Sex workers rights are human rights, Amnesty International argued in a recent report. Sex workers worldwide are at constant risk of abuse. Nicaragua recently gave legal power to 18 of its 14, sex workers to act as mediators finding solutions to problems facing their communities without having to rely on police. In Nicaragua's new program to accredit these sex workers as "judicial facilitators" drew the attention of the French filmmaker Florence Jaugey.
Girasoles de Nicaragua Sunflowers of Nicaragua premiered in Managua in January and is now making waves around Latin America and worldwide. Like in every country, sex workers had a bad image, so we decided to organize. In the vice president of the Supreme Court of Justice asked if we wanted to be judicial facilitators. I had no idea what that even was. Now we are accredited. We have a license signed by the president of the Supreme Court to mediate small conflicts. There are 18 of us and we do this voluntarily, accompanying, counseling, and mediating in minor cases.
This can include problems with neighbors and problems with families. Florence: The mediation program first existed in rural areas, and then they transplanted it to the city. For example, there are mediators in market places, because there are lots of conflicts that can be resolved within the market, and the facilitators there are leaders from the market.
Likewise with sex workers β who knows their work environment better than they do? It's a way to solve problems from inside. That was the starting point.
But now the opposition party will say this government is trying to make itself look good with the sex workers because the program seems so liberal. But the women themselves are also taking advantage of any opportunities given by the government. A space opens up and they walk right in. That's brilliant, no? They have a strength and I think you can see it in the documentary, their capacity for struggle and integration.
