Bangladesh, A Country Context
Bangladesh is one of the partners of Sex Workers and Allies South Asia (SWASA). The country has a long history of the sex workers’ movement. Despite facing a hostile legal and cultural environment, sex workers in Bangladesh have built strong platforms for resistance and advocacy since the 1990s. Their efforts have shaped national and local conversations around labour rights, dignity, and decriminalization. Through SWASA, these struggles are connected to a broader South Asian solidarity, ensuring that the voices of Bangladeshi sex workers are heard regionally and globally.
History of the Movement
The sex workers’ rights movement in Bangladesh emerged from a moment of crisis. In 1999, sex workers from the Tanbazar and Nimtoli brothels in Narayanganj were forcibly evicted, an action that resulted in one of the strongest mobilizations in the country’s recent history. This eviction united the agitating sex workers with 86 organisations and individuals, including feminist groups, human rights defenders, cultural activists, and journalists, into a solidarity platform known as Shonghoti.
The issue of rights quickly moved from the streets to the courts. Following Shonghoti’s writ petition, in 2000, the High Court delivered a landmark ruling declaring sex work a legal form of livelihood and affirming the dignity and rights of sex workers, stating that no one has the right to evict them from their homes. This legal recognition marked a significant shift in rights-based advocacy. Another achievement of the 1990s sex workers’ mobilising was that the stigmatizing term “prostitution” was increasingly replaced by the rights-affirming term sex work.
Building on these victories, the first national sex workers’ conference was held in Savar in 2002. Out of this gathering was born the Sex Workers’ Network (SWN), the country’s only sex worker-led national platform. Today, SWN represents 33 community-based organizations across Bangladesh, bringing together brothel-based, street-based, hotel/residential, and hijra/trans sex workers onto one platform to raise a united voice for rights and recognition.
Allies continued to play a critical role throughout this history. Journalists, feminists, and rights defenders supported sex workers during eviction drives, amplified their voices in the media, and advocated for everyday rights.
Together, sex workers and allies have laid the foundation for a resilient and growing movement in Bangladesh.
Landmark Judgment on the Rights of Sex Workers in Bangladesh
Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights (BSEHR) & Others v. Government of Bangladesh (2000)
High Court Division, Supreme Court of Bangladesh | Judgment Date: 14 March 2000
In a historic decision following the forced eviction of sex workers from the Tanbazar and Nimtali brothels in Narayanganj, the High Court Division of Bangladesh declared the detention of sex workers in vagrant homes unlawful and affirmed their constitutional rights to life, livelihood, and freedom of movement.
The Court ruled that sex work, while socially disapproved, is not illegal under Bangladeshi law, and that sex workers, like all citizens, are entitled to protection from arbitrary eviction, harassment, and unlawful confinement. It ordered the immediate release of all women detained in the Kashimpur Vagrant Home, recognizing their right to live and work with dignity.
This judgment, delivered by Justices Md Fazlul Karim and Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, marked a turning point in Bangladesh’s legal and social acknowledgment of sex workers’ rights. It remains a foundational precedent cited in national and regional advocacy for the decriminalisation and human rights of sex workers.
May 16, 2025: SWASA stood in solidarity at the Women’s March for Solidarity in Dhaka
SWASA’s Role in Bangladesh
SWASA works in Bangladesh in partnership with the Sex Workers’ Network (SWN) and Naripokkho, which leads Shonghoti, the allies’ coalition for sex workers’ rights. After the formation of SWN in 2002, Shonghoti gradually became dormant. Recognizing its historic importance as a broad-based alliance, SWASA partnered with Naripokkho in 2022 to revive Shonghoti. In November 2023, Shonghoti held its first formal election in almost two decades, forming a nine-member Executive Committee for the 2024–2026 period. Its revival ensures that allies remain organized, accountable, and actively support sex workers.
Following SWASA’s Strategic Plan 2022, the Bangladesh Chapter focused on two interconnected goals: addressing stigma and discrimination, and ensuring sex workers’ fundamental rights. These are advanced through four key directions:
Community Empowerment
By strengthening CBOs under SWN, SWASA invests in the leadership of sex workers, enabling them to organise, mobilise, and advocate for their own rights. Initiatives like the weekly SWASA Adda provide platforms for solidarity, confidence-building, and collective action.
Addressing Legal Issues
SWASA engages in policy advocacy, supporting sex workers’ demands for recognition, protection, and decriminalisation. In partnership with Naripokkho and Shonghoti, SWASA facilitates dialogue with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), pushing for reforms in NID access, birth registration, and social protection.
Awareness & Access to Health Care
Trainings such as the Digital Literacy Institute help sex workers navigate online safety and communication, while broader advocacy challenges the stigma that excludes them from essential health and social services.
Building Alliances
SWASA fosters cross-movement solidarity, connecting sex workers with feminists, labour unions, queer activists, and regional partners. Dialogues like Sex Work: Feminist Faultlines (2024, Dhaka) create space to address contested issues, build consensus, and strengthen joint struggles.
Through these directions, SWASA supports a stronger, more resilient sex workers’ movement in Bangladesh—rooted in local organising, supported by national allies, and linked to regional and global struggles for justice.
Looking Ahead
SWASA-Bangladesh, together with SWN and allied organizations and platforms, such as Naripokkho and Shonghoti, is committed to a future where sex workers in Bangladesh are respected, and can access their rights as workers and citizens. Key priorities include:
- Full decriminalization of sex work, including clients and third parties, ensuring safety and dignity.
- Challenging stigma and violence through advocacy, storytelling, and movement-building.
- Strengthening digital literacy, governance, and leadership within sex worker-led groups to respond to both immediate challenges and long-term goals.
- Deepening alliances with feminist, queer, labour, and human rights movements, recognizing the intersectionality of struggles.
- Linking national organizing with regional and global advocacy to ensure that Bangladeshi experiences play a role in shaping policies and frameworks beyond national borders.
Happenings in Bangladesh
Browse all resourcesMeeting with Labour Rights Activists
On 18 August 2025, Naripokkho brought together labour rights advocates to discuss working conditions, rights, and solidarity strategies for sex workers. The half-day meeting provided a platform for exploring cross-sector collaboration and strengthening advocacy for rights-based reforms.
Cross-Movement Dialogue
A two-day dialogue on 15–16 July 2025, organized by Naripokkho, convened feminists, queer activists, labour unions, and sex worker organisations to address intersecting struggles. Discussions focused on building consensus, addressing contested issues, and creating joint strategies for social justice.
Emergency Food Assistance
In the first half of 2025, in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare, Naripokkho Bangladesh coordinated emergency food distribution to support sex workers and their families facing financial and social hardship. The initiative responded to the food and security crisis that followed the 2024 student protest to oust Sheikh Hasina’s regime, ensuring basic needs were met during this period of national instability.
Media Guideline Development
Through the first half of 2025, Naripokkho, a SWASA partner, worked with allies and media professionals to develop ethical reporting guidelines on sex work. The guidelines aim to combat stigma, promote dignity, and ensure responsible representation of sex workers in the media.
Community Consultants
To strengthen local leadership, SWASA engaged community consultants from sex worker-led groups to advise on advocacy strategies, community mobilisation, and organisational development, ensuring programmes are grounded in lived experience.
VAMP Institute training on Digital Literacy: Navigating the Online World as a Sex Worker Activist
- Strengthening and amplifying the voices and online presence of sex workers’ activists and organisations
- Enhancing the workers’ basic digital literacy
- Promoting online communication and etiquette
- Strengthening digital safety and privacy awareness
The feedback at the end of the training was provided by the 14 participants. They stated that the two-day training titled ‘Digital Literacy: Navigating the Online World as a Sex Worker Activist’ was successful. It provided the sex workers with basic knowledge about digital literacy. Before the training, the participants had almost no knowledge of the topics covered in the meeting. After the training, the participants felt more confident about themselves. They handled smartphones more confidently and showed eagerness to learn more in future training.
SEX WORK: FEMINIST FAULT-LINES
The meeting is intended to discuss sex work, feminist perspectives, and advocacy in Bangladesh. It will particularly focus on sex workers’ rights, health, and the challenges they face. The meeting aims to foster a collective understanding among feminists and activists about sex work and related issues.
Advocacy with Bangladesh National Human Rights Commission
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is the national advocacy institution for human rights promotion and protection in Bangladesh. Through the SWASA project Naripokkho represented SHONGHOTI (a platform of 46 humanitarian organizations of Bangladesh) to NHRC for advocating the establishment and protection of sex worker’s’ rights.
Two-day-long workshop on ’’Developing Guidelines for Sensitive Reporting on Sex Workers’’
On 2-3 October 2024, Naripokkho organised a two-day workshop on developing a guideline for sensitive reporting on sex workers following the recommendations during the VAMP Institute cross movemnet dialogue “Sex Work: Feminist Faultlines”.