Sex workers globally are pleading with countries to recognise their work.
Through various rights groups supporting and advocating for their rights, they called for commercial sex work to be seen as work through the social media hashtag #SexWorkersCount.
Count Me In, which advocates for the rights of marginalised communities, said that due to the criminalisation of sex work in many countries, they have been made vulnerable to violence and abuse.
The abuses include physical, sexual, psychological, structural and economic.
"Mostly, sex workers face violence due to criminalisation," they said.
"Sex work is not inherently violent, but discrimination and stigma against sex workers generate violence and limits sex workers’ access to justice."
They said that sex workers face a 45 to 75 per cent chance of experiencing violence over their lifetime.
"Sex workers from marginalised groups such as LGBTQ individuals, migrants, people who use drugs and the homeless experience even higher levels of violence," they said.
Due to sex work being criminalised, Count Me In says that sex workers cannot report cases of violence.
"Additionally, when sex work is criminalised, negotiations with clients may be rushed to avoid being caught, thus making insistence on safety more challenging," they said.
They are then forced to work in isolation, being targets of law enforcement with impunity which studies have found to be the main perpetrators of violence against sex workers.
"They are also unable to access healthcare in the event they have been abused, increasing their risk of contracting HIV and they also cannot access labour rights because they lack union bodies," they said.
They said that globally, decriminalising sex work could avert 33 to 46 per cent of HIV infections among female sex workers and their clients over the next decade.
On March 3, the world will be celebrating International Sex Worker Rights Day.
