Red Umbrella Athens – Empowering Sex Workers
The social stigma and exclusion experienced by sex workers remains uncharted in Greece. The experience of the association in the field coincides with the international literature on the subject, showing the multidimensional nature of this exclusion, since the connection with the various minority identities of the persons involved in sex work (trans people, refugees, Roma, intravenous drug users, unaccompanied minors, homeless, etc.) acts as a multiplier, thus making sex workers one of the most marginalized social groups.
In particular, sex workers:
• Experience systematic rights’ violations (police, clients, third parties)
• Are more vulnerable to violence
• Experience work exclusion
• Are ignorant of their rights
• Are unable to access legal services
• Are unable to access social services because of the stigmatizing treatment they receive by the staff of the organizations who lack relevant training
• Have no representation and visibility in the public sphere
• Have no access to targeted sexual health information services
Th goal of the “Red Umbrella Athens” Day Center (RUA) is to help eliminate the social exclusion of sex workers and contribute to their full social integration as equal citizens.
To achieve this, RUA aims to empower sex workers by providing:
• Primary care services
• HIV/STI prevention services
• Empowerment
• Rights literacy
• Promoting equal access to health services
with the direct purpose of:
• Increasing their ability to assert their rights in everyday life
• Promote their claims to institutional bodies
• Creating community ambassadors
• Gradual assumption of the center’s administration and operation by the target group itself
