Sex workers from 10 AMMAR branches in Argentina gathered on June 2nd before the National Congress to demand for a law regulating their work. The activity was held under the International Sex Workers Day framework and lasted from noon to five in the afternoon.
With red balloons and breast straps reading “Trafficking is not sex work” the gathering increased population awareness on this key difference with an eye on autonomous work respect and a true fight against such calamity. Fellow worker Soledad Díaz from La Plata branch spoke and reminded that “the International Work Organization has recognized us as workers, the World Health Organization has recommended legislation on our work, the Argentine state has signed several agreements and even passed decree 1086/05 called Plan against Discrimination out of which several items recognized the right to severance payments, the right to move around without being chased by the police and the option of associating ourselves” and added that “it’s time the provinces update their laws with current times and gather in a changing process initiated in Buenos Aires city, Paraná and recently the province of Santa Fe by repealing unconstitutional articles contained in the Contraventional Code criminalizing our work”.
Likewise fellow workers from Cordoba branch held a free musical festival starting at 6 in the afternoon at Plaza de la Intendencia in Cordoba city where they commemorated eleven years of the branch. “Our utopia is that sex work does not exist out of need” claimed local Secretary General Eugenia Aravena who also pointed out sex workers achievements since they first organized.
