ASWA has collaborated with Sexual Health Rights Initiative to provide technical assistance and capacity building to our members to engage with CEDAW to increase sex worker-led organisations understanding of and engagement with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and also submit shadow reports to the Committee. ASWA provided remote technical support to the country teams of sex workers who presented their shadow reports to the CEDAW Committee. The shadow reports have been key in advocacy in Universal Periodic Review UPR) e.g Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (D.RC).In May 2020, ASWA also together with CREA made a submission to the CEDAW committee on the draft general recommendation on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration. ASWA will continue to support sex workers to engage with CEDAW.
ASWA helped its members Rwanda, Uganda, and Sierra Leone to develop UPR reports which included issues around access and quality of services to sex workers.
Links to the UPR Reports and CEDAW Shadow Reports here: https://aswaalliance.org/download/universal-periodic-review-upr-reports-and-committee-on-the-elimination-of-discrimination-against-women-cedaw-shadow-reports/