This year is the 22nd anniversary of the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (IDEVASW), where sex workers, support projects, allies across the Globe come together in mourning, remembrance and hope.

IDEVASW was established 2 decades ago in Seattle, Washington. Gary Leon Ridgeway, referred to as the ‘Green River Killer’ was convicted in 2003 of murdering 49 women involved in the sex industry.  It is widely believed that Ridgeway killed many more. He stated that he targeted sex workers because “they would not be reported missing right away and might never be reported missing.” (source: BBC, 2003). This reflects the reason why many dangerous offenders choose to target sex workers and why this is exacerbated by laws which criminalise aspects of sex work.

Since 1990, the UK and Ireland has seen the murders of over 200 people within the sex industry. There are many more who cannot be named publicly, and members we have lost whose status as a sex worker is unknown. As well as remembering those who have fallen victim to interpersonal violence, we mourn the vast number of those who have lost their lives as a result of stigma, marginalisation, and state violence. From harmful drug laws, poverty, and suicide, our community honours and remembers each and every member we have lost. They are why we fight for a safer future.

The video below is a name-reading by Megan Prescott, NUM’s Chair of the Board.

Our X/ Twitter account is posting the names individually throughout 17th December, as we do each year. Please take the time to read the names on our memorial card, and to share this amongst your friends, families and communities so that their names are not forgotten.

You can download the card here.

There is no right or wrong way to mark this day. Here are some suggestions for how you may wish to commemorate the day and remember alongside us. If you are personally impacted, hold yourself with compassion and know that there is a global community fighting for better.

We are pleased to announce an update to the Memorial Map but saddened by the fact that more people have been added. (Please access with caution as details may be upsetting).

We have been working with Dr. Lucy Neville, Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Southampton to include information from her PhD project that included data about sex workers murdered in incidents of domestic violence. This research involved the collection and analysis of police case files. 

Download her PhD study in the dissertation entitled: ‘Fatal and Non-Fatal Attacks on Prostitutes: An Action Systems Approach’.

Domestic Violence

As we do not have media links for all victims, we will be honouring 31 sex workers who lost their lives at the hands of domestic partners in our Memorial Map, and they will be identified with a purple ribbon and a message from our team.

Missing Details/ Cannot be Named

We have included 11 sex workers in our Memorial Map this year for whom we are missing details. All we know in some instances is that they were sex workers. In other instances, we have full details but there is no record of the individual in the public domain. As part of our inclusion/exclusion criteria for naming victims, we will not publish names without links to news articles, and we will not ‘out’ individuals as sex workers if this is against the wishes of their families. In the past we would make a statement of remembrance to honour these individuals. 

This year will have added their gender (estimated based on name), age and location. We appeal to family members to get in touch with us if they would like their loved one named and police services who may have more information about victims and can provide further details that can support how the victim is classified. Contact: raven@nationaluglymugs.org

Missing Persons >5 Years

This year we have included the names of 9 sex workers who have been missing for more than 5 years. These people were not in the public version of the Memorial Map previously. We include them now as we openly share our hope and appeal for their safe return.

What’s Next?

We thank Dr. Raven Bowen who worked for many years while she was NUM’s CEO to create this Memorial Map with colleague Dr. Patrick Burnett, a database expert, along with our tech partners Web Presence. Raven, Patrick and Lucy aim to develop this resource further. 

With support we will add the following features:

• Expanding date parameters: Originally, the map was based on a database that contained homicides beginning in 1990. We will be including historical victims and related news articles utilising archival data.
• Search Feature: The ability to search the database using partial information to locate victims is needed. At times, the official location of death or the spelling of names in media accounts for example, do not match information loved ones may have. 
• Expanding the contents of the database:  We aim to include more biographical information about victims, more information about perpetrators, the status and outcome of any court cases, reference materials, etc. to make the Memorial Map a research tool for those with aims to inform advocacy and further honour these individuals. This will facilitate searches based on specific criteria beyond location. 

With these improvements, we will promote broader engagement with the issue of sex worker homicide and continue advocacy for the IDEVASW to be nationally recognised, coupled with the legislative changes necessary to improve life chances, such as decriminalisation and an end to stigma and discrimination. We ask for your support for this work as we push for systems change and fulfilment of our mandate to ‘end all forms of violence against sex workers’.

• Explore how stigma and criminalisation combine to reduce the power that sex workers have over their work and lives
• Commit to listening to, and uplifting, sex workers and sex worker-led organisations
• Support groups including the English Collective of Prostitutes, SWARM, the Sex Workers’ Union, Decrim Now, Red Umbrella Éireann, and the many local groups across the UK and Ireland providing support, care and community by, with and for sex workers
• Make a donation to these services
• Commit to making any services you run sex worker-inclusive
• Write to your MP to show your support for the full decriminalisation of sex work
• Sign the Decrim Now petition to end the criminalisation of sex work
• Help end their victimisation by refusing to be silent in the face of whorephobia
• Stand up against poverty and austerity, as well as misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, racism and anti-migration, and all harmful policies which serve to marginalise and exclude communities
• Work with sex workers to eliminate the social conditions and the harmful policies that limit their life chances
• Practitioners: Take the NUM eLearning course and work with us to improve services by, with and for sex workers