The All India Network of Sex Workers (AINSW) today called for decriminalising of sex work and recognition of labour rights of sex workers on the concluding day of 'Gender Mela' at Delhi University here.
Participants spoke about the need for sex workers to form unions to resist exploitation by police and officials and push for the removal of discriminatory policies and laws.
"Sex workers' union is part of the country's labour rights movement and we ask that our work be decriminalised and we be given the same rights as any other worker," said Seema, a member of a union of sex workers in Sonagacchhi area of Kolkata.
The AINSW demand was supported by the transgender groups, who insisted that the rights of transgenders must be acknowledged, too, while remedial steps should be taken to address the violence they face.
"The NALSA judgement is incomplete as it only gave recognition to the third gender but did not make any effort to give them services and facilities to improve their lives and mainstream them even though almost two years have passed. So, little has changed on the ground for us," said one Maya.
Maya said there were Nari Niketans set up by the government for women who are victims of violence but there was no acknowledgement of the sexual and other forms of violence faced by transgenders in distress who have nowhere to go.
The three-day Gender Mela was organised by Miranda House on its campus in collaboration with OBR and MenEngage Delhi.
Experts like Prof Sanghamitra Acharya from JNU, Sehjo Singh of Action Aid and Tripti Tandon from Lawyers Collective emphasised on the need for a "deeper understanding of the intersection of Dalit issues with gender and environment".
They also called for change in laws projecting women, particularly sex workers, as 'victims' and thereby depriving them of rights that other workers enjoy.
