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

DiscussionSex WoRKeRS and HIV PreveNTIon in Fiji - After The Fiji Crimes Decree 2009In summary, despite very few actual prosecutions of sexworkers, there have been a number of detrimental effectson HIV prevention in Fiji since the enactment of theCrimes Decree. These include:A heightened fear of brutality and harassment from lawenforcement agents has reduced sex worker opportunityfor negotiation with clients, including condom negotiation.Concern about the risk of HIV infection is displaced byother more immediate concerns.Some of the tactics used by soldiers who are ‘policing’sex work, such as the public exposure of sex workers’identities, has served to reduce the negotiating power ofa sector of sex workers. It has also effected changes tothe ways that sex work is conducted. Sex workers havebegun to operate more covertly and secretively. New sexworkers work from new sites, are more isolated and lessaccessible to peer, NGO and government HIV preventionservice providers.Data collected in 2009 showed that client resistancepresented a consistent barrier to condom use for sexworkers who were otherwise strongly motivated to usecondoms. The criminalisation of clients has reduced theability of sex workers to negotiate over the terms of thetransaction and has created more pressure to acceptclients’ terms. Criminalisation of clients has also put moreexperienced and identifiable sex workers at a competitivedisadvantage. Fear of losing a client is an incentive tocomply with a client’s wishes for sex without a condom.A culture of cooperation and sharing is one of thegreatest HIV prevention resources within the Fijiansex work community. 27 The targeting of ‘hotspots’, thedetentions and the mistreatment of those who havebeen identified in the past as sex workers divides thesex worker community, reducing the opportunity and themotivation for cooperation. New and young sex workersoperate from new sites and are not reached by theinformal condom distribution networks that remain.Sex worker support organisations and networks fostercooperation and often engage directly in HIV preventionactivities, including raising community and policeawareness. In the past, sex worker organisations haveimproved sex worker access to sexual health and testingservices. NGO nervousness as a result of the policingof sex workers and uncertainty about the implicationsof the Decree have resulted in the closure of programs,withdrawal of support and services, and the cessationof information and HIV prevention workshops for sexworkers.Sex worker sense of vulnerability has resulted in areluctance to engage in advocacy. Most sex workerorganisations are feeling more embattled, strugglingwith the demands of organisation and registration ontheir limited resources, and are reducing their activities.Targeting of recognisable sex workers has made new sexworkers reluctant to associate with more experienced sexworkers and advocates.Most commonly sex workers in Fiji learn about condomsand HIV prevention from other sex workers. In 2009, othersex workers were also an important source of condoms.Sex worker community has been undermined. Carryinga large amount of condoms and providing outreachservices in general are considered to be more risky andare no longer undertaken on any regular basis.Access to sexual health services such as HIV and STItesting and treatment has been compromised. The fewprograms actively encouraging and facilitating accesshave ceased, and now only mainstream services areavailable. Publicity around more punitive laws, alongwith experiences of sex workers themselves, haveelevated sex worker fear of authorities and any potentialdocumentation of their identity as sex workers.Furthermore, the human rights of sex workers arerepeatedly being denied when they are detained andheld overnight in military compounds, humiliated,physically and often sexually abused and put to workthe next day – all without legal process. This importantimpact cannot be documented by any means other thanthe testimony of sex workers who have been subject to it.Many are understandably reluctant to speak out. Theseexperiences convince sex workers that they do not haveaccess to protections that should usually be affordedthem by the justice system. The risk of such detentionsare experienced as a more immediate and pressing riskthan other safety concerns.Thus both the criminalisation of clients and the practicesof law enforcement can be seen to have been detrimentalto HIV prevention among sex workers in Fiji. The newprovisions for the inclusion of soliciting via mobilephone or internet as an offence have not deterred sexworkers from adopting these methods. Indeed, reportsindicate that some sex workers are relying more on thesetechnologies as they perceive that physical visibility is24