Interview with Reena Lama at the World Village Festival on sex workers’ rights in Nepal

Reena Lama from KIOS’s grantee organisation FAITH will be interviewed at the World Village Festival in Helsinki. The programme “Sex workers’ rights in Nepal” will be streamed online on Saturday 25 May at 18:25 pm EET.

Sex workers in Nepal face a lot of violence, but no one protects them. Often, even their own families turn against them. Nepalese human rights activist Reena Lama breaks taboos and prejudices. From the early 2000s, she has worked with marginalised people such as the HIV positive, sex workers and drug users.

Founded by Lama, Friends Affected and Infected Together in Hand (FAITH) courageously challenges prevailing perceptions in a patriarchal society. How can you get policymakers to advocate for the rights of marginalised groups? How has working on taboo subjects affected Lama’s own treatment and status in society? How do the discriminated groups see themselves and their own rights?

Lama will be interviewed by gender equality expert and human rights activist Elina Nikulainen.

The programme will be in English, and it will be interpreted to Finnish sign language.

The programme will be available on-site at the Speaker’s stage in Suvilahti, Helsinki, and through live stream on the Festival website on Saturday 25 May at 18:25-18:50 pm Eastern European Time (UTC +2).

Link to the programme page

Link to the online stream

KIOS will also share information about our work at the Market of Possibilities of the festival. You can visit our stand M521 on Saturday at 11-21 and on Sunday at 11-19.

    Reena Lama

Reena Lama

Reena Lama is the executive director of FAITH, an advocate for women’s rights, and a member of the marginalized Tamang community, which is the second largest ethnic group in Nepal. Lama’s journey from a volunteer to the forefront of political activism demonstrates a commitment to dismantling stereotypes, addressing systemic barriers, and above all, working towards ensuring that the most marginalized voices are heard.

Elina Nikulainen

Elina Nikulainen has had a long career working on gender equality and human rights issues in Finland and internationally, specializing in violence against women. She worked in various UN organizations in Asia for six years. In Finland, she has worked as a gender equality advisor for Plan Finland Foundation and has led the Women’s Line and UN Women Finland. Currently, she works as an entrepreneur.