Sex Workers and HIV Prevention in Fiji - after the Fiji Crimes Decree ...

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information,interviewees were informed specifically that:‘At the beginning of last year a new Crimes Decree cameinto effect. It has a section that deals with prostitutionlaw’. They were then asked ‘Have you heard about that?’.If they answered that they were aware of the Decree, theywere asked what it meant to them. No other informationabout the Crimes Decree was provided to any sexworker interviewees before or during the interview. Someparticipants requested more information on any changesto the law and after the interview they were directed tolook at Part 13 of the Decree.of their members, and to forward their experiences asorganisations since February 2010.Along with representatives of sex worker organisations,NGO staff and a program manager, other key informantsincluded sexual health clinicians and members of thepolice force. These consultations provided informationabout interactions with, and services or programsprovided to or for sex workers.Interview data analysisIndividual interview transcripts were read andsummarised as cases. Dominant themes and issueswere identified, and transcript data was then coded,compiled, aggregated and summarised. Individualtranscripts were read closely and considered as wholestories. These readings afforded an overview of theinterviews, both as individual narratives and collectively.The first coding of transcript data was topic driven,and further thematic code lists were generated, basedon repeated and close readings. Coded data wasaggregated into code files that were again generalisedand summarised. The analysis aimed to identify range,pattern and consistencies and points of difference withinthese topical and thematic data groups.Sex WoRKeRS and HIV PreveNTIon in Fiji - After The Fiji Crimes Decree 2009This report is based on data coded under the topicsof: conditions under which sex work occurs; risks andconsequences of conducting sex work; condom accessand use; condom negotiation with clients; and access toHIV prevention and sexual health services. Knowledgeof the law appeared as a subsequent topic code. Themajor thematic code of interest to this report was thatof change. Sub topics within that thematic strand werethose of police response, military response, NGOresponse, client practice, and sex worker practice. Asecond and major theme emerging from the data wasthat of the human and legal rights of sex workers.Other key informantsThe service provider organisations identified by sexworkers and canvassed in 2009 were again consultedin order to ascertain their organisational response tothe Decree, along with any resultant changes to theway they deliver services or accommodate sex workerorganisations.Three sex worker organisations: a national sex workernetwork; a Suva-based female sex worker supportgroup; and a Lautoka-based network of sex workers,were contacted and invited to represent the experiences12
ResultsThe resultant sex worker interview sample was madeup of: 13 female and 12 transgender sex workers agedbetween 18 and 47 years. This included 5 sex workerswho had been apprehended or detained by military in theperiod since February 2010.Most of the sex workers we interviewed had experiencedchanges to their work and lives since the introduction ofthe Crimes Decree in February 2010. These changesranged from reduced access to condoms and loss ofNGO services and support, through to fear of torture.In the course of the interviews most interviewees referredto the fact that buying sex had been newly criminalised,although they did not always know this was related tothe Crimes Decree. Indeed, very few sex workers weinterviewed had any detailed or accurate knowledgeabout the Crimes Decree or its implications for sexwork. The views of those who expressed opinions aboutwhat the Decree meant for them largely concurred withnewspaper representations. In other cases the sexworkers’ opinions were forged by harrowing personalexperience of changed enforcement practices, or byknowledge of what had happened to others. For example,when she was asked what her understanding of theCrimes Decree was, Lynette replied:It is when the military takes over and there is nogovernment and there’s no human rights.In saying this, Lynette links the Decree with a state inwhich normal rules and rights are absent; a summationof her recent personal experience of treatment foroffences of soliciting. While her statement does not showany understanding of what the Crimes Decree states, itdescribes the reality for Lynette and others like her whohave experienced the military detentions of sex workers.These experiences will be described in the followingsections.It was evident that, like Lynette, most sex workers hadvery little knowledge of what the document called theCrimes Decree contained in relation to sex work. It is alsothe case that sex workers do not need to be aware of theworkings of the justice system for it to affect them, theirworking conditions and their access to HIV preventionservices and resources.The police responseThe original Risky Business Fiji report indicated thatpolice crackdowns and street ‘clean-ups’ took placeat intervals, and that these efforts tended to chase sexworkers off the streets for a few nights before workresumed as usual. Sometimes sex workers who hadbeen picked up off the streets were held in police cellsovernight to be released in the morning without charge.In between times, police responses to sex workers weremixed, with some evidence of the actions of corrupt andabusive individuals, but with most police simply movingsex workers on and attempting to send them home.Police were clearly aware of the main areas where sexwork occurred.This most recent data show that at times there is clearlysome good feeling between police and sex workers:evidence of value of past liaison work. Numerous sexworkers said they understood that police were just ‘doingtheir job too’, and at least some members of the policeforce seemed to have adopted an approach of harmminimisation. However, one of the community-based sexworker organisations reported that:There have been changes in the interactionsbetween the women SWs and the police sinceFebruary 2010. There is increased presence ofpolice around the well-known areas that sex workersfrequent especially at night and police are beingmore upfront and more aggressive when theyapproach sex workers in nightclubs, the street, andmotels. This is more evident in Nadi than in Suva.There have been few court cases arising from chargeslaid against sex workers since the Decree came intoforce. However, there has been some policing activity.Two transgender persons were arrested while walkingdown the road in Ba. These were the first charges laidunder Section 231. One of the sex workers was wantedby police for another offence. The defendants deny thatthey were soliciting and claim that they were simplywalking down the road, making their way to a kavasession at a friend’s house. While the defendants havebeen summonsed to court a number of times over thepast year, their cases had still not been tried at the time ofwriting. As well, a Suva sex worker has pleaded guilty tocharges of soliciting.Sex WoRKeRS and HIV PreveNTIon in Fiji - After The Fiji Crimes Decree 200913
Page 1 and 2: Sex Workers and HIVPrevention in Fi
Page 3 and 4: Table of CONTENTSINTRODUCTION......
Page 5 and 6: iNTRODUCTIONOn 1 February 2010, the
Page 7 and 8: The Risky Business: Sex Work and HI
Page 9 and 10: Media representation of sex workund
Page 11: Arrest and prosecution dataIntervie
Page 15 and 16: and tell them to go home, the sex w
Page 17 and 18: Monday morning we were taken for th
Page 19 and 20: Before, when there was no Crime Dec
Page 21 and 22: From the sex workers’ point of vi
Page 23 and 24: Sex worker communityThe targeting a
Page 25 and 26: iskier for them. This may make the
Page 27 and 28: References†. Harcourt C, Egger S
Page 32: International HIV Research GroupSam

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