From the SWANK and SWOP-NYC Listserv and from Melissa Hope Ditmore, Ph.D at Network for Sex Work Projects:
*** CALL TO ACTION *** ***** DISTRIBUTE WIDELY *****
PROTEST HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES OF SEX WORKERS IN CAMBODIA!
1:30 PM AT THE CAMBODIAN MISSION TO THE UN 327 E 50TH STREET NEAR SECOND AVENUE
HLM ATTENDEES LEAVE THE UN CAFÉ AT 1 PM
The Cambodian Government under the influence of the US has passed a law against sex work. Since March, sex workers have been rounded up in raids, arrested, detained, denied medical services, beaten and raped by police. At least three sex workers have died in police custody. Others are being denied life-saving medicines. THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!
Background:
Cambodian sex workers face severe raids from police: Preserving value of women or treat them with respect and dignity?
Each day for the last few weeks the local news has been flashing reports of more raids on sex workers in brothels in different areas in Phnom Penh, and some in the provinces. However, raids on sex workers don't only take place in Phnom Penh but a number of provinces such as Banteay Meanchey, Siem Reap, Kampong Chhang . The news paints a bad image of sex workers being the people who carry immoral behaviors around and destroy Cambodian beautiful values and tradition especially those of the women. The new law and the push from the US government that has driven these raids has a different approach though. It declares sex workers to be trafficked women and victims of sex slavery who want to be rescued from the sex industry. Those who do not, or who put up resistance, are criminalized by the new law as traffickers or as aiding trafficking.
Several sex workers have made clear reports to WNU about their experiences of being raided by the police, raped and held against their will without proper process. The facility in which the women are held is a prison with conditions and routine human rights abuses reminiscent of the Khmer Rouge regime. In reality, not only sex workers are being arrested but also beggars, homeless people, drug users, waste pickers, children who wander around in city at night time, alone or in a way that invites suspicion.
Phnom Penh based sex workers who were raided noticed that even though raids from police on brothel and freelance sex workers on the park has always been happening, the situation become more often and intensive since February 2008. In Phnom Penh, target areas include Wat Phnom, along the river front, on the famous park such as along the independent monument, Psar Chas, and in slum areas where very poor women live.
In the process the police and detention centre guards openly abuse the women. Their money, jewelery, and other valuables such as phones are routinely stolen by the police. Women are being subject to severe physical abuse, beatings and raped by the police. HIV Positive sex workers who are put into the center cannot have the regular ARVs they are required to take everyday. Some women have already fallen ill as a result of the abuses and the violence committed by the security guards. No care or medical treatment has been made available to any women for their injuries or medical conditions.
Some sex workers who are HIV positive have asked for release explaining that they cannot miss their ARV medication when they are in the center but their pleas have not been listened to. To be get out of the center, they have to pay money which is called compensation and promise that they are not to return to their work as sex workers again. These are direct quotes from sex workers who have been raided and put into the center :
"If you have the money with you while you are caught and forced to get on the van, you may manage to bribe the police and get off somewhere but it has to be done secretly. Once you reach the center and locked up in that center, you need to pay a lot more money to get out of it."
"Early March 2008, I was caught while working along the park. They brought me to the center outside of Phnom Penh, a place called Prey Speu center. I was locked up there for three days and only got out when my husband and my mother brought the money to get me out. They had to spend USD150 to get me out. We were forced to sell our hut, which worth 500USD, for USD150 in order to get me out. Now I rent a room for 5000R ( $ 1.50) for myself and my children."
Perhaps most shocking is the fact that almost every sex worker has been raped either by the police or when they are put into the center. If the police that conduct the raid demand sex from the girls and they refuse, they are beaten up and raped by them. Rape by security guards at the detention centre is routine. Some women do not to resist in order to avoid physical pain from the security guards while others, especially the one who being arrested for the first time, are reporting more severe violence and rape. Attempts by the women to get the rapists to use condoms are usually ignored and we can assume that many of the police and guards are HIV and transmitting the virus through these criminal activities.
One sex worker said, "I was put on the van and brought to the center but they told me not to get down when we reached the center. Four of them raped me one after another and then they allowed me to get away from the place. It was really horrible."
"If they asked you question or ask you to do something and you refuse, then you will be brought out and beaten by the security guard. The stick is big and I witnessed with my own eye other sex workers who were seriously beaten and always fainted. It is very cruel and terrible. So I remain silent because I don't want to die; I have my children at home."
Sex workers said they have never been told the reason they have been raided and put into this "detention" center. Police tell them they should not stand in public parks or that will destroy the beauty of Phnom Penh city.
"If they continue to raid on sex workers and we continue to run away, how will we make our living? How can we feed our children? Our work makes us survive from day to day."
This behavior taking place in a government facility makes a mockery of the progressive national HIV prevention program that the Cambodian government boasts they are being implementing through various international and local organizations. Similarly it does not fit well that the Cambodian government is on one hand attempting to bring to justice those who abused human rights during the Khmer Rouge while sanctioning or ignoring similar abuses taking place in the streets of Phnom Penh today.
WNU is calling on those organizations working on Human Rights and on HIV in Cambodia to join us in speaking out against the new law and the abuses that have resulted from it.
WNU and the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workersdemand that
Women's Network for Unity Cambodia
Melissa Hope Ditmore, Ph.D. Coordinator Network of Sex Work Projects rights@nswp.org, secretariat@nswp.org
P.O. Box 20853 New York, NY 10009 USA
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