December 17th marks the 5th Annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. The day calls attention to hate crimes committed against sex workers. The Sex Workers Outreach Project conceived of the event as a memorial and vigil for the victims of the Green River murders in Seattle, Washington. This day empowers sex workers and their supporters to come together to organize against discrimination and to remember victims of violence. On Monday, December 17th, 2007 the Erotic Service Providers Union will be joining other sex worker rights organizations across the world for actions and vigils to call attention to hate crimes against sex workers, namely prostitutes.

Events on and around December 17th will call attention to trial proceedings against a Vancouver B.C. farmer who is charged with the murders of twenty-six street-based prostitutes who were killed on their jobs. They will also call attention to a recent ruling in by a female Philadelphia judge who dismissed charges of rape of a prostitute at gun point because she didn't believe that a sex worker could be raped.
The Sex Workers Outreach Project will hold a press conference on Monday on the steps of San Francisco City Hall (Polk side) at 11:30am. They will announce that the 5th Annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers will take place in Civic Center Plaza at 6pm. Names of those who have been victims of violence will be read, as they and their stories will be remembered with a candlelight vigil. A vigil in San Francisco was held on Thursday, December 13th to call attention to the unethical practice by a USF Ethics professor who videotaped massage parlor workers without their permission to promote his idea of forced labor, with no regard that he violated their privacy rights under the guise of rescuing workers.

List of events | ESPU announcement about 12/13 event | International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers | 5th International Day on myspace | Chez Stella