Re: Police harassment of sex workers in Surat City

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum,

Ref: " Sahyog Mahila Mandal” s posting on police harassment of sex workers in Red

Light Area of Surat city " .

This is an amazing but not surprising development in a State which is in many

other respects very progressive when it comes to human rights inititatives.

I hope that many will respond to your request for assistance.

I am frustrated by not having daily access to my internet connections but I will

save this reply and forward it immediately to some new contacts working in

Gujarat and seek that some concerted approaches can be made to try to find out

what has motivated this campaign and in the same way point out how damaging it

is to human rights and community health and safety and how contrary it is to all

UN declarations to which India appears to subscribe.

I am just reading this message today and maybe there have been some developments

since you posted this. Please inform me of what else might have been happening

since and also seek the advice and assistance of sonagachi in Calcutta which is

a formidable advocacy agency working effectively on behalf of the health and

safety of the sex work industry in India. International exposure is often the

best method to get answers to the questions of just why such a campaign did

begin. Often it is at the whim of a senior officer in a police precinct who is

trying to create some diversions for his officers and the otherwise mundane

police work duties.

If such officers are required to explain and justify the reasons for taking such

action at every level senior to them they will create a monster of paper work

and justification and are more than likely to pull back again when the heat is

turned on. Some hardship stories are good to use in representations to CM's and

Police Inspectors and also the India Express is always looking for human

interest stories as well.

I hope you will be able to share more with me.

I will soon head off to Africa for some weeks out of Mumbai but when I return I

would hope to be able to hear some progressive reports.

Geoffrey

E-mail: <gheaviside@...>