THAYS: counseling and support for sex workers

Project overview

Médecins du Monde’s THAYS project (formerly the P.A.S.S. project) facilitates access to care and information for sex workers in the canton of Neuchâtel.

The objectives of the THAYS project:

• Facilitate access to the canton’s healthcare system and improve health knowledge
• Strengthen relations with the medical network
• Support and counsel victims of violence and defend the rights of sex workers
• Collect data on the target population and its health needs and raise awareness among local government and civil society actors in the canton on the realities of sex work

The THAYS project beneficiaries are predominantly cisgender women, more than 90% of whom are migrants.

The practice of sex work in the public domain is prohibited in the canton of Neuchâtel (Prostitution Act, Art. 11). Thus, the 170 people who practice sex work at any given time in the canton work primarily in over 30 massage parlors and 18 private apartments. Every year, nearly 1,350 sex workers pass through these locations in Neuchâtel.

A discreet and neglected population

THAYS is the only project in the canton of Neuchâtel specifically dedicated to the topic of sex work and sex workers. These workers are mostly of foreign origin and are highly vulnerable in terms of health – especially sexual and mental health. They also suffer from greater exposure to violence and precarious conditions.

The stigma surrounding their profession, the fact that they change work location every two weeks, and their limited language proficiency are major obstacles to accessing the social and health system and to receiving the services they might need.