Breaking the Silence: How KISWA Responds to Violence Against Sex Workers
KISWA was not built in a boardroom. It was built in response to a crisis — a series of brutal killings, of foreign objects inserted into the bodies of sex workers, of arbitrary arrests carried out with impunity. It was built because no one else was coming.
That founding emergency has never fully resolved. Violence against sex workers in Nyanza Region remains a persistent, daily reality. Understanding it — and organising against it — is central to everything KISWA does.
The Forms Violence Takes
Violence against sex workers is not one thing. It is:
- Physical violence from clients, intimate partners, and strangers — assault, sexual violence, and murder.
- Police violence — arbitrary arrests, extortion, rape in custody, and the use of the law as a weapon against women already living on the margins.
- Structural violence — the slow harm inflicted by exclusion from healthcare, legal protection, and economic opportunity.
Each form feeds the others. A sex worker who fears arrest is less likely to report a violent client. One who has been stigmatised by health workers is less likely to seek treatment after an assault. The systems meant to protect people are often the same systems causing harm.
KISWA’s Response
KISWA does not ask sex workers to wait for the system to fix itself. We build parallel systems of safety and support rooted in the community.
Our GBV response work includes:
- Documentation — Recording incidents of violence to build an evidence base that supports advocacy. What is not documented cannot be challenged.
- Referral networks — Connecting survivors to legal aid, psychosocial support, and medical care, including post-exposure prophylaxis after sexual violence.
- Community safety planning — Working with sex workers to identify risks and develop collective strategies for staying safer.
- Engagement with law enforcement — Building relationships with police to improve how sex workers are treated when they report crimes or seek protection.
Why This Work Is Hard
Sex workers are routinely told that violence comes with the territory — that if you choose this work, you accept the risk. KISWA rejects this entirely.
No one forfeits the right to safety because of how they earn a living. Violence is not an occupational hazard. It is a crime. And like any crime, it deserves a response from the community, from the law, and from the state.
The work is hard because it requires confronting systems of power that have long operated without accountability. But KISWA has been doing it since 2014 — and the community that built this organisation is not stopping.
If you have experienced violence or know someone who needs support, reach out to KISWA. Your safety matters. Your life matters.
