Sex workers and people who use drugs are subject to widespread violations of their human rights, which, for the most part, go unchallenged. Globally, these groups are subjected to repressive and discriminatory laws, policies and practices.
These policies and practices fuel stigma, discrimination, widespread violence, and significantly increase the risks and vulnerabilities of both populations to sexually transmitted infections and blood borne viruses, notably HIV and hepatitis B and C.
In settings that have detrimental and punitive drug and sex work laws and policies, sex workers who use drugs1 2 experience interconnected layers of risk and vulnerability, caused by the compounded effects of criminalisation, stigma, and discrimination.