Proposed amendments to ITPA

[Guest guest]

Dear All

The proposed amendments to the The Immoral Traffic (Prevention)Amendment Bill,

2006 (IT(P)A) comes in the format of good news and bad news. The good news is

that the government even thought it fit to overhaul the IT(P)A at all. The rest

is bad news.

That sex workers despite being in the oldest profession came under societal

focus only due to the break of the HIV pandemic, is stating the obvious. In a

bid to prevent the spread of the virus into the general population, there have

been multi-fold interventions nitiated with differing strategies all with the

same intent viz., to veer sex workers away from their means of livelihood – sex

work. The simple solution to stem the transmission through unsafe sexual route

seems to be “no sex work, no HIV”. From addressing vulnerability of sex workers

to HIV we have digressed to addressing vulnerability of women to sex work.

The proposed amendment to arrest clients in brothels has crushing fallouts,

adversely impacting the lives of millions of sex workers.

To the general public the word “brothel” may mean only structures like those in

Mumbai and Kolkata and in lesser conspicuous settings elsewhere in the country.

But the definition of a brothel as per the law is any premises where more than

one woman practices sex work. So it is incorrect to imagine the amendment

affects only those living in these brothels as it would cover all those

practicing in lodges, safe houses etc.

All said and done, the intention to arrest clients who visit brothels basically

impinges the right to livelihood of millions of women in sex work and not just

of those who live in “conventionally” understood “brothels”.

The HIV prevention interventions have started creating awareness among partners

and clients of sex workers, apart from treating them for STIs and encouraging

them to adapt methods to reduce their risk to HIV. This is seen to have a

positive effect with men increasingly willing to follow safe sex practices, and

is perceptible in the increased condoms usage. By arresting the clients, not

only will sex work go underground making it difficult for women to access

services, many men will also lose out on these services. The proposed amendment

becomes a positive disservice to the public at large.

It is also a well-known fact that mechanisms have been well built-in to control

the sexuality of women to an extent that it is shameful for her even to express

it. By carrying out these amendments, the Government is also violating the right

to pleasure which in an adult consensual relationship is a right of every

individual be it for ash, in kind or within marriage.

At a stage when sex workers are getting mobilized through investment of large

investments and building of capacities to address structural barriers, the

process of empowering them to address violence, violations of rights and to

negotiate for safe sex takes a beating thanks to the proposed amendments. If we

do not diffuse the HIV nuke through community involvement and community

ownership of processes (not just projects), humankind will be fighting the next

war with spears, bows and arrows.

With “grave” concern

Sreeram

Sreeram Varadadesikan

e-mail: <setlurs01@...>