Description
- Abstract:
- In refugee camp settings, sex work has become an increasingly prevalent method of livelihood support. This thesis examines the attempts in the humanitarian sector to address resource gaps for women engaged in sex work in these contexts, analyzing how different actors interact with one another and the interventions themselves. Drawing on key informant interviews, mainly with international aid workers from UN organizations, I examine two specific interventions in refugee camps in Kenya and Bangladesh. Across both case studies, interviews revealed that the humanitarian sector has increasingly adopted structured, rights-based programming—largely shaped by the UNHCR and UNFPA operational guidelines—to address the needs of refugee women engaged in sex work, emphasizing service accessibility, community input, and local context-based adaptation. While many humanitarian workers demonstrated cognizance around personal biases and a commitment to program goals like nonpunitive service delivery, confidentiality, and agency, interviews also exposed tensions between individual, organizational, and operational attitudes––particularly in how institutional frameworks address ideas of stigma and exploitation–– and challenges in how refugee and host communities perceived both humanitarian actors and sex workers.
- Notes:
- Senior thesis (AB)--Brown University, 2025
- Concentration: International and Public Affairs
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Citation
Topol, Sabina F.,
"ASSESSING AID: THE HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE TO REFUGEE WOMEN ENGAGED IN SEX WORK"
(2025).
International and Public Affairs Theses and Dissertations, The Watson School of International and Public Affairs Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.26300/g215-1p16
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The Watson School of International and Public Affairs Theses and Dissertations
Theses and Dissertations for the The Watson School of International and Public Affairs department....