Re: End of move to criminalize sex work..?

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum

/message/9998

I agree with Dr. Sunitha Krishnan that grass root realities should be one of the

criteria for supporting any cause. But when she says " a large percentage of them

are there due to force or deception " it seems a bit of generalization.

I wish to reiterate here that except for traffickers and their associates,

everyone else is against trafficking in any form whatsoever; especially those

who support right to sex work and rights of sex workers. Maybe as people

conflate sex work and trafficking, there seems a tendency to conflate advocates

of sex workers' rights and traffickers too!

It is a fact that women in the lower rungs of the social ladder have fewer

options. It is not a case of " optionlessness " . It is a case of the woman

choosing the best option that presents itself out of several. Many of these

women tell and re-tell stories of sexual harassment in everything they tried

before opting for sex work. Maybe they should have survived as agricultural

laborers, or construction site workers or workers laying highways – providing

free sex to their paymasters in silent suffering….

The aspect of sex work being demeaning to body or self is a very subjective

perspective and we also need to understand that there are so many forms of

labour that in that sense is demeaning to body and self. Like working long hours

in a mine, in fields under hot sun, in brick kilns, making concrete roads,

pouring tar so we can zoom on shining highways, being a maid servant in several

households, etc., nobody seems to be taking up the cause of these hapless

workers who toil as hard and have so few work options. It is the moral angle to

sex that provides the aspect of " demeaning " . I fully agree and advocate for

better working conditions to people in all unorganized sectors.

Coming to the proposed amendments, suddenly it is felt we " should understand it

in its entirety and the spirit behind it " . What happened to the grass root

realities? The grass root reality, as expressed by hundreds of sex workers is

that they do not want the proposed amendments. If there is an amendment that

penalizes clients with a whopping Rs.20,000/- the first time he is caught coming

out of a brothel after sex with a trafficked victim (how we judge this is

anybody's guess), the situation is ripe for corrupt police officers. No more

small amounts for them – they will want a hefty sum now as otherwise the fine

could be as large as Rs. 20,000/- The grass root reality as articulated by sex

workers is that if brothel owners are arrested for renting premises, they would

suddenly become shelterless. That if persons above the age of 18 are arrested

for living off their earnings, then their children would be arrested midway

through college and so

will their aged parents (leave alone the right of women in sex work to decide

how they wish to spend their money!). There are a whole slew of other objections

raised by sex workers against the proposed amendments to the ITPA. But what is

unacceptable is the way the WCD brushed aside all recommendations made by the

parliamentary standing committee as though it were nothing.

The link between sex work and trafficking is limited to the extent that a

percentage of persons are trafficked into sex work. The link stops there. It is

interesting to know from women who have been trafficked that over a period of

time, they regain control and agency over their lives and to me that is a very

important fact applicable to all people who have been subjected to any form of

trafficking. A crime like trafficking takes place in a person's life, but the

person does not die of it, just regains control over life once again. Over time.

It is not to downplay the heinous crime perpetrated, but to understand it is not

the end of life for many.

It is sad that the anti-trafficking " lobby " considers itself as a minority. I

beg to differ. All of us who work with sex workers, including majority of sex

workers themselves are against trafficking. The difference is only in the

conflation of sex work and trafficking that seems to be the barrier. If we can

obliterate it, we will realize we are on the same side, really.

To me, sex work per se is not violence against women, but there is a lot of

violence in sex work and this needs to be addressed collectively – by sex

workers, by those who advocate for their rights and those who are affronted by

the very term " sex work " . As for the amendments - they may go out of the window.

In solidarity

Sreeram

e-mail: <setlurs01@...>

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

http://health. groups.. com/group/ / message/9998

 

Decriminalization of sex work needs to be ensured ,inter alia,by repealment of

the archaic laws.

 

Human behavior is indeed an interesting interplay of the extant moral, ethical,

legal and societal norms asserted and overzealously guarded by the powers that

be.

 

The institutions of family, society and the administrative and legal

infrastructure go to any extents to regulate the individualâ's behavior by

dictating terms to compel him/her to conform to a rigid pattern of behaviour on

the pretext of checking deviant behavior in the interest of the person and the

society at large.

 

It is ironical that the law of the land which has to putatively serve the cause

of benefiting all and promoting the larger interest of the society , is more

often than not at loggerheads with the endeavours for the prevention of

acquisition of sexually transmitted infections and the containment of HIV/AIDS.

 

As a programme manager for AIDS control in an Indian state for more than

eight years,  post graduate in human rights law and an activist for furthering

the rights of the marginalized communities including the people living with HIV

(PLHIV), I have been bewildered on several occasions to observe the two arms of

the governmental agencies working at cross purposes- both purportedly working as

per the law of the land.

One agency works for promotion of health and prevention of STI/RTI/HIV/AIDS in

such marginalized groups whereas the other arm of the same government may

disrupt the rapport with these communities by conducting thoughtless raids and

uncalled for arrests compelling the entire sex work to go underground and start

operating in a clandestine manner with severing of all linkages and support for

health care delivery and preventive efforts.

 

The response to the pandemic of HIV/AIDS necessitates working specifically with

the core transmitter groups in those geographical areas where the epidemic is

still concentrated and is predominantly limited to the so called high risk

behavior groups.

 

It is ironical that these groups are ˜criminalized populations™ in most of the

countries .

 

There are organized /institutionalized socio-cultural barriers and deterrents

which impede these populations from reaching and using the health delivery or

justice delivery services.

These populations are hindered in terms of access to information, prevention,

care, support and treatment because of the ambivalent approach of the

governmental functionaries and the society at large.

The operations are very often at loggerheads with the other department/agency.

 

Such provisions and actions thereon compel the CSWs, MSM and IDUs to be driven

away from the HIV services besides the specific instances of discrimination and

even violence at the hands of law enforcing agency with practically no

safeguarding of rights from the judicial infrastructure.

 

The concerned laws viz, Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, Section 377 of Indian

Penal Code and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances(NDPS) Act tend to

criminalize the CSW,MSM and IDU populations respectively thereby obstructing any

prevention, care support and treatment interventions with them.

 

The assertion of basic rights of working in accordance with one’s personal

behavioral orientation and choice of livelihood options are also severely

hindered by the archaic pieces of legislation which are at best the vestiges of

the colonial past.

 

Most of such obsolete laws have already been repealed /supplanted by more

progressive and rights based provisions in most of the other countries.

 

All the stakeholders must work in complete synergy to ensure decriminalization

of the concerned community/profession of sex work.

 

The need of the hour is writ large as the writing on the wall, viz, it is high

time we repeal the archaic laws and facilitate concerted collective action for

the containment of HIV/AIDS through a mainstreamed and multi-sectoral response

which is a must for this gigantic developmental challenge.

 

Appropriate advocacy, communication and social mobilization at all the levels in

tandem through the myriad stakeholders are strongly recommended for the same.

 

With best wishes,

 

Dr.Rajesh Gopal.

Rajesh Gopal <dr_rajeshg@...>