SEX WORK AND THE LAW - HIV/AIDS Data Hub

The government issued an Administrative Order in 2000 directing police not to use
condoms as evidence in prosecutions of sex workers. 474
6.6.2 Law enforcement practices
Sex work occurs in increasingly diverse settings. Law enforcement efforts have led to
closure of most brothels over the last decade and continue to target street-based work.
An independent team reported the following to the Ministry of Health in 2005:
The law and its enforcement greatly influence the organization of sex work. Over
recent years, the number of brothels has decreased and their operations are more
transient and clandestine, to avoid police action. As a result, there is an increasing
shift from brothel-based to indirect sex work, and most commercial sexual services
in Myanmar are now provided in informal settings such as karaoke bars, nightclubs,
hotels and guest-houses. Our impression is that most sex workers have chosen this
occupation, as part of their limited livelihood options. All types of sex workers are
extremely mobile, moving regularly between establishments and townships, and
frequently switching categories. This implies a relative freedom of movement across
geographical boundaries and across different sex work settings. This also signals some
ability to negotiate terms of contract with entertainment establishment owners.
We have not received reports that trafficking is a major issue in Myanmar, though
prostitution of under age girls is obviously practiced. 475
In 2008 it was reported that numerous brothels based in guesthouses were appearing
in Yangon. The police and local authorities license guesthouses. A licensed guesthouse
owner generally pays neighbourhood police annual ‘levies’ ranging from 300,000 kyat
($250) to 1 million kyat ($800). The money buys advance warnings from the local police if
a raid is planned by superior officers. 476
A study on the impact of law, policy and enforcement practices on sex work, which drew
from interviews conducted in Yangon, Mandalay and Pathein in 2011, made the following
observations:
Female and transgender sex workers in Myanmar are subject to extortion, arrest and
incarceration which is continual and systematic. Female sex workers can reduce their
chances of arrest by working in a venue for a boss who provides protection from
police but who may exploit or abuse them. Transgender sex workers do not have that
option and are therefore even more exposed to the cycle of extortion, arrest and jail.
Sex workers[’] HIV vulnerability is driven by lack of access to safe workplaces and lack
of access to services. All health care other than ARVs for HIV and TB antibiotics must
be paid for so poverty is a significant barrier to accessing services. It appears to have
replaced stigma as the main barrier to health services, although lack of confidentiality
remains an issue in government services. In this context the key legal barriers are the
laws and enforcement procedures that prevent sex workers from earning, retaining
and managing their money.
474 Order No.1048 (1/2000), issued by Police Brigadier Zaw Win, see: Khin Ninn Lwin (2010) Burmese sex
workers dare not carry condom, fear of arrest. http://moemaka.org/index.php/current/news-brief/81-news/451-
burmese-sex-workers-dare-not-carry-condom-fear-of-arrest.
475 Ministry of Health & WHO (2005), Review of the 100% Targeted Condom Promotion Programme in
Myanmar, p.12.
476 Aung Thet Wine, (2008) Sex and the (Burmese) City, The Irrawaddy, 16(7), July 2008.
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