Women Prostitute Group of the State of Pará – ‘Gempac’

The project, supported by Brazil Fund in 2011, aims to promote a wide action of articulation, information, training and political and social incidence in order to address rights violations of women in prostitution in Pará. This way it contributes to improve gender relations and their quality of life through increased knowledge of their situation and support from various sectors of society regarding that commitment.

The group intends to work with information about the track of women in history, allowing existing conflicts in man and woman relationship and the implications of these factors in the building of society to come to the surface.

By mobilizing and raising awareness among women the group intends to contribute to the fight against crimes, such as false imprisonment, physical torture, labor exploitation and other visible forms of violence suffered by women in prostitution.

The group’s mission is to foster self-organization of prostitutes. The idea is to empower women to overcome the prejudices and taboos that prevent them to access citizenship through three lines of action: organization and preventive health, combat against exploitation and income generation.

Among the activities it develops are actions aimed at the prevention of STDs/HIV /AIDS and viral hepatitis, the self-organization of the class, the protection of sexual and human rights and the confrontation of children and adolescents’ exploitation.

From 1994 to 2010 the group worked at the state level in partnership with the Federal Government, UNESCO and other partners, having become a reference in the Amazon region. The group is a member and founder of the Brazilian Network of Prostitutes-RBP  and it is internationally articulated as a member of the NSWP - Global Network of Sex Work Projects.