Within this year’s campaign, on the occasion of marking the 17th of December – the International Day to Stop Violence against Sex Workers, STAR – The First Sex Workers Collective in the Balkans, together with HOPS – Healthy options project Skopje, and with our supporters and activists for the 16th time marched with red umbrellas in the center of Skopje, and marked 5353 Days to Justice – a campaign dedicated to the ultimate justice for sex workers following the European Court for Human Rights’ ruling on D.H. and Others vs. North Macedonia.
The march traditionally started at the Mother Theresa Memorial House and ended at the Philip II Square. Before the march began, a representative from STAR, HOPS and our sex workers’ community made statements to the media:
“Sex workers in this country do not enjoy special rights, they should enjoy all the rights that all people in our country have. As an organization, when we map or identify a certain violation of rights, we represent sex workers in front of the competent institutions.”- Borche Bozhinov, president of STAR-STAR.
“Today we celebrate December 17th – the International Day to Stop Violence Against Sex Workers, as we do every year with the traditional Red Umbrella March. But what is different from previous years is that this year we are marking 5353 days to justice. This year, sex workers have finally won the long-standing legal battle due to the violation of their rights by the institutions.” – Hajdi Šterjova Simonović, executive director of HOPS.
“They kept us all evening in the most inhumane conditions, they insulted us, but justice has finally been served” – sex worker.
The press and Red Umbrella March were covered by the media with the presence of national and local televisions that supported the event through their media coverage and video recordings in the central news and on the Internet portals. Please find some of the media links below:
https://kanal5.com.mk/marsh-na-crvenite-chadori-vo-skopje/a616504
In addition, we convey to you a part of the atmosphere in the center of Skopje through Vanco Dzambaski’s photos from the 16th Red Umbrella March held on 15.12.2023: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fosim/albums/72177720313409353/
The implementation of the campaign on the occasion of marking the 17th of December – the International Day to Stop Violence against Sex Workers is supported by the Red Umbrella Fund.