Legal Literacy
Aastha Parivaar builds the capacity of sex workers to advocate for themselves by equipping them with crucial information regarding the Indian legal system. By doing so, the community has informed leaders and community advocates who work to ensure legal justice for all sex workers. The Legal Literacy Module includes:
Police Sensitization
At the beginning of the Aastha project, more than 60% of crisis incidents reported by sex workers were police related. In Mumbai, Thane and Navi-Mumbai, Aastha Parivaar has worked to advocate for the sex worker community within the police force in the following ways:
- Meeting with the Commissioner of Police
- Collaborating with the police to develop an information booklet with information relating directly to HIV/AIDS and the risk policemen face whilst on duty
- Training and sensitizing more than 10 000 police officers about issues of the sex worker community
- Holding regular HIV sensitization programmes at over 80 police stations
- Receiving letters of support for members of the sex worker community in Peace Committees issued by the offices of the Commissioner of Police
- Holding outreach clinics for police with STI screening services, general health check-ups, and condom distribution
- Inviting police to Aastha Parivaar events as well as joint celebrations of festivals such as Raksha Bandhan
