As the world has been shaken by COVID-19, those most marginalized, stigmatized, and criminalized have been pushed further into poverty, to the grave detriment of their health and human rights. Sex workers have not only been seriously impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also by governments’ emergency responses that, in many contexts, have been punitive, overbroad, and/or discriminatory. Amnesty International urges governments to take targeted action to address the disparate impact of COVID-19 on sex workers and to protect their health and other human rights, including through tackling the key issues of concern that sex workers have raised since the outbreak of COVID-19, such as their exclusion from social and economic support schemes, increased criminalization and lack of protection from violence, and diminished access to health services.
