SEX WORK AND THE LAW - HIV/AIDS Data Hub

The Local Government (Zila Parishad) Act, 1988 empowers local government authorities
(Zila Parishads) to make regulations for prevention of ‘prostitution and other social evils’. 69
Trafficking is addressed by the Women and Children Repression Act 2000. The Government
has drafted a Human Trafficking (Deterrence and Protection) Bill 2011 which will consolidate
laws relating to trafficking.
Male sex workers can be charged under the sodomy law of the Bangladesh Penal Code.
Certification of brothel-based sex workers
A system of quasi-legal brothels operates. It has been reported that there are at least 14
officially condoned brothel complexes in Bangladesh and 18 officially recognized redlight
districts, which are mostly located in either the commercial centre of cities or at river
junctions or seaports. Clusters of small rented rooms constitute a brothel. Brothels are
monitored by the local authority. 70 However, it should be noted that only 4,000 sex workers
live in brothels, a small proportion of the estimated 100,000 sex workers in Bangladesh.
Most sex workers operate either through hotels or in street settings.
Certification of sex workers involves endorsement of an affidavit. The affidavit does not
serve as a professional license and does not protect women’s social, economic, civil or
political rights. To obtain the certificate, the sex worker must swear an affidavit with her
name, village, age, religion, and nationality, stating she is unable to find other sources of
work, and affirming that the choice to become a sex worker is made freely and without
any duress, pressure or undue influence. After paying a fee to police, the woman is issued
a certificate by a magistrate and is permitted to work as a sex worker, provided she does
not solicit in public. Bonded sex workers (chukris) are registered through their madams.
According to a study conducted at a Madaripur brothel:
Often the chukris are under aged and the madams have to pay exorbitant amounts to
the local authority to have a false registration issued by the court magistrate which
claims that the girls entering the trade are at least 18 years old. 71
A researcher described the status of these brothels as follows:
Technically, their status is neither legal nor illegal...registration causes many sex
workers to think they have a license to sell sex, which is not true in a strictly legal
sense. However, as long as they remain in the brothel, continue to pay the police as
required, and do not solicit clients on the streets, they enjoy a considerable amount
of protection, compared to street-based sex workers. 72
This system has been criticized because certificates create two categories of sex workers,
those working legally and those working illegally.
Women and girls who cannot find employment in the legal brothels are forced to
work underground where they are vulnerable to increased violence, abuse, and police
harassment. [Sex workers] working legally in brothels are also vulnerable because
69 Section 58.
70 Islam A., Smyth R., (2010) The Economic Returns to Good Looks and Risky Sex in the Bangladesh Commercial
Sex Market Melbourne: Monash University Department of Economics, p.5.
71 Karim R., Selim N., Rashid S (2008), Sex workers and condom use - the political economy of HIV/AIDS in
Bangladesh: RED working paper number 4, Dhaka: BRAC, p.4.
72 Jenkins C. (1999) Resistance to condom use in a Bangladesh brothel, in Caldwell J. (ed.) Resistances to
Behavioural Change to Reduce HIV/AIDS Infection p.212. and see: Terre des hommes (2005) op cit
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