Founded in 1994, the Sex Worker's Alliance of Vancouver (SWAV) is one of the many
Sex Workers' Rights organizations that have surfaced in the last 15 years. They organized to work for fair wages for sex wokers and for safe, clean, and healthy working conditions. SWAV also
adamantly opposes any law that
criminalizes sex work.
SWAV maintains that all people have rights and that the rights of prostitutes and other sex workers are regularly violated because of the work they do. Because of the criminalization of sex work, the workers are prevented from working together, from having proper health care, and force sex workers into an evironment of crime where their rights are not protected. Often, sex workers who are victims of violence cannot go to the police because their very profession is illegal.
Although not as formally organized as other organizations of its kind, SWAV has been providing information about sex work as it relates to laws, sexual health, commerce and culture for the last 8 years.
"Currently, SWAV publishes a Bad Calls List (a database of descriptions of violent men who rip off or assault prostitutes who make dates over the phone), provides health and legal information and free condoms, and sponsors the Commercial Sex Information Service website." - http://www.walnet.org/csis/groups/swav/swav.html