving the world; (5) women can create supportive and strong communities; (6) women can assert their right to participate and to influence their environment; (7) living and working conditions can be improved; (9) a power base can be built; and (10) a sense of collective responsibility can be fostered.6 With this research we wanted to document how (self-)organising benefits sex workers specifically and if and how organised sex workers address rights violations that their peers experience, including situations that may fit the narrow definition of trafficking.

Read more here.

The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) is an Alliance of more than 80 non-governmental organisations from Africa, Asia, Europe, LAC and North America