SEX WORK AND THE LAW - HIV/AIDS Data Hub

5. Targeting of sex workers reduced their ability to access ARV services.
6. The reduction in contacts reduced NGOs ability to identify trafficked people and
report traffickers.
A study by Maher and colleagues explored the implications of the changing nature of
the sex industry for HIV vulnerability after the enactment of the 2008 Trafficking Law. 385
Findings drew from analysis of interviews of 33 women engaged in sex work in Phnom
Penh. The study argued that strategies designed to address HIV among brothel-based
sex workers have not translated well to street and entertainment-based sex work venues.
Findings included:
Most women with experience working in brothels felt that having a manager brought
benefits in terms of personal safety through protection from violence and the police.
Street-based sex workers were more likely to report being targeted by police and
subjected to a range of abuses including extortion, forced sex and other violence, and
that policing impacted access to HIV services, including condoms and testing.
Transacting sex in environments such as guesthouses, where there is little or no oversight
in the form of peer or managerial support or protection, may increase vulnerability to HIV.
In response to the Trafficking Law and crackdowns, some sex workers rented private
accommodation, which was sometimes paid for by brothel owners. This adaptation,
as well as the shift from transacting sex on-site to guest-houses and hotels, “represents
a form of risk displacement from owners/managers to women”. 386
Entertainment-based sex workers reported infrequent problems with the police.
Progress towards a rights-based approach to sex work
Interviews conducted in 2011 with sex workers’ networks indicated that incidents
involving police abuses had become rare compared to previous years. Some incidents still
occur involving entertainment workers who use massage parlors as an entry point and
sex workers who solicit clients from public places such as streets and parks.
Two important programme and policy developments (described in more detail at 4.2.3)
have been:
The Continuum of Prevention to Care and Treatment for Female Entertainment
Workers (followed by a similar model for MSM and transgender people); and
the Most At Risk Population Community Partnership Initiative (MCPI) which aims to
provide ‘safe-space’ and a supportive environment through teams operating at the
local level made up of community representatives (sex workers, MSM, transgender
people, people who use drugs), local authorities, law enforcement officials, health and
paralegal workers and local service NGOs for the delivery of HIV and related services.
Prior to 2008, the Government’s 100% condom use policy and associated programme
contributed to an increase in condom use in the organized sex industry and a sharp
decrease in STI and HIV prevalence among sex workers and their clients. The Government
recognized that the 2008 police crackdown interfered with the operation of 100% CUP.
385 Maher L., Mooney-Somers J., Phlong P. et al (2011) Selling sex in unsafe spaces: Sex work risk
environments in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Harm Reduction Journal 2011, 8:30.
386 Ibid.
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