sexual and reproductive health

'An aging world: 2008' is a report that provides detailed information on life expectancy, health, disability, gender balance, marital status, living arrangements, education and literacy, labour force participation and retirement and pensions among older people around the world.

The report notes that while developed nations have relatively high proportions of people 65 and older, the most rapid increases in the older population are in the developing world. The current rate of growth of the older population in developing countries is more than double that in developed countries. It also states that as of 2008, 62 percent of the world’s people 65 and older live in developing countries. By 2040, today’s developing countries are likely to be home to more than 1 billion people 65 and over, 76 percent of the projected world total

For more information, click here. 

Open Letter
The Honorable Premier Nomvula Mokonyane

For much of our history the vast majority of South Africans suffered extreme injustice, deprivation and systematic human rights abuses. We need to continue to guard against the ways in which the abuses of the past live on. Sex workers have for too long become targets of hate crime, name calling and being shamed and violently abused, often by those supposed to protect their human rights and the law. As under apartheid when somebody found themselves hyper visible and invisible due to the color of their skin and subject to derogatory stereotypes ; sex workers today find themselves subjected to very similar acts of prejudice, harassment, stigmatisation and violence.

Being a sex worker in Africa is not a matter of morality or even sexual expression, in much the same way that being black under apartheid was not a matter of pigmentation but a reflection of a mental attitude, state of consciousness, a way to emancipate yourself and fight against all forces that marks you out as a subservient being without access to basic life enriching resources. Being a sex worker is to hold your head high in defiance rather than willingly surrender to the crushing effects of poverty. It is to say, in most situations:

"As a mother, as an ordinary poor woman, I enter the sex industry for economic reasons so as to put food onto the table to feed my children. I am poor but I will survive and will not let my children die. The sex industry is one of the few options open to me. Even if my choice is constrained, it is a rational choice and survival strategy even if it creates difficulties in other respects, like working under exploitative conditions and risking human rights violations. I deserve to have my choice respected."

Your frank talk last week reminded me of Biko and the time period in our history when those fighting for the rights of the oppressed become lone voices in the darkness and human rights abuse was the order of the day. Biko spoke of liberation as both an act of claiming land and legal rights but also an act of psychological emancipation from the chains of the mind where by people internalized the prejudices of the oppressor and then oppresses others the way they have been oppressed. After years and years of abuse of sex workers we at last have a voice of reason and compassion from somebody in a position of power. It is significant that this voice comes from a woman who clearly knows and understands the struggle of those mothers trying to feed their children, something men struggle to understand. Perhaps it takes a woman to see beyond the hype, sensationalising and stereotyping of sex workers - to see the human face of the sex worker.

In the face of brutal abuse and stigmatisation your recognition of the humanity of our fellow sisters and brothers means a huge amount. We salute you for this; even though we do not agree on how best to regulate the industry – we argue for decriminalisation. You have opened the debate up in a humane and pragmatic way. Yes, it is imperative to stop criminals capitalising upon and exploiting sex workers, a situation that prevails as long as sex work is not regulated. You are correct that we cannot wait until 2010. As long as sex work is illegal criminals will thrive and use this to their advantage. Sex workers will not be able to report situations where they observe trafficking and children selling sex.

We can apply the words of President Barack Obama when he said that the debates around abortion will not go away. Similarly the debates around sex work is necessary and important. We will never get anywhere unless we stop reducing those with differing views to caricature and stop demonising one another. The debate on sex work is extremely complex but we must be able to deal with things that make us uncomfortable.

We thank you for you open mind, passion and concern to protect the human rights of sex workers and ensure that criminals do not capitalise upon the situation. A "conducive" environment needs to be created were sex workers can work in safety, pay their taxes and exist as citizens.

We salute you for not only raising the debate, but also having the courage to propose solutions.

Eric Harper
Director SWEAT

Tel: 27 21 448 7875
Fax: 27 21 448 5857
E-mail: richie.september@sweat.org.za

Community House
41 Salt River Rd
Salt River
7915
Cape Town

As the 2010 FIFA World Cup approaches and anticipation increases across the globe, a variety of issues and challenges related to the event have emerged which demand the attention of decision-makers. One such issue is that of sex workers and their rights during the World Cup.

The increase in tourism that the World Cup will bring to South Africa inevitably implies a correlated increased interest in the sex industry. Sex workers across the country have rallied for their work to be decriminalised for a long time; while activists have demanded the protection of sex workers’ rights. Decision-makers have been at a loss about how to handle the sex industry in South Africa and neighbouring countries during and after the World Cup. The rift between the human rights paradigm, the South African Constitution, and Bill of Rights on the one hand, and the conservative religious community’s stance against sex work on the other, is growing. The complexities surrounding this will be compounded as thousands of World Cup supporters plan to descend on South Africa next year.

This month’s newsletter provides a brief overview of the problems associated with the sex trade, and argues that conservative stances toward sex work, as well as the Government’s reluctance to protect the rights of sex workers as citizens of the country, are hindering the development of solutions to the dilemma of women’s rights, poverty and HIV and AIDS.

The sex worker as a vulnerable citizen

Sex workers from 10 African countries met in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, South Africa, early in February to discuss their needs and experiences at the first ever Africa-led sex worker conference . A woman from Uganda commented during the conference that sex workers are “treated like dogs”. Most of the participants were able to relate to her story. They cited experiences of being exploited by police officers, stigmatised and humiliated by the health workers and abused by clients. Despite these common experiences, the fact that their trade is illegal means that they have no access to legal protection against the human rights abuses they endure.

The Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) is a non-profit organisation that has been working since 1994 to understand the dynamics of the sex work industry and to advocate for the decriminalisation of sex work, based on concrete research results. SWEAT found that the stigmatisation of sex workers is a significant barrier to their seeking support, and that it in fact facilitates exploitation of sex workers. Due to the fact that the sex trade is not regulated and monitored, sex workers are exploited by both their clients and their employers. Clients often insist on unprotected sex and subject the sex workers to violence, while employers unashamedly take large cuts of the women’s earnings. The fact that many sex workers keep their jobs secret in an effort to avoid stigmatisation means that they are vulnerable to blackmail and other forms of exploitation by the parties they deal with. Sadly, the police force is often one of these parties.

SWEAT recommends that the sex trade be decriminalised as this would enable sex workers to be more open about their work and to seek help and support when needed. It would also be easier to deal with exploitation and violence against sex workers if they enjoy the same protection as other vulnerable workers. It is unfair to subject sex workers to such ghastly working conditions on the grounds that their work is immoral and sinful. The demand for sex work will always exist, and those forced to resort to sex work are punished in the worst way – by having their vulnerability exposed and exploited in ways that other citizens are protected against.

Decriminalisation and legalisation of sex work

Jackie Selebi, the suspended South African National Police Commissioner, suggested recently that sex work and public drinking be legalised for the duration of the FIFA World Cup in the country. Henry Trotter , author of Sugargirls and Seamen, and expert on the sex trade, argues that Selebi and his supporters’ proposal to legalise sex work is not based on the desire to protect sex workers, but to provide legal pleasure to “foreign sex-buying men” – a rationale that “reinforces their subordination to male desire”. Trotter further points out that the proposal neglects to clarify what the impact of such legalisation would be on the sex workers themselves. Legalising sex work for a limited period furthermore is a clear indicator that the interests and protection of sex workers themselves is very low on the government’s priority list, unlike the interests and pleasure of foreigners, who presumably will be allowed to do as they like with these vulnerable women.

A distinction needs to be drawn between ‘decriminalisation’ and ‘legalisation’ of sex work. According to Trotter, legalisation implies government control and regulation, while decriminalisation of sex work implies that sex workers can work without legal interruption. Selebi’s concern is to save police the effort and time of having to arrest masses of sex-buying foreigners, but Shanaaz Parker, researcher on organised crime at the South African Institute for Security Studies (ISS), warned in 2008 that legalisation of sex work (even if only for the World Cup’s duration) will necessarily have to be regulated by police if a dramatic increase in human trafficking is to be avoided. She noted that human trafficking has increased in Germany and the Netherlands after sex work was legalised there. Parker emphasised that new legislation will have to be drawn up very strategically to distinguish the sex trade from human trafficking if sex work is going to be decriminalised or legalised. Sex work can thus not be decriminalised without the constant involvement and protection of police.

From a conservative perspective, most of the religious community in South Africa and elsewhere have managed to sustain the well-known discourse which posits sex work as morally wrong and therefore not to be considered for decriminalisation or legalisation. It seems those who commit such ‘morally wrong’ acts as sex work forfeit the rights guaranteed by the South African Constitution.

South African gender expert Lisa Vetten, currently at the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre in Johannesburg, recently told IRIN News that "Religious conservatism is a fabulous uniter in South Africa, so you get a broad section of society opposed to decriminalising prostitution on moralistic and feminist grounds. Prostitution is seen as morally wrong and exploitative of the girls involved, who are poor, get paid badly for what they do, and have often been sexually exploited at a young age. It is also predominately black girls who are involved, so to decriminalise it is seen by some as a way to exploit racially."

Ironically, ‘decriminalisation’ from this conservative viewpoint is believed to imply increased exploitation of girls, when in fact it should imply more protection of their rights as children, women and human beings. This will only be the case, however, if the government is willing to provide its proposed legalisation of the sex trade with the necessary police involvement and law enforcement -something that will both require and enforce a sharp decrease in the stigmatisation of sex workers.

What can be done?

SWEAT argues that criminalising the client, in addition to the criminalised status of the sex worker, is not the solution. In fact, the organisation provides several examples of the ways in which criminalisation of the client will actually worsen the sex worker’s already dire situation. In short, criminalising the client moves sex work to more dangerous geographical areas and reduces the sex worker’s ability to choose between ‘good’ and ‘abusive’ clients, due to the fact that the ‘good guys’ will be scared off by legislation, while the malicious and abusive ones remain as the sex worker’s client base.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have more difficulty reaching sex workers in dangerous areas, which means the sex worker will be deprived of the general assistance that NGOs provide to them. Criminalisation of the client will also increase the trafficking of women as sex slaves because they will be cut off from interaction with society. Trafficked women will almost only see those who obtain their ‘services’ (read: slavery) illegally – people who are least likely to report the fate of trafficked women1.

SWEAT believes that sex work needs to be decriminalised. "You cannot criminalise poverty, and the research carried out in Cape Town shows that most women and men get involved in the sex industry because they can earn between two and four times more money from selling sex than they can from other employment”, Vivienne Lalu, senior researcher at SWEAT, told IRIN News.

"If you want to stop prostitution, you have to deal with issues such as gender equity, appropriate exit programmes, moral stigma and the like, rather than driving it underground through ineffective laws”, she commented. "Instead of acting as a deterrent to involvement in prostitution, criminalising the act has led to high levels of exploitation and abuse of sex workers by police and those who run the brothels they work in”, she said.

In conclusion, the rights and lives of sex workers need to be considered by decision-makers not as manifestations of immorality and carriers of disease, but as equally important and valuable as the rights and lives of other citizens. The broad structural causes of the large number of women in the sex trade, namely poverty and unemployment, need to be seriously addressed by Governments across the globe. The fact that governments are allowing these citizen’s lives to be filled with exploitation and abuse is simply outrageous.

Charlotte Sutherland is the Research Manager: Gender Issues in Africa, at Consultancy Africa Intelligence. The March edition of the Gender Issues in Africa Newsletter is republished here with permission from Consultancy Africa Intelligence (CAI), a South African-based research and strategy firm with a focus on social, health, political, and economic happenings in Africa. For more information see http://www.consultancyafrica.com or http://www.ngopulse.org/press-release/consultancy-africa-intelligence. Alternatively, visit http://www.consultancyafrica.com/promo2 to take advantage of CAI’s free, no obligation, three-month trial to the company’s Standard Report Series.