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

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