Women’s Network for Human Rights Advocacy (WONETHA) is an independent, non-partisan, non-governmental human rights advocacy organization led and founded by sex workers in 2008.WONETHA was founded to address the rampant discrimination in health care systems, social stigma and as well as advocate against punitive and restrictive legislation and policies that encourage violations of sex workers rights. We use health as a major entry point to advocate for rights of sex workers. That is- we provide health services to sex workers, push for programming that recognizes sex workers health needs, promote and protect rights of sex workers through access to primary justice, documentation of violations, awareness, building the capacity of sex workers, research and knowledge management. We work with partners to push for sex workers issues at the regional and international advocacy spaces.WONETHA addresses the health disparities for sex workers through direct provision of health information, commodities, testing services and referral to health care. We ensure that the health workers understand the health issues affecting sex workers and are able to skew services to those needs.
WONEHA addresses violations of rights of sex workers by increasing access to justice through provision of first legal aid and referrals of cases to lawyers. We promote rights through awareness of human rights to ensure that sex workers understand and can defend their rights. We document these violations and ensure that the perpetrators of these violations are exposed and followed up.
WONETHA strengthens the capacity of sex workers to improve their wellbeing. This is done through training them as peer educators and paralegals to take care of their own issues, economic empowerment to earn alternative income, movement building, supporting children of sex workers and rehabilitation for under age sex workers.
WONETHA uses research and documentation as a tool to generate and manage knowledge for evidence-based advocacy. By doing this, WONETHA contributes to the knowledge base on issues affecting sex workers in Uganda. By working with partners, WONETHA pushes for reform in laws that affect sex workers and causes shifts in programming that benefits the lives of sex workers. WONETHA works with partners to cause shifts in attitudes of duty bearers in favour for the rights of sex workers
WONETHA strives to build a strong and well-grounded organisation, continuously learning, innovative, well positioned and sustainable to challenge violations of rights of sex workers. Strengthening the finance, monitoring and evaluation, governance systems, Human resources and sustained resources are the key priorities in WONETHA’s institutional building goal.