Gemma Sciré

CEO Basis

Wed 31 October, Quad Cinema, Derby 6:00pm - 8:30pm

Gemma has worked in both the public sector (incl. local authorities, mental health trusts) and third sector for 24 years, specialising with work with marginalised groups. She is currently CEO at Basis Yorkshire, an award winning charity who have been working with women sex working, survivors of sexual exploitation and children sexually exploited for nearly 30 years. Gemma’s experience ranges from delivery of outreach work with vulnerable groups, to working strategically within the Strategy and Commissioning team on offending and drug treatment at Leeds City Council to managing criminal justice services and developing services on employment, health and wellbeing. She leads for the third sector on the ‘managed approach’ to sex work in Leeds and the response to child sexual exploitation. She is the Chair of the Women’s Lives Leeds consortium of 11 women’s organisations, influencing policy and strategy around gender. Gemma is passionate about the voluntary sector and women’s services particularly and the ability of the sector to work creatively to challenge exclusion, marginalisation and stigma. Gemma has an BA in Sociology and a PG Diploma in Social Policy.

Marjan Wijers

Trainer & consultant Rights4Change U.A.

Wed 7 November, QUAD Cinema Derby, 6:00pm - 8:30pm

Marjan Wijers works as an independent researcher, consultant and trainer on human trafficking, human rights and sex workers’ rights. Over the last years she worked, among other things, as consultant for the Netherlands Helsinki Committee in various Eastern European countries to promote the rights of trafficked persons in criminal proceedings, improve their access to legal aid and train lawyers to provide legal aid to trafficked persons. She was President of the first Experts Group on Trafficking in Human Beings, established by the European Commission, and acted as principle consultant for the Commentary of the Joint UN agencies on the 2011 EU Trafficking Directive. Being one of the pioneers of the Dutch Foundation against Trafficking in Women she was closely involved in the development of the Dutch policies on trafficking as well as in the negotiations on the UN Trafficking Protocol as part of the Human Rights Caucus, an alliance of human rights, anti-trafficking and sex workers’ rights organisations and activists. She was one of the co-organizers of the first European sex workers conference in Brussels in 2005 and one of the founders of the International Committee for the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE), of which she was a board member from 2005 to 2013. Currently she is a member of the Advisory Board of Proud, the Dutch organisation of sex workers. Her research and publication record covers trafficking in human beings, the position of sex workers and of female labour migrants, data protection and mandatory registration of sex workers, secondary victimisation of crime victims, and the implementation of the EU Directives on hate crimes and trafficking in human beings. Within Rights4Change, she specialized with other gender and human rights experts in the development and application of human rights impact assessment tools in the field of human trafficking, domestic violence and health rights of women. She holds an LL.M in law (specialisation international human rights) and a M.A. in social sciences. Since October 2018 she has a position as PhD student at Essex University, focusing on human rights and sex workers’ rights.

Amber Wilson

Business Development and Marketing, Basis

Wed 7 November, Quad Cinema, Derby 6:00pm - 8:30pm

Wed 14 November, Quad Cinema, Derby 6:00pm - 8:00pm

  

Amber Wilson works for Basis Yorkshire, an award winning rights based charity that works with street and indoor sexworkers in Leeds, supporting young people who are sexually exploited as well as training on both topics nationally. Following experience in both the private and the third sector, Amber joined Basis in 2014. Her role focuses on fundraising and coordinating the training and communications (incl. social media and press engagement). She has played a leading role in awareness raising campaigns such as #17daysofaction in December, developed with input from service users and in close collaboration with frontline practitioners. Amber is passionate about challenging stigmatizing and non-judgemental language and balanced and safe reporting by the media and others.