For the fifth time, sex workers in our country join the initiative to mark September 14th, the International Sex Worker Pride Day. In the light of that, as the first and only sex workers collective in the country and the Balkans, we share our achievements and successes which made us particularly proud in the past year of 2022.
STAR-STAR with its activities throughout 2022 was focused on solving and minimizing the problems that our community faces, which contribute to the development of a democratic and just society in North Macedonia. By mapping the issues of female, male and transgender sex workers, we have designed our program interventions and activities, with the purpose of developing the legal framework that targets sex workers’ needs, increasing sex workers’ visibility and sex work as work within society, as well as to provide comprehensive care and support for sexual and reproductive health and easier and adequate access to social and legal protection.
With the aim of amplifying the support for sex workers so that they are able to exercise social welfare rights and ease their access to social protection, in January 2022, we reactivated the social counseling and support service for sex workers in Skopje, Gostivar and Strumitsa. This endeavor provided a total 438 services for sex workers who sought social protection rights.
On March 3rd, the very day when we mark the International Sex Workers’ Rights Day, we held our Annual Assembly for the Members of the Association for Support of Marginalized Workers STAR-STAR Skopje for the business year of 2021, at which we adopted important strategic documents, including the Collective Position on the Legal Regulation of Sex Work in the Republic of North Macedonia of the Association for Support of Marginalized Workers STAR-STAR Skopje. Within the frames of the campaign to mark this significant day for sex workers, we organized the second humanitarian online auction “ACTION FOR REACTION 2” in order to be able to provide direct support for our community, particularly for sex workers who still suffer the socio-economic consequences which emerged due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Traditionally, on December 17th, we organized the Red Umbrella March, marking a jubilee – 15 years of the Red Umbrella March bearing the slogan 15 YEARS OF COLLECTIVE VOICE AGAINST VIOLENCE AGAINST US. Within this campaign, we made a retrospective of all past Red Umbrella Marches, of all our successes, achievements, public messages and pleas, as well as the challenges and problems we have been facing throughout the years in the struggle against violence and discrimination.
The initiative to mark the International Sex Worker Pride Day was started by NSWP (The Global Network of Sex Work Projects), and this day was marked for the first time back in 2019. This significant day aims to celebrate the self-determination and the visibility of the sex workers’ community and to showcase all achievements of international sex worker-led organizations in the past year.