HRC 56: LALAYAT Statement to the Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls

56th session of the Human Rights Council

Item 3: Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls

Action Canada for Population and Development

My name is Assia Ravier. I represent the Moroccan association of sex workers LALAYAT, whose aim is the recognition of the rights of transgender sex workers, LGBT people and their social rights.

The first form of violence is that people refuse to hear our voices and impose moral judgments against us. Our voices as sex workers must be heard. To protect ourselves from violence, we need labor law, the recognition of sex work as work, and respect for our choices as sex workers.

This report does not represent our reality. Our lived experience is there is a lack of understanding of sex work, stigmatization, police violence, and we are targeted for abuses because we are seen as people without recourse to justice who can be attacked with impunity. As sex workers, we know that the causes of violence are not sex between consenting adults, but the denial of our existence and our ability to consent and make decisions.

There is only one solution to violence: full decriminalization of sex work!