Erotic massage sex worker Keo Tha and transgender MSM Sam Sela (right) are two of five officials at Cambodia's Women's Network for Unity, the sex workers union.(Paula Stromberg)
INTERNATIONAL / Group struggle for legal distinction between human trafficking and sex work
Paula Stromberg
National, Xtra.ca
Monday, March 05, 2012
Having the right to a career path like anyone else seems a small thing to ask. In Phnom Penh however, transgendered sex worker Sam Sela from Women’s Network for Unity (WNU), the 6400-member sex workers union in Cambodia, has been rejected for jobs even in low wage restaurants and garment factories.
Erotic massage sex worker Keo Tha and transgender MSM Sam Sela (right) are two of five officials at Cambodia's Women's Network for Unity, the sex workers union.
(Paula Stromberg)
WNU Assistant Ly Pisey explains the harmful impact of Cambodia's Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation laws on sex workers to NGO Journalist Paula Stromberg in Phnom Penh.
(Caffyn Kelley)
Moneybox for members' emergencies: WNU sex workers union advocates for legal and human rights, access to health care, and safer working conditions. They receive member contributions and donor funding to support emergency health services.
(Paula Stromberg)
Being instantly recognizable as transgender means she is denied work even in this ‘live and let live’ Buddhist society advertised in tourist brochures as gay and lesbian friendly. Sela explains, “I joined the WNU union because I faced so much discrimination from my family, friends and society that I could not get regular work.”
As well as transgender and male sex workers, WNU is made up of women who work in hostess bars, karaoke clubs, or massage parlours and do freelance sex work. The union has 5000 members in the capital Phnom Penh and another 1400 throughout the country.
In Cambodia, the 2008 Law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation and the severe stigma attached to doing adult sex work make it almost impossible for sex workers to access justice, healthcare, and social security systems. In response, WNU advocates for legal and human rights, as well as safer working conditions including condom use. Read the rest of the article and see more pictures at The Xtra.ca.
Paula Stromberg
National, Xtra.ca
Monday, March 05, 2012
Having the right to a career path like anyone else seems a small thing to ask. In Phnom Penh however, transgendered sex worker Sam Sela from Women’s Network for Unity (WNU), the 6400-member sex workers union in Cambodia, has been rejected for jobs even in low wage restaurants and garment factories.
Erotic massage sex worker Keo Tha and transgender MSM Sam Sela (right) are two of five officials at Cambodia's Women's Network for Unity, the sex workers union.
(Paula Stromberg)
WNU Assistant Ly Pisey explains the harmful impact of Cambodia's Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation laws on sex workers to NGO Journalist Paula Stromberg in Phnom Penh.
(Caffyn Kelley)
Moneybox for members' emergencies: WNU sex workers union advocates for legal and human rights, access to health care, and safer working conditions. They receive member contributions and donor funding to support emergency health services.
(Paula Stromberg)
Being instantly recognizable as transgender means she is denied work even in this ‘live and let live’ Buddhist society advertised in tourist brochures as gay and lesbian friendly. Sela explains, “I joined the WNU union because I faced so much discrimination from my family, friends and society that I could not get regular work.”
As well as transgender and male sex workers, WNU is made up of women who work in hostess bars, karaoke clubs, or massage parlours and do freelance sex work. The union has 5000 members in the capital Phnom Penh and another 1400 throughout the country.
In Cambodia, the 2008 Law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation and the severe stigma attached to doing adult sex work make it almost impossible for sex workers to access justice, healthcare, and social security systems. In response, WNU advocates for legal and human rights, as well as safer working conditions including condom use. Read the rest of the article and see more pictures at The Xtra.ca.
2 comments:
stupidity cultural from the west...
Disgusting!!
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