HIV/AIDS-INDIA: Sex Workers Take On U.S. Holier-Than-Thou Bill

By Sujoy Dhar Reprint | | Print |

Sujoy Dhar

KOLKATA, India, May 27 2005 (IPS) - A battle cry by thousands of sex workers in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal threatens to trigger a worldwide protest against the United States for passing a bill that requires groups receiving U.S. AIDS relief money to publicly condemn prostitution.

”When sex workers sneeze, George Bush freezes” is the vociferous slogan of a 65,000- strong sex workers’ body in West Bengal, which Friday sounded the bugle of protest.

Supporters of the anti-prostitution bill say the only way to deal with AIDS in the long run is to eliminate the global sex trade.

But many workers with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) say the short-term damage of not providing sex trade workers with condoms and health services isn’t worth it. And they’re willing to forego sizable funds to stay firm on this conviction.

Earlier this month Brazil, unwilling to accept the U.S. anti-prostitute terms, turned down much needed money to fight AIDS – some 40 million U.S. dollars.

Believed to be Asia’s biggest sex workers’ body, Durbar Mahila Samanay Committee (DMSC), based in Kolkata, is planning to organise their counterparts in the U.S. and Europe against the bill.

DMSC, the apex body of sex workers in West Bengal, has a membership of about 65,000 and the success of the Sonagachi HIV/AIDS programme – in the city’s red light district – is the model for projects under the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has thrown in 200 million dollars to fight the killer disease in six Indian states.

”Sonagachi’s work has received strong positive evaluations from both UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) and the World Bank, and has been cited by UNAIDS as a ‘best-practice’ model of working with women and men in prostitution,” said the New York- based Human Rights Watch in a letter on May 18 to U.S. President George W. Bush.

”These initiatives focus on promoting the fundamental human rights and health of persons working in prostitution, but do not equal the promotion of prostitution,” Human Rights Watch pointed out. ”Yet valuable programmes such as those run by Sonagachi and organisations like it are exactly the type threatened by current U.S. laws and policies.”

The University Institute Hall in north Kolkata’s College Square, where the DMSC’s third state conference is currently held, was teeming with women sex workers. ”There are about 3,500 here today and we all have resolved to put up a fight against any move to deny our rights,” said Gayen. The sex workers in the morning formed a human chain and walked hand in hand to the venue where speaker after speaker decried the U.S. policy.

”Under the anti-prostitution bill passed by the Bush administration, no funding is allowed for NGOs who are working to realise the sex workers’ rights and fight for their dignity,” said DMSC president Swapna Gayen. ”This would impact on the HIV/AIDS awareness programme, as health and workers’ rights are inter-related.”

The demand from the US administration, heavily influenced by the religious right, follows what is known as the ”global gag” – a ban on U.S. government funds to any foreign-based organisation that has links to abortion. This has resulted in the removal of millions of dollars of funding from family planning clinics worldwide.

The U.S. government is trying to withhold anti-HIV/AIDS funding unless both U.S. and foreign organisations adopt policies that explicitly oppose all forms of prostitution, rights activists said.

This requirement for foreign organisations was mandated by the 2003 Global AIDS Act and amendments in 2003 to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. The U.S. Department of Justice has now argued that U.S.-based organisations should also be bound by this requirement.

”The so-called ‘anti-prostitution pledge’ originally applied to foreign organisations. But in sweeping reinterpretation of the policy, the Bush administration is now requiring U.S.- based organisations to adopt this pledge. We oppose the application to both sets of groups,” said Human Rights Watch.

Penny Saunders, of the U.S.-based Network of Sex Work Projects, said any anti- prostitution declaration by anti-HIV/AIDS organisations targeting sex workers has the potential to alienate the very people these organizations seek to assist. ”The ‘anti- prostitution pledge’ makes it difficult or impossible to provide services or assistance to the people who are most at risk of HIV/AIDS.”

Adds DMSC advisor Dr. Smarajit Jana, ”The Bush administration has been anti-abortion and anti-gay. Now it is targetting the sex workers.”

”Prostitution is as old as civilization and it cannot be wiped out. Such efforts would only help people to indulge in clandestine acitivity and set the clock back on the fight against HIV/AIDS,” she told IPS.

The state conference also witnessed a reiteration of the sex workers’ decade-old demand for legalisation on their trade and rights.

According to Jana, since sex workers fulfil an important social need there is no reason why it should not be seen as a profession.

”Under the patriarchal system, there is always the need for sexual services outside the family. Sex workers provide that service,” she stressed.