Alliance of Women Advocating for Change (AWAC) has released her first edition of the SWARM Magazine online. SWARM which stands for Sex Workers’ Advocacy and Resilience Magazine is an annual publication that aims at putting in the spotlight the stories of struggles and resilience of female sex workers’ social justice movement in Uganda. This project is supported by the African Women's Development Fund.

Asked why the SWARM magazine is significant today, Kyomya Macklean, the Executive Director of AWAC said that sex workers like any other key populations subgroups in Uganda and elsewhere in the world have had a long history of disproportionate exposure to violence and other life-threatening conditions compared to the general population. The criminalized environment in which sex workers operate has fueled rampant enduring levels of societal stigma, discrimination and systemic exclusion, denial of access to justice and abuse with impunity. Consequently, many sex workers have been pushed to normalize violence and bred a culture of silence in the face of violence.

"It is this situation created an urgent need for vibrant efforts of solidarity in ensuring that impunity is not tolerated in the struggle to end violence against female sex workers that eventually gave rise to female sex workers social justice movements across the world,” Macklean shared.

She further narrated that the journey of the female sex workers' social justice movement was born in 2009, a time when no sex worker wanted to share and document their experiences of human rights violations, perpetrated against sex workers by various actors or establish a platform of action for ending violence against sex workers. Over the sub-sequent years, several sex workers have come out and shared their stories with media houses.

“Sadly, many media houses have published these stories in a sensational and dehumanizing manner often with distorted facts which situation had induced a craving for a sex worker led publication platform where sex workers can share stories of our struggles, resilience and milestones of the female sex workers’ social justice movement in Uganda. Therefore, SWARM was established to fill this gap. We hope that in reading these stories other female sex workers may get inspired to tell more of their stories and as well leverage on the experiences to enhance their personal and organizational Gender Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response plans," Macklean said AWAC’s latest project.

SWARM indulges readers in real life experiences, challenges, opportunities and innovations by and for female sex workers in Uganda. Macklean notes that through SWARM, young and emerging female sex worker leaders will be inspired as they take on the leadership mantle.

"We hope that in reading these stories, other female sex workers may get encouraged to tell more of their stories and as well leverage on the experiences to enhance their personal and organizational Gender Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response plans,"Macklean said in conclusion.

To download a copy of the SWARM magazine, please follow link

SWARM MAGAZINE V9

SWARM MAGAZINE V9