SEX WORK AND THE LAW - HIV/AIDS Data Hub

…The community mobilization efforts…[collectivized] previously scattered,
segregated, stigmatized and marginalized sex workers…to fight a common adversary.
The…model of the [Crisis Intervention Team] enabled sex workers’ voices and
positions to be heard, perhaps for the first time, by a diverse group of local political
leaders, members of the judiciary, media representatives and senior police officials. 201
West Bengal: DMSC and the Sonagachi Project
In Kolkata the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) represents 65,000 sex
workers. DMSC’s political objectives include decriminalization of adult sex work,
recognition of sex work as a valid profession, and establishing sex workers’ right to selfdetermination.
In addition to peer education on HIV and related health issues, DMSC
has addressed sex workers’ economic rights by opening banks and credit facilities. The
rationale for a focus on financial security has been described as follows:
“BECAUSE OF THEIR
COMPROMISED LEGAL AS
WELL AS STIGMATISED
STATUS, SEX WORKERS
ARE OFTEN DENIED
ACCESS TO FINANCIAL
INSTITUTIONS, WHICH
REDUCES THEIR ABILITY
TO IMPROVE ECONOMIC
SUSTAINABILITY.”
Because of their compromised legal as well as stigmatised status, sex workers are
often denied access to financial institutions, which reduces their ability to improve
economic sustainability [and] their confidence and capability to enforce condom
use by their clients. Though there is no legislation barring sex workers from
accessing credit or insurance related facilities, in practice they do not and cannot
access any sort of support from financial institutions because they often fail to produce
documents of identity like rent receipt, electricity bill, etc., as a result of which they
had to depend primarily on the grey market e.g., unregistered money lenders who
exploit them in all possible means. To address this issue the sex workers of Sonagachi
under the leadership of DMSC developed their own cooperative
society in 1995, overcoming initial resistance. The
Co-operative Department to begin with did not allow them
to register on the excuse that they did not bear good moral
character, which was also a legal provision under the Cooperative
Act. Subsequently the clause was revoked…[so]
they could register their own co-operative society. At present
there are more than 16,000 members of this co-operative
who can save money and access credit whenever necessary.
This has helped them to improve their economic security.
They can negotiate confidently with their clients and can
refuse if they do not comply with condoms as they don’t have
to think for tomorrow’s money. This co-operative has also
been recognized by the Election Commissioner of India. Now
any member of the co-operative society just showing their
passbook of their bank can procure a Voter Identity Card - an
important document of citizenship. 202
The successes of DMSC and the Sonagachi Project 203 in Kolkata have been extensively
documented. There have been reductions in police raids, police harassment, exploitation
from local gangs and violence. Sex workers report that they are better able to negotiate
201 Ibid.
202 Jana, S. (2011) The economical empowerment of sex workers in West Bengal, India with the help of Usha
Multipurpose Co-operative Society Limited, presentation, Ms. Samaita Jana,10 th International Congress on AIDS in
Asia and the Pacific, Busan 2011.
203 A project known as SHIP (Sonagachi HIV/AIDS Intervention Project) operated from 1992-1995. In 1995,
with the expansion of the scope of SHIP and the creation by sex workers of their own organization, the project
adopted the name of Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee. The community based effort managed by DMSC
is now commonly referred to as the Sonagachi Project.
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