SEX WORK AND THE LAW - HIV/AIDS Data Hub

Of a sample of 38 ‘floating’ sex workers drawn from four cities (Jessore, Chittagong, Dhaka,
Sylhet), 52.6 percent reported police beatings, 18.4 percent reported police extortion, 2.6
percent reported rape by police, and 52.6 percent reported random arrest. 85
There are reports of sexual assaults of sex workers by police, often without use of a
condom. 86 According to Jenkins, the police are generally paid off with sex and money to
allow sex workers to work:
Bangladesh
Most street sex workers are independent, in the sense that they decide to work or not,
as they need. A minority is bonded to a dalal or pimp, but many make use of local men
on the streets, e.g., rickshaw pullers, hotel boys, guards, tea-shop owners, and others,
to find them clients and then pay them with cash or sex for doing so. In addition,
some women have men who serve as their protectors; they may find them clients
and, when needed, help them avoid the police or stand as their husbands to seek
their release from police custody. Some sex workers even have ‘station husbands’,
particular policemen who look after them in exchange for sex. 87
The role of the police in relation to brothels has been described as follows:
The police play an important role in the brothel. The local thana police register the
name and age of each sex worker and therefore authorize all the new entries. In this
process, habilders (patrolling low rank police officers) play a pivotal role because
they are also in charge of the thana register as well as public order inside the brothel.
They are involved in trafficking and they receive protection money for each new girl.
Furthermore they exploit the sex workers with a daily system of bribery payment. 88
A World Bank report described the power dynamics of the sex trade in different settings
(street, hotel or residence) as follows:
Across all settings of the sex trade, clients are the first layer of the power structure.
They can contact sex workers either directly through the organizers of the sex trade
or through dalals (pimps). The dalals are key persons who connect the sex workers
with their clients and take a percentage of their income...Although maximizing profit
is the main aim of dalal, they also play a supportive role for the sex workers. In the
residence based sex trade the madam/ sarderni /apa (generally senior females who
organize and operate the sex trade, many of whom are ex-sex workers and a few also
sell sex currently) generally rents a house and often introduce dalal as her husband.
...The most powerful group affecting the sex trade are local mastans (thugs) who
belong to gangs or to local political groups. They threaten the sex trade in all settings
if they are not paid money. The dalal, madam/sarderni/apa and sex workers maintain
good relations with the local mastans by paying them regularly. Generally, they are
paid by the sex workers in the street setting, hotel management in hotel settings and
dalal or madam/sarderni in residence settings. Often, in street settings, it is reported
that mastans force sex on street based sex workers without payment and mostly
without condoms.
The hotel management plays a significant role in the hotel based sex trade...Owners
maintain liaison with law enforcement, political leaders and local administration in
85 Terre des hommes (2005), op cit. p.79.
86 Terre des hommes (2005), op cit., pp.78, 93.
87 Jenkins (2000), Female sex worker HIV prevention projects: Lessons learnt from Papua New Guinea, India and
Bangladesh. Geneva: UNAIDS, p.96.
88 Terre des hommes (2005) op cit., p.vi.
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