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Allan Heta Cleaver has been a sex worker for 40 years. His work life changed when his home country of New Zealand made his job legal 20 years ago.
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How sex work changed after two decades of decriminalisation in New Zealand

When sex work is not a criminal offence, workers are much safer because they can report crimes against them to the police

How sex work is regulated strongly influences how safe workers’ jobs are. In South Africa, where laws make it illegal to buy or sell sex. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
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Job rights, better healthcare and taxes: What life could look like for SA sex workers

Mia Malan interviews Deputy Justice Minister, John Jeffery, and United Nations special rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, about what’s next for sex workers

Sex workers in South Africa want their profession decriminalised

Legalising sex work is not a moral issue, it’s a human rights issue

A new bill that seeks to decriminalise sex work is now open for public comment

If sex work continues to be criminalised, sex workers will continue to be forced to work in unsafe, abusive and dangerous conditions. Photo: David Harrison

Defending a prostituted person’s dignity starts with saying ‘no’ to full decriminalisation

Re-opening of South Africa’s prostitution law reform debate makes the mistake of assuming it is work and not exploitation.

Six, or half a dozen: Bonteheuwel residents shelter from the drug trade at
night. (Rodger Bosch/AFP)

What’s ‘moral’ about a misguided war on drugs that defies common sense?

It’s high time we listened to former South African president Kgalema Motlanthe’s advice on the legalisation of all recreational drugs

Rich pickings: Workers at Medigrow, a Lesotho-Canadian company that has invested €17.4-million in growing legal cannabis, pick leaves from cannabis plants that will now undergo a highly complex extraction process. Photo: GuillemSartorio/AFP

The many moods of sweet Mary Jane

The cannabis underground tutors the corporate class in the vagaries of their shared mistress

The case for decriminalising personal drug use

Deputy Social Development Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu tells the UN that the war on drugs has failed and is suggesting other options to tackle addiction

HIV funding cuts fall hardest on key populations: sex workers, gay and bisexual men, transgender women and people who inject drugs — who have a much higher chance of getting HIV and depend heavily on specialised, donor-funded services which the government has been slow to take over. (Dylan Bush, Bhekisisa)

Sex work and soccer: More alike than you think?

One in three sex workers in South Africa say they’ve been raped by a police officer. Could a change in the law solve this?

Joan Collins* worked as an intensive care nurse in Cape Town. But that’s not the only way she made a living.

Nurse: ‘I had to supplement my income. That’s when I got into sex work.’

Joan Collins* worked as an intensive care nurse in Cape Town. But that’s not the only way she made a living.

Zimbabwe women ‘selling sex for fuel’ (Photo Archive)

Selling sex

From Amsterdam’s glittering canals to Durban’s dark streets, take a look at how the world legislates sex — and why it matters.

At least 66% of recent cases were performed by healthcare professionals, in an attempt to legitimise the practice. (David Harrison)

#GBVSummit: ‘We have not budgeted for failure’ — Shabangu

As the two-day summit came to end, a declaration was reached and the mood was mostly triumphant, but it didn’t go without a few stumbling blocks

The Swedish model

WATCH: All the ways the world polices sex

The Swedish model, legalisation, decriminalisation — does the sex work debate leave you confused? Look no further.