A Press Statement by SWOP Ambassadors delivered on 17th December 2025, 10.30am, at Davana Hotel, Kayole Spine Road, Nairobi
Ending Violence Against Women in Sex Work Requires Equal Protection Under the Law
How Criminalization Puts Sex Workers in Harm’s Way
This year in Nairobi alone, 27 women in sex work were murdered. These deaths were enabled by laws that criminalize their work, handing the ultimate punishment simply for their choice of livelihood.
Today, December 17, the world marks the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, and we are here to name a truth Kenya continues to avoid. Violence against sex workers persists because of the laws and systems criminalizing survivors while shielding abusers.
When the state labels sex workers as criminals, police protection, medical care, and justice are denied. Reporting violence can mean jail, or even death! Survivors fear arrest and retaliation. Evidence is lost, police look the other way, and abusers act with confidence, knowing the system is very unlikely to protect those that they harm. After we suffer violence our abusers often tell us “utanipeleka wapi? Utado?”
Women in sex work face violence from clients, the police, and strangers, everyday, with little protection from the law. In 2025 alone, SWOP Ambassadors documented 345 cases of violence against women sex workers in Nairobi; 27 ended in murder. These are not statistics. They are lives lost because silence felt safer than seeking help.
Why Decriminalization and Oversight Are Urgent
We know that criminalizing sex work leaves abusers free to harm without consequences. We also know what stops this. When survivors are accompanied by paralegals, when hospitals provide care without judgment, when lawyers are present, and when witnesses are protected, cases move. Files are not lost. Arrests happen. Convictions happen. Violence is deterred. Survivors report not because they are brave, but because the system finally does its job.
And so, today, we must also name a failure of public accountability. The Presidential Taskforce on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide was established to address these patterns of violence. Sex workers submitted testimony, data, and lived evidence. One year after it was promised, the Taskforce report remains unpublished. This silence is a broken promise to women in Kenya, the public, and the families of those killed.
A national response to violence that excludes sex workers is neither inclusive nor fair. We demand that the Taskforce report is released immediately, and our experiences be officially acknowledged, published, and used to shape policy. Anything less justifies more violence.
When we call for decriminalization, we are simply calling for the right to report violence without fear of arrest. This requires repealing Sections 153 and 154 of the Penal Code, which criminalize consensual adult sex work. These laws do not prevent violence. In fact they enable it by making survivors disposable, while protecting their abusers.
From more than 10 years of responding to violence, we know legal reform alone is not enough. Police files are routinely sabotaged or disappear. Bribery determines whose case moves and whose does not. Courts are underfunded. Powerful abusers are shielded by police and political allies. The result? Rapists and killers walk free, families get no justice, and violence repeats.
We call for increased oversight of police handling of violence, proper funding for health and courts, more investigative journalism, and courage to confront abusers in positions of power. Ending violence requires action to keep violence impossible, and the government accountable.
Justice Demands Action from Law and Media
Finally, to members of the media, we ask you to report with care and responsibility. Use the plain-language definition of decriminalization we have provided. Avoid framing sex work itself as violence, and avoid portraying sex workers as helpless victims. Seek consent before naming survivors and anonymize where requested.
If you wish to interview survivors, work with SWOP Ambassadors and other sex worker-led organizations so safety and informed consent are guaranteed. We can provide spokespeople, verified data, anonymized case files, and referrals to our legal and medical partners.
In closing, we are asking for nothing more and nothing less than equal protection under the law. Criminalization has failed us. It punishes survivors and protects abusers.
On our part, we will continue to accompany survivors to hospitals, police stations, and courts, document violence, and push for change until justice in Kenya is not based on who you are or what you do for a living.
Thank you. We are now ready for your questions.
Press Contacts:
Veronica Achibela Were
Program Lead, Safety from Violence
SWOP Ambassadors
Rosemary Kasiba
Executive Director
SWOP Ambassadors
Please find our visual summaries of the press conference at these Instagram and Facebook posts.
We caught coverage from 7 media houses: KTN prime-time news (English and Kiswahili); Citizen TV (YouTube); TV47 (YouTube); The Star Newspaper (online and print); Standard Digital (Facebook and X); Nairobi 254 TV (YouTube and TikTok); and Kakajay Media (YouTube and TikTok).
Additional coverage is expected and will be updated here.
We appreciate financial contribution from the Africa Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA) towards the press engagement.