Fight AIDS, not immorality

VALUE FOR MONEY

After two decades India is seeking to change its law relating to prostitution. This chance to shape a more civilised, less criminal and physically healthier society should not be missed. Shaping the law right is vital as control of AIDS is critically dependent on the way the sex trade functions.

Controversy and public debate over some of the proposed changes have temporarily stopped the amendment Bill from being introduced in Parliament. Sex workers today are partially organised and have taken to the streets to demand that they be heard. They pay the biggest price in the whole process but did not have a voice till lately. Today civil society organisations have come forward to add reason to a debate, which was earlier nonexistent or remained confined to society's elders, who presumably knew best.

The main concern of sex workers' associations is that the proposed changes in the law will push the trade even more underground than it is now. This will be calamitous for both the workers and public health. The trade needs to be made legal so that sex workers do not lead the life of bonded labour, have some rights, have a chance to give their children an education, and above all are co-opted to make safe sex mandatory so that the spread of AIDS is controlled.

A key campaigner has been the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, with members from Kolkata's red light areas, which has played a signal role in promoting safe and fair practices in the trade. Mrinal Dutta, senior technical adviser to the committee and himself the offspring of a sex worker, said, "We want discussion. We will come up with new ideas on what can be done. What is needed is a board which will regulate the trade of sex workers so as to make it fair, safe and above board."

He feels Durbar deserves to be heard because of what it has already done. An associate of his affirmed to me how the members have been able to put a virtual stop, in the areas where it holds sway, to the induction of minors into the trade. They have also succeeded in greatly promoting the use of condoms by getting their members to insist on this with clients. Lastly, their members now get to keep a far higher share of their earnings than was the case earlier.

The bane of the sex trade in India is that those who pay the highest personal price, the sex workers, usually get to keep (except where the likes of Durbar have become active) no more than a quarter of what the client pays. The rest is pocketed by the madam, pimp, landlord/brothel keeper and of course the police. Policemen often pay a premium to become thanedar of an area in which there is a red light district. Simultaneously, trafficing in women and forced induction of minors into the trade continue unabated.

Currently, prostitution itself is not illegal but soliciting or disorderly behaviour in public is. The law enforcers use it to extract whatever they can for themselves by threatening workers and customers with booking through imaginative use of legal provisions and threat of public exposure and humiliation.

What should the law do? Foremost, it should do everything conceivable to stop the induction of minors into the trade. It should be made very difficult and severely punishable to make a business out of bringing people into prostitution. This supply chain should be broken with every conceivable sanction. Also, the present sanction against public soliciting should continue.

But what the sex workers' associations are worried about are the changes in the law that will, on the one hand, remove sanctions against sex workers (they like this part of it) but, on the other hand, make it illegal for a client to seek the services of a sex worker. The latter brings things back to square one. Customers will be harassed and prostitution will go underground, bringing in all the exploitation and the health hazards.

Sex workers are also opposing the provision which makes it illegal for any landlord to rent out his premises to a sex worker. This also applies to hotel owners who rent rooms to sex workers. The consequence of this will be to drive brothels underground. In this atmosphere of illegality, sex workers will not be able to ask customers to use condoms or go away. They can only do that when there are many customers, unlikely when being a customer for sex is illegal.

Sex workers are also objecting to the provision that nobody above the age of 18 can live off the immoral earnings of a person. Children pursuing studies don't start earning at 18 these days. So a prostitute's son or daughter will have to stop studying at 18 and fend for himself or herself. By following the mother or becoming a pimp?

Durbar is particularly worried about the section which will allow virtually any police officer to raid a brothel. Currently, it is only officials attached to the cell under the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act who can do so. They fear that under the new dispensation there will be multiple raids, like any number of groups coming to collect chanda (subscriptions for public poojas).

Durbar says, "We know best where it hurts and what is practical. Don't change the law by talking to just a few NGOs and importing the odd international practice." The feeling among other NGOs is that once an adult enters the trade knowingly, she should be able function legally, albeit discreetly. The shadow of illegality drives things underground and makes it extremely difficult to stop exploitation and enforce health codes.