‘Sex workers must be protected’
Lifeline has endorsed legal experts’ calls to decriminalise prostitution, saying victims of crime have to be given equal legal rights
DECRIMINALISING sex work could lead to a 50% reduction of HIV/AIDS transmission among sex workers, their clients and sexual partners, according to leading Lifeline activist, Jan Thathiah.
Endorsing calls by legal experts Thatiah was among speakers at a public discussion at the University of Kwazulunatal (UKZN) which addressed “Sex work in South Africa: implications for sexual violence and public health”.
Thathiah is also the former head of the Sex Worker Programme for the Global Fund in the Ugu district and former head of the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) in ethekwini.
Convened by senior UKZN law lecturer, Advocate Victoria Balogun, the public discussion on sex workers follows a resolution at the ANC’S 54th elective conference in December last year to review laws governing prostitution.
Balogun told the gathering it was not yet clear whether the intention was to legalise or decriminalise prostitution.
Legalisation usually refers to a system of regulation and government control of sex work, whereas decriminalisation mean the removal of laws against adult prostitution.
Balogun said any proposed legislation should be viewed from a human rights perspective.
“We need to look beyond the stigma of prostitution. Even if we have moral objections and don’t agree with what they (sex workers) do, they need protection.
“The state needs to decide what kind of protection it is going to give them,” said Balogun.
In Wednesday’s public discussion, the term prostitution was contested.
Thatiah said the majority of sex workers considered the term demeaning and derogatory, invariably contributing to the stigma and alienation that sex workers face, along with exclusion from health, legal and social services.
Thathiah said Lifeline counselled as many as 3 000 sex workers in the Ugu (Kwazulunatal South Coast) district alone.
(In Durban, about 12 000 sex workers also have access to Lifeline’s trauma counselling, HIV testing and support.)
In the Ugu district, about 90% of the sex workers who come to us for antiretrovirals are Hiv-positive,” said Thathiah.
She said decriminalisation of sex work would help to reduce the high rate of HIV/ Aids among sex workers and restore the dignity of women involved in the sex trade.
“Sex workers’ rights are violated in enormous ways. They are often cheated out of money, refused food and basic necessities, and sometimes forced to take drugs,” said Thathiah.
Along with this came all the emotional and psychological abuse.
“They are called derogatory names, humiliated in public, threatened with loss of custody of children) and face isolation from family and friends,” said Thathiah.
She has supported calls by Sisonke (the National Sex Worker Movement of South Africa) and the Commission of Gender Equality that sex work be entirely decriminalised.
Another speaker, Portia Khubheka, a social worker at Open Door Crisis Centre based in Pinetown, said many sex workers had professional qualifications but had not been able to find jobs.
“But they have families to feed,” said Khubeka.
And in the sex industry, there is nothing like the “no we are not hiring” scenario.
“You get paid immediately,” said Khubeka.
She said decriminalising sex work would help create a safer and healthier environment for sex workers, many of whom ended up working on the streets, constantly exposed to violence and vulnerable to abuse at the hands of the police.
“These women need shelter to offer their services and get access to toiletries,” said Khubeka.
Dr Monique Emser, who advises the National Prosecuting Authority’s human trafficking task team agreed that sex workers deserved protection.
“Human rights apply to them too, but in South Africa they are excluded,” said Emser.
As a research associate at the University of Free State’s Department of Public Law, Emser has written the Lexisnexis SA Human Trafficking Awareness Index Reports and presented papers which explore the link between child trafficking and online sexual exploitation.
She said criminalisation left sex workers powerless, sometimes with no ability to even negotiate the use of condoms with clients, and with no recourse to justice in instances where they were abused and assaulted, sometimes by the police.
In the audience was a local sex worker, Nomusa Jali.
“We want legal status many reasons,” said Jali.
She said legalising sex work would also help prevent underage girls entering the sex trade industry.
“It is painful to see an under-age girl doing what I do, experiencing what we go through.” said Jali. “If people could see it from this point of view, they would understand why we want legalisation,” said Jali. – Additional reporting by Nabeelah Shaik.
Silekwa is a Rosebank College journalism graduate. This story forms part of a Roving Reporters training programme supported by the Human Elephant Foundation and the Sunday Tribune. for