PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Only Rights Can Stop the Wrongs: A Protest for Sex Worker Rights
Geneva, Switzerland
On Thursday 26 June 2025, sex workers and allies will gather for an important protest at the iconic Broken Chair monument, Place des Nations, from 18:00 to 19:30.
Under the banner “Only Rights Can Stop the Wrongs”, this demonstration will honour and celebrate the powerful legacy of sex worker rights activism and its hard-won victories, while also calling attention to the ongoing struggle to recognise the rights of sex workers today.
In recent years, movements organised against the rights of marginalised and criminalised groups have grown in influence and impact around the globe, affecting sex workers in multiple ways. Sex workers are prevented from freely associating and organising as workers and denied privacy and freedom from arbitrary interference. Sex workers are also impacted in their intersectional identities as women, trans and gender diverse people, and intersex people seeking access to healthcare; as migrants looking to move across borders; as black, indigenous, and other people of colour attempting to exercise their civil rights; and in numerous other ways as religious and ethnic minorities, LGBTQI+, people with disabilities, people living with HIV, and people who use drugs.
The protest will highlight the historical and ongoing marginalisation of sex workers, and call on international institutions and policymakers to engage with sex worker-led organisations in shaping policies that affect their lives. Allies, the media, and members of the public are invited to attend in solidarity.
“NSWP calls on the United Nations to recognise sex workers as rights-bearers – not as victims lacking agency. The UN must listen to sex workers’ voices and take decisive action to uphold our communities’ fundamental rights, and to stand with sex workers in the struggle for justice and equality.”
Event Details:
📍 Broken Chair, Place des Nations, Geneva
📅 Thursday, 26 June 2025
🕕 18:00 – 19:30 CEST
Media Contacts
For media inquiries, interviews, or more information, please contact Hannah Wright ([email protected]) and Caroline Tagny ([email protected])
About NSWP
NSWP is a global network of sex worker-led organisations, with 369 members in 111 countries, that exists to uphold the voice of sex workers globally and connect regional networks advocating for the rights of female, male, trans and gender diverse sex workers. It advocates for rights-based health and social services, freedom from abuse and discrimination, and self-determination for sex workers.
About SRI
The Sexual Rights Initiative is a coalition of national and regional organisations based in Canada, India, Egypt, Argentina, that work together to advance human rights related to sexuality at the United Nations. The SRI aims to advance sexual rights as a particular set of rights and as a cross-cutting issue within international law. The SRI combines feminist analysis with important advances in the recognition of human rights of women, all marginalised communities, and young people.