Together we can fight against violence against women in sex industry

It was necessary in Czech society to introduce a very strong topic – violence against women committed by the police and state bodies – and to start proposing solutions. We knew that the most difficult part would be presenting the issue to the professional public, especially the police. However, thanks to the working group and negotiations with several institutions, we have achieved the impossible – bringing all the participants together to one round table: women, the municipal and national police, the state administration from crime prevention divisions and the city districts where various repressive regulations make it difficult to defend oneself against this type of violence .
The next stage was the draft strategy to tackle the situations of structural violence. This was a joint work of all concerned by the problem, including the research subjects. The proposed strategy for addressing structural violence is available in a publication on the Bliss without Risk organisation’s website and in the form of a book. We also included in it research results from Norway; the local view of the repressive delineation of space or of the work with women was one of the important points of discussion.
The Bliss without Risk organisation is the first organisation in our country to deal with the issue of violence against women in the sex industry in depth, and the presented research on structural violence is unique and revolutionary. We believe that the project will help persuade the involved structures that women in need in the sex industry should seek the police, not avoid it as it has been the case so far.