SEX WORK AND THE LAW - HIV/AIDS Data Hub

young, poorly educated Khmou women providing sexual services in entertainment
places. 429
Thatsaphone conducted a survey of 16 female workers at beer shops in Vientiane. The sex
workers reported that police sometimes asked for sex without payment, threatened and
verbally abused them. 430
In addition to women and girls providing sexual services in entertainment establishments,
there is also a subpopulation of transgender (kathoey) sex workers. 431
Doussantousse and colleagues conducted a study of sexual service providers in 2007-
2008. This study involved 101 women from 12 different ethnicities and 16 provinces who
worked in beer shops that provided sexual services to men. In relation to Bokeo Province,
the study found that respondents were not pressured to go with clients against their will,
unless the clients were police (uniformed people). 432 In Sekong Province, the study found
that identification papers are an issue for sex workers living away from their province of
origin:
Respondents who have arrived from another province have to pay the police (local
authorities) a monthly residence tax of 50,000 kip. Two respondents reported having
to pay 100,000 kip because they had no papers. In the past, one respondent related,
the mother could arrange the papers, but these days the papers must be issued in the
district of birth. This respondent preferred to pay twice the usual rate for not having
papers, as officials write ‘sao bolikan’ on the papers; in this way the SS’s family will find
out what she does for a living. 433
Sene-Asa describes difficulties faced by sex workers who lack local residency permits: 434
Certain [garment girls in prostitution] mentioned experiencing difficulties with the
village authorities as they did not have the correct papers to live there. For instance,
for the special events that mark the National Day—national meetings, international
meetings—the village authorities check in every household and in beer shops. Some
[garment girls in prostitution] in beer bars are fined or detained in the village office if
they did not have the permit papers.
The Ministry of Health acknowledges that there are a growing number of sex workers.
Condom promotion to sex workers and their clients is a priority of the Ministry. The
Ministry piloted a 100% CUP site in 2003 and is scaling up the programme. The programme
works with provincial administrative and health authorities, governors, the police, sex
workers, and the owners and managers of sex establishments in each province. In a 2008
review, consultants to UNFPA found that there was a lack of clear implementing rules and
regulations for condom programming. Regulations on the access to STI services of mobile
population groups are in place but these did not apply to sex workers.
429 Doussantousse S. (2011) An expanding sexual economy along National Route 3 in Luang Namtha
Province, Lao PDR. Cult Health Sex:13, S2, S279-291.
430 Thatsaphone S. (2006) Sexual Violence Against Service Women in Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR (Thesis),
Mahidol University, p.78.
431 Doussantousse S., Keovongchith B. Male Sexual Health: Kathoeys in the Lao PDR, South East Asia - Exploring
a gender minority, Canberra: Australian National University Workshop paper.
432 Doussantousse S. (2008) Why you? Qualitative survey on sexual service providers in five provinces of Lao
PDR: Bokeo, Luang Namtha, Savannakhet, Sekong, Champassak. Norwegian Church Aid, Unpublished report.,
p.39.
433 Ibid., p.57.
434 Sene-Asa O. (2007) The transition of garment factory girls into prostitution in Lao, Geneva: Gradute
Institute of Development Studies.
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