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South Africa: Sex Workers March to Justice Minister's Office Over Decriminalisation Bill
GroundUp, 13 July 2023
The bill has been sent back to be revised after the state's legal advisors flagged serious shortfalls Read more »
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South Africa: 'Tough Blow' for Sex Workers As Decriminalisation Bill Delayed
GroundUp, 7 June 2023
"It's clear we're not going to achieve decrim in 2024" say activist Read more »
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South Africa: Sex Workers and Allies Rally in Cape Town, Demand Full Decriminalisation
GroundUp, 30 March 2023
Decriminalisation will address the stigma sex workers face in this country, organisations say Read more »
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South Africa: Sex Work in South Africa - Why Both Buying and Selling Should Be Legal
The Conversation Africa, 1 March 2023
It is illegal to buy or sell sex in South Africa. But this may soon be a thing of the past if a recently published draft bill to decriminalise sex work is passed. Researchers and… Read more »
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South Africa: Changing the Law On Sex Work Will Save Lives, We Must See It Through
spotlight, 27 January 2023
In December 2022, the Minister of Justice, Ronald Lamola, set into motion a public participation process on the laws that govern sex work in South Africa. Cabinet approved the… Read more »
South African Sex Workers March Over Decriminalisation Bill
Over 100 sex workers and activists have marched in Pretoria to demand that government urgently finalise a bill to decriminalise sex work, GroundUp reports.
The group walked from Burgers Park, singing struggle songs and holding placards that read: "Be wise, decriminalize sex work", "Sex workers have the right to be free from violence" and "My body is my business. Sex work pays my bills". They handed over a memorandum to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
South African parliament's draft bill to decriminalise sex work is to be revised after the state's legal advisers flagged serious shortfalls. They said the Bill may not be approved by Cabinet if the necessary regulations were not yet in place. These may include regulations on brothels, or how each municipality's bylaws, under which sex workers are often arrested or fined, would be impacted, GroundUp reports.
The current draft bill, which has been through extensive public consultations, decriminalises sex work to ensure better protection for sex workers from violence, among other things. However, it does not make provisions for how this change in legislation will impact existing regulations.
InFocus
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Authorities in South Africa are compromising the safety and wellbeing of women and obstructing efforts to end the HIV pandemic by treating sex work as a crime, Human Rights Watch ... Read more »
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Bhekisisa's Laura Lopez Gonzalez examines the efforts of activists and government bodies to review how the country treats sex workers. Read more »
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Nosipho Vidima is a sex worker and is the human rights and lobbying officer at the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Task Force, SWEAT. She is campaigning for the recognition of ... Read more »
Lisa Jonas, peer educator at SWEAT, joins about 70 sex workers and supporters during a march in Cape Town to celebrate Sex Workers Pride (file photo).
