SEX WORK AND THE LAW - HIV/AIDS Data Hub

Violence also contributes to vulnerability. Rape and violence associated with arrest
drives sex workers into various forms of employment where they are less vulnerable
to police violence but in which none of the protections and rights of legal workers
apply. Unprotected sex, when it happens, occurs at the behest of police, clients or sex
venue bosses whose power over sex workers is entrenched by the law and by a justice
system that sex workers say is indifferent to justice and human rights… 477
Myanmar
Sex workers who do not have identification cards have difficulty accessing services,
travelling, securing accommodation and changing occupation. Citizenship is a
fraught issue in Myanmar where restrictions on the movement of people and state
scrutiny of all citizens are famously in place… 478
The law is ostensibly vigorously enforced. Police are clearly under instructions to
operate a zero tolerance policy towards brothels and street work and there is some
evidence that they have quotas of arrests to fill. There are times when sex workers
cannot bribe their way out of arrest but can get charges reduced by informing on
other sex workers or third parties leading to their arrest as well… 479
This facade of vigorous enforcement makes space for
widespread corruption simply because jail sentences of
one to five years for sex work place a powerful trump card
in the hands of poor and ill disciplined police. However, as
well as the corruption and bribes being an alternative to
incarceration in Myanmar[,] female and transgender sex
workers are also arrested and jailed. Only the frequency
of arrest and incarceration and the cost of extortion seem
to vary in sex workers’ stories.
Crucially, female sex workers’ only way of reducing, but
not eliminating, their chances of being arrested is to
sell sex in a venue controlled by others who provide
protection from police. This clearly creates a market for
sex business operators – or ‘pimps’ as they are often called.
Transgender sex workers do not have that option and are
therefore even more exposed to the cycle of extortion,
arrest and jail.
“UNPROTECTED SEX, WHEN
IT HAPPENS, OCCURS AT
THE BEHEST OF POLICE,
CLIENTS OR SEX VENUE
BOSSES WHOSE POWER
OVER SEX WORKERS IS
ENTRENCHED BY THE LAW
AND BY A JUSTICE SYSTEM
THAT SEX WORKERS SAY IS
INDIFFERENT TO JUSTICE
AND HUMAN RIGHTS.”
Law enforcement is linked to both lack of access to services and to lack of access to
safe workplaces.
Unprotected sex, when it happens, occurs at the behest of police, clients or sex venue
bosses whose power over sex workers is entrenched by the law and by a justice
system that sex workers say is indifferent to justice and human rights. 480
…Violence clearly emerged as routine and most sex workers experience it as a
constant threat. It also contributes to vulnerability in a range of direct and indirect
ways. For example rape presents a direct threat to all sex workers mental and physical
health. Fear of violence motivates street sex workers to spend less time on the street.
477 Overs C., Win K., Hawkins K., Mynt W., Shein W. (2011) op cit., p.6.
478 Ibid., p.6.
479 Ibid., p.30.
480 Ibid., p.30.
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