International Sex Workers’ Day takes place every year on 2nd of June. The day is a celebratory day, which remembers the discrimination of sex workers and their inhumane living and working conditions.
The starting point of celebrating the International Sex Workers’ day was the 2nd June, 1975 in which more than 100 prostitutes occupied the Church Saint-Nizier in Lyon, France in order to express their anger about their criminalised living conditions. On 10th June at 5 o’clock the Church was brutally raided and cleared by the police. This action initiated a national movement, and the day is now celebrated all around the world.
Sex workers demand equal access to justice, health care and other public services as well as equal protection as any other citizen. Their involvement in decision-making programs related to sex work, would contribute to reducing violence, abuse and discrimination against sex workers.
Each year, STAR-STAR – the first sex workers led-organization in the Balkan, marks the International Sex Workers’ Day in order to change the perception of the general public about sex work and break all the stereotypes associated with sex workers.