Länderberichte AFRIKA:

[Marc of Frankfurt]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEyVbSQsmsY[/youtube] Sex workers are subjected to widespread human rights abuses, including police violence and unequal access to health care, in Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. Despite enormous challenges, they are organizing to protect their rights and demand an end to violence and discrimination.

A report published by the Open Society Institute, Rights Not Rescue, is based on a series of interviews and focus groups with sex workers and advocates throughout the three countries.

In this animated short film, sex workers who participated in the research tell their personal stories and collectively call for hope and change.





Check out the OSI report
"Rights Not Rescue"
http://www.soros.org/initiatives/health ... s_20090626


Sammelthema: Behördenübergriffe
viewtopic.php?p=9073#9073

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Gestärkt und empowered von der Welt AIDS Konferenz in Wien:


Sexworker in Uganda fordern Anerkennung


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDPARPAxkq0[/youtube]

[Arum]

Nigeria teens sold for prostitution in Ivory Coast

By LESEGO MOTSHEGWA (AP) – 4 days ago

JOHANNESBURG — Some Nigerian women and girls are being forced into prostitution in neighboring Ivory coast after being deceived with promises of a better life outside of their country, according to a report by an international human rights group.

The report released Friday by Human Rights Watch also called on the Ivory Coast and Nigerian authorities to investigate the trafficking networks between the countries and to shut them down.

Nigeria's government has passed anti-trafficking laws that focus on human smuggling to other West African countries, Europe and the United States but not Ivory Coast, the report said.

"These women and girls were sold dreams of migrating to better lives, but then found themselves in a personal hell" said Corinne Dufka, a senior researcher at HRW.

Those interviewed by the rights group describe being misled by other Nigerian women into this modern day slavery with promises of work as hairdressers, tailors or other work.

A 27-year-old Nigerian woman who went by the name Ruth, told the rights group that she left Nigeria six years ago after being recruited by a woman who said that she sold fabrics in Ivory Coast. She said that after the second day of arrival the woman handed each of them a condom.

"What could I do? I had nobody backing me...so I did it" she said.

Another woman said that she was told she could sell clothes in Liberia, but was taken to Ivory Coast to instead work as a prostitute.

"Every night I have to do this. I don't like it. I want to leave," the woman said.

All of the women spoke to the rights group on condition of anonymity, for fear of their safety.

The rights group said it found five brothels with young Nigerian women in two small Ivorian towns. It said that the victims were between the ages of 15 and 17 or younger when taken to Ivory Coast.

Researcher Tirana Hassan said that most of the young women chose to leave Nigeria because they wanted to improve their lives.

"We found that most of these woman are from poor households, or they have been in abusive relationships. It is not a choice," she said. "These women are tricked to find new opportunities to profit their lives. That's the initial hook that the traffickers are using to lure them in."

The report said that within two days of the women's arrival they are forced to engage in prostitution because they are told they must pay a transport fee of about $3,000 to $4,000, even though a trip to Ivory Coast from Nigeria overland is only about $200.

Victims were then forced to have sex with 15 to 30 men a night at 1,000 CFA Fracs ($2) per visit.

Hassan said that Nigeria has launched initiatives to deal with the issue of trafficking for prostitution, but questions the protection of children in the West African country. "The major question should be why minors are being allowed to travel across boarders without parental guidance."

She also said that not much is being done about the issue in Ivory Coast.

"At this point their is little done in the Ivory Coast. The dialogue is usually about child labor in the coffee business but women trafficking has not been in the agenda," Hassan said.

HRW has called on Ivory Coast's government to sign the U.N. Trafficking Protocol and pass a domestic anti-trafficking law.

Nigerian embassy staff in Abidjan told the rights group that they have repatriated "scores of women trafficked for prostitution, including dozens this year alone," but that the problem is on the rise, the report said.

All of the victims told the rights group that they wanted to leave Ivory Coast and prostitution, but feared for their lives.

Three 17-year-old Nigerians who refused to engage in sex work were then locked in a room and denied food for days, according to the report.

"We can't leave," said and 18-year-old who in the report was called Faith. "The girls are scared."

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... wD9HRSO4G5

[Arum]

InSenegal prostitutes look forward to Ramadan's end

By ARTIS HENDERSON (AP) – 2 hours ago

DAKAR, Senegal — Wearing white to symbolize purity, worshippers throughout this African capital gathered to pray on one of the final nights of Ramadan. To purify the soul and purge sin, they hadn't eaten all day and refrained from drinking, smoking and having sex — which during the holy month is only allowed among spouses at night.

Ramadan is bad news for the sex workers on the streets of Senegal, a country where 94 percent of the population is Muslim and prostitution is legal.

"It's a rough month," said 31-year-old Fatou Diop, who had taken a position on a piece of pavement just beyond the flashing lights of a nightclub in downtown Dakar. Her miniskirt was so short it barely reached beyond the top of her thighs.

"There are fewer clients during Ramadan — and we earn less. You can work for three days and not make anything," she said.

Like many prostitutes in Dakar, Diop moved to the capital from the city's poor outskirts. She works to support her family, including her young son.

In the same unlit alleyway, Awa Ndiaye was strutting in a dress as tight as cellophane. She said her clients dwindled from 10 per night to three. The 24-year-old native of Casamance, a region in the south of Senegal, said it's difficult to make enough to live. She normally earns $50 per client, but from that amount she must bribe the local police to keep from being harassed or put in jail.

"I have to support my family on what's left after I pay them," she said. "Now, there's no work."

Even though prostitution is legal, it is still taboo. If the police harass prostitutes — registered or not_ and threaten to take them to jail, they often have no recourse but to pay a bribe.

Ndiaye is one of the registered, or legal, sex workers who are required to report to a health clinic for HIV and sexually transmitted disease testing every two weeks or risk losing their health card. Other women work clandestinely.

Mehr hier: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... AD9I3S6Q80

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Wiener Verhältnisse auch im Senegal, oder andersherum:
In Wien Verhältnisse wie im Senegal:

> disease testing every two weeks or risk losing their health card





> she must bribe the local police to keep from being harassed or put in jail.

Ist also endlich mal Prostitution legal, zieht sie dann doch wieder kriminelles Verhalten an bzw. wird darin verwickelt (Korruption). :-((





> Ramadan is bad news for the sex workers

Bei solchen Aussagen, kann man den Haß von Religion auf Sexwork schon nachvollziehen ;-(

[Marc of Frankfurt]

6.10.2010
Namibia, ehemalige Deutsche Kolonie:


Gegen Prostitution

Kirchenrat will die Bibelstunde einführen


Windhoek – Der Namibische Kirchenrat (CCN) lehnt eine Legalisierung der Prostitution ab, wie es vor kurzem öffentlich vorgeschlagen wurde. Überdies will man biblischen Unterricht in den Schulen einführen.

„In den meisten christlichen Kirchen ist Prostitution verboten – wir müssen dabei bleiben und zum Wort Gottes stehen“, sagte CCN-Generalsekretärin Maria Kapere diese Woche auf Mediennachfrage und führte aus: „Die namibischen Kirchen werden diese Idee niemals unterstützen.“ Vor wenigen Tagen hatte Sport- und Jugendminister Kazenambo Kazenambo (SWAPO) im Parlament vorgeschlagen, die Prostitution zu legalisieren.

Dies hat bislang den Protest der Frauenorganisation WAD hervorgerufen (AZ berichtete).

Wie Kapere weiter sagte, wolle der Kirchenrat ein größeres Augenmerk auf die Förderung von Frauen(-rechten) legen, um so auch der „eskalierenden Gewalt gegen Frauen und Kinder“ entgegenzuwirken. So soll eine christliche Frauenbewegung und später nach diesem Vorbild auch eine Jugend- und eine Männerbewegung gegründet werden. Hauptziel sei es, die Menschen aufzuklären und zu bilden.

Die CCN-Generalsekretärin sprach deutlich die Gefahr aus, dass die Gesellschaft angesichts der Kriminalität (vor allem Gewalt, Vergewaltigungen und Korruption) zerfalle. Man müsse wieder die Werte Moral und Ethik fördern, sagte sie zu Wochenbeginn in einem Aufruf an die Nation (AZ berichtete). Als einen Schritt zur Vermittlung von Werten sei der CCN bereits seit zwei Jahren damit beschäftigt, einen Lehrplan für das Schulfach Bibelstunde zu erarbeiten, das in Schulen eingeführt werden soll. Dazu sei man bereits mit dem Bildungsministerium und dem Ausbildungszentrum NIED in Verhandlungen, sagte Kapere abschließend.

Von Stefan Fischer
http://www.az.com.na/lokales/gegen-pros ... 114783.php

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Protest über willkürliche Inhaftierung von Sexworkern in Cape Town





www.sweat.org.za

[Zwerg]

Subj: Uganda Anti-Gay Measures Will Be Law Soon.
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2010 01:02:12 -0700
From: Newslink FAR Uganda <e>
----------------------------------------------------------------
UGANDAN ANTI-GAY MEASURE WILL BE LAW SOON, LAWMAKER SAYS

The member of the Ugandan Parliament behind a controversial “anti-gay” bill
that would call for stiff penalties against homosexuality – including life
imprisonment and the death penalty – says that the bill will become law
“soon.”
<http>“We are very
confident,” David Bahati told CNN, “because this is a piece of legislation
that is needed in this country to protect the traditional family here in
Africa, and also protect the future of our children.”

Governments that have donated aid to Uganda and human rights groups applied
massive pressure since the bill was proposed a year ago, and most believed
that the bill had been since shelved.

Not so, says Bahati, adding, “Every single day of my life now I am still
pushing that it passes.” His statements come in the wake of a global outcry
over a tabloid publication of Uganda’s “top 100 homosexuals” that included
pictures and addresses of Ugandans perceived to be gay.

The Ugandan newspaper Rolling Stone – no relation to the U.S. magazine –
published the list in early October. Since then, at least four Ugandans have
been attacked, according to gay rights groups in the country. Stosh Mugisha
was one of them.

On the day that the tabloid was published, people started pointing at her
and commenting, she says. Later that night, a crowd gathered outside her
house.
“People were throwing stones through gate,” says Mugisha, “they were
shouting, ‘Homosexual homosexual!’ I started getting scared.” Mugisha and
her partner of one year had to flee their house the next morning, narrowly
escaping stoning. Now they are in hiding.

“They start bringing in these issues like, ‘How can you be born gay? How can
you be born lesbian?’ They really don’t know that we have battled to stand
and be who we are,” Mugisha says.

Giles Muhame, the youthful editor of Rolling Stone, is unrepentant. He says
homosexuality a virus spreading through the world and believes they have
done a public good.

He says the aim was to target Ugandan homosexuals who were recruiting
“converts in schools.” “We thought, by publishing that story, the police
would investigate them, prosecute them, and hang them,” says Muhame.

While extreme views to many, in Uganda even this sentiment holds some
weight.

This is a mostly Christian country where local and international,
particularly American, evangelicals hold great sway.

Together with Ugandan politicians and preachers, they have lobbied for
greater punishments for gays.

Mugisha says she used to be a Christian, but the constant harassment she
receives for wearing pants, rather than a dress or skirt, or for wearing a
baseball cap and being “boyish” as she calls it, means she has lost her
faith. She says Uganda is no place for gays and lesbians.

And member of Parliament Bahati agrees, “God has given us different
freedoms, our democracy is giving us different freedoms, but I don’t think
anyone has the freedom to commit a crime and homosexuality in our country is
a crime, it’s criminal.”
--
*COMMUNICATIONS DESK*
Freedom and Roam Uganda
Tel:+256(0) 31229 4863
Hotline: +256 (0) 771840 233
URL: www.faruganda.org

**

Ich würde mich nicht wundern, wenn irgendwann in ferner Zukunft in der Geschichtsschreibung die Definition des Begriffes "Mittelalter" auf das 21. Jahrhundert ausgedehnt werden würde

[Aoife]

          

Ich würde mich nicht wundern, wenn irgendwann in ferner Zukunft in der Geschichtsschreibung die Definition des Begriffes "Mittelalter" auf das 21. Jahrhundert ausgedehnt werden würde

Wahrscheinlicher erscheint mir eine zukünftige Neubewertung, die das Mittelalter rehabilitiert und die jetzige Moderne als Tyrannei übelster Form erkennt. Schon jetzt gibt es ja die Auffassung, unser landläufiges Mittelalterbild habe nichts mit geschichtlichen Tatsachen zu tun, sondern entspringe einer Propagandamaschine, die der ferneren Vergangenheit alles Schlechte andichtet, um die heutigen Unerträglichkeiten als relativen Fortschritt darzustellen.

Eine Geschichtsauffassung, der ich mich zumindest in manchen Aspekten durchaus anschließen kann.

Liebe Grüße, Aoife

[Arum]

Desperate students turn to prostitution
31/10/2010 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

DESPERATE students are being forced into prostitution as the cost of higher education spirals out of reach for the majority of the country’s university and college students, a report has found.

A recently launched Student Solidarity Trust (SST) report on a study examining the life of female students at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) concluded that desperation has forced some students to do things they would not do under normal circumstances.

Compiled by UZ’s Professor Rudo Gaidzanwa and Dr Charity Manyeruke, the SST report concludes that some students have had to resort to prostitution and relationships of convenience.

“Some of the students were unfortunate enough to be offered accommodation by a gardener who often compelled them to have sex with him as payment for the accommodation,” part of the report reads.

“Many students, though aware of exploitation, had no other means of surviving in Harare while attending university classes except by consorting with gardeners and other men offering cheap or free accommodation.”

The report also says to beat transport blues, both male and female students would catch rides on open trucks and disembark at robot-controlled intersections without paying the fare.

While some male students walk into town after lectures to reduce transport costs, some female students use their femininity, flirting with men with cars in exchange for free rides.

The introduction of the multiple currencies saw university fees rise to several hundreds of United States dollars per semester but with most people earning monthly salaries of around US$200 higher education is increasingly becoming unaffordable.

http://www.universityworldnews.com/arti ... 5215346473

[Arum]

Prostitution the only option

Written by Fungi Kwaramba
Wednesday, 24 November 2010 14:22

Industries in the town of Kadoma have shut down and only the old remember spinning cotton years before the chaotic land reform programme.

Residents are driven to take desperate measures to provide for their families, like Sharon who has chosen to be a prostitute in the mineral rich city where illegal gold panners offer brisk business.

Cotton, which was once dubbed the white gold, has lost its glamour and many people now shy away from planting the crop that provided Kadoma with the raw materials for companies such as David Whitehead and Kadoma Spinners that
have since shut down or scaled down operations.

After hours only a few people with dreary faces emerge from the giant warehouses that used to employ thousands of people.

"Many people used to be employed at the Dairy board and David Whitehead, but that is no longer the case. When we were young it was very easy to get a job after leaving school, but that is no longer the case. Our children have now become prostitutes," said a vendor in the town.

The Government fast tracked the land reform programme that was intended to resettle overcrowded black Zimbabweans. Milk producers where chased away and many people were left unemployed not only on the farms but also in the agro-based industries.

"When I was growing up I wanted to work for Dairiboard as my father was once employed there. I could not find an opening when I completed my form four. Both my parents are dead and I have to take care of myself," said Sharon.

The factories still stand, but only as ghosts that haunt the hearts of the older generation. The presence of the Unity Government has not worked any magic for the town which also has to deal with protracted electricity outages.

Investment laws will certainly not bring any change to the lifestyle of people like Sharon who live entirely on prostitution.

"I live for today and let tomorrow worry about its troubles. I would have preferred to go to work but then there are no jobs," she says.

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/index.ph ... nday-issue

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Female Sex Workers

Source:
01/12/2010 10:54 am
Regions: Africa
Topics: Sexual & reproductive rights
AWID Program: The AWID Forum
Type of content: Seed grants
Regions - Topics - AWID Program - Type of content


2009 AWID Seed Grant Winner: Lebantlha Womens Group, Botswana

Final Project Report.


The sex industry is in Botswana is a thriving business especially in the Chobe District where three countries meet at Botswana’s border (Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia) and many tourists arrive to visit Chobe National Park. Thousands of women (and men) are making a living selling their bodies in the towns and truck-stop exits to neighbouring countries. The sex industry offers better earning prospects and greater flexibility than many other jobs in the country. Yet, because sex work is illegal it is difficult to fight for rights and for the abused especially with regard to fair decent and safe working conditions.


Project Goals

The purpose of this workshop was to bring sex workers together to have a platform to share experiences and voices insupport of each other.


Project Participants

The project participants were 30 sex workers.

Research shows that sex workers earn three to five times more working in the sex industry than they would in “normal”employment. Sex work provides cash in hand instead of a month-long wait for a pay cheque. Sex work is seldom regarded as a permanent profession. On average sex workers spend six years in the industry moving in and out, depending on circumstances. Most street-based workers are black women who come from poor and homeless backgrounds.


Project Activities

The project revolved around a two-day workshop. The first day of the workshop focused on the topic of human and legal rights in Botswana. The second day focused on health care and social services.


Project Results

The workshop resulted in a list of ten recommendations by sex workers to protect sex worker rights. These recommendations are:

1. Decriminalize sex work

2. Oppose policies implemented through police raids against sex workers

3. Recognize and advocate on the link between human rights abuses against male, female and trans sex workers and HIV transmissions

4. Invest in evidence-based and rights-based health initiatives for sex workers

5. Support sex worker led anti-discrimination trainings

6. Fund and support sex workers collective organizing and organizations that promote sex workers rights and health

7. Support mainstream human rights groups and other NGOs to collaborate with sex workers and projects to document and confront violence by state and non state actors

8. Support health and rights initiatives dealing with the specific realities faced by migrant sex workers and of male and trans sex workers

9. Support mechanisms for redress of human rights violations

10. The government of Botswana should understand that sex is a two way tool of female and male (seller and buyer).


http://www.awid.org/Issues-and-Analysis ... ex-Workers

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Decriminalise Sex Work Now!

http://www.womensnet.org.za/campaign/de ... x-work-now

[Arum]

Afrikanerinnen die es bis hier in die Prostitution schaffen, sind wahrhaftige Glückspilze.

Hier ein Bericht, der ganz genau auf den Punkt bringt in welchem Umfeld das öffentliche Besorgnis um afrikanische Zwangsprostitution funktioniert:

http://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2011 ... uechtlinge

Zitat:

Skandalös aber ist, dass die EU nun schon seit 15 Jahren einem beispiellosen Drama im Mittelmeer (und auch im Atlantik vor den Kanarischen Inseln) zusieht, das nach Zählungen von Nichtregierungsorganisationen inzwischen bis zu 16.000 Menschen das Leben gekostet hat. Tausende afrikanische Flüchtlinge versuchen täglich, in oft seeuntauglichen Booten europäisches Festland zu erreichen, viele ertrinken, und Europa reagiert mit Abschreckung. Die Grenzagentur Frontex fängt Flüchtlinge ab und schickt sie zurück in Länder wie Libyen, wo sie menschenunwürdigen Zuständen bis hin zu Folter und Vergewaltigung ausgesetzt sind.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

On International Sex Worker Rights Day – 3 March 2011- members of the African Sex Worker Alliance will be marching for sex workers rights and holding events in 9 cities across Africa.


This event follows another historical moment in the fight for sex worker rights in 2009 when sex workers from Southern, Western and Eastern Africa came together to form a sex worker led African Sex Worker Alliance (ASWA), whose mandate is to lead the fight for sex workers’ rights in Africa.

To date the alliance is made up of 7 African countries; Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

“We call for access to health services and the ending of sex workers’ human rights violations. When we dare to be powerful, to go onto the streets and make our voices heard, we know there are those who will try to shame and ridicule us, with the hope that we will be isolated and silenced. But this won’t be the case!”, says ASWA Regional Coordinator, Kyomya Macklean.

In Johannesburg recently, members of the Sisonke Sex Workers Movement were shocked and saddened by the death of a colleague who was too afraid to report a serious assult by a hotel manager in Hillbrow “we visited her in December and encouraged her to lay a charge, in February we heard she was dead” recalls Kholi Buthelezi, National Sisonke Coordinator. “We are marching in Hillbrow on Thursday to make sure that this does not happen again and to remember the life of Itumeleng”

Sex workers in Limpopo province called on the police and society to respect sex workers means of survival, and recognize sex work as work. “We will no longer be silenced – human rights are for everyone” said Mickey Meji, the African Sex Worker Alliance’s South African coordinator.

Sex workers will be offered masks to help protect them from stigma and abuse, and marchers will use red umbrellas to symbolize protection. Allies, friends and families of sex workers, as well as civil society organisations are invited to come and support marchers.


The Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT)
www.sweat.org.za

African Sex Worker Alliance (ASWA)
www.africansexworkeralliance.org

Sisonke Sex Workers Movement

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Sex Worker Rights March 2011 in Johannesburg

www.flickr.com/photos/arinaldi/with/5496483680/



Sex Worker Rights March 2011 in Cape Town

www.thepost.co.za/sex-workers-protests- ... -1.1035806











Sex workers protest human rights violations

SBONGILE NKOSI

Sex workers and civil society groups across Africa took to the streets on Thursday to demand access to health care services and an end to the violation of their human rights.

Several African countries held marches including Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe to mark International Sex Workers' Rights Day. In South Africa, people marched in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Mussina.

The march was led by the Sex Workers' Education and Advocacy Task Force (Sweat) and Sisonke Sex Workers Movement, which are organisations that seek to ensure human rights for sex workers.

In Johannesburg, protesters marched from the Workers' Library Museum. Many wore masks to protect themselves from being stigmatised, said national director of Sisonke, Kholi Buthelezi.

The marchers met with police at the Johannesburg Central Police Station to present a memorandum.

Concerns raised in the memorandum were concerning police brutality against sex workers, sexual offences committed by police and also a plea to investigate some of the crimes committed by police. "Today, for the first time in South Africa, we are voicing our cry to the police men who torture us and who abuse us," said one protester.

"Sex workers are always subjected to human rights violation and have expressed that they are tired of being punching bags of police, clients and more often the hotel managers," said a member of Sisonke.

"It is really hard for us out there as everyday we are confronted with insults, people calling us magosha [prostitute] or isifebe [bitch]. Today we are saying enough is enough," said Buthelezi.


Shocked and saddened

Many of the sex workers are still upset about the death of their colleague, who died from the injuries of an assault by a hotel manager in Hillbrow, but were too afraid to report it. "We visited her in December and encouraged her to lay a charge, [but] in February we heard she was dead," recalls one of her colleagues.

Sex workers in Limpopo also called on the police and society to respect sex workers' means of survival, and recognise sex work as a form of employment.

"We will no longer be silenced -- human rights are for everyone," said Mickey Meji, the local African Sex Workers' Alliance coordinator.

"Today I feel proud that sex workers for the first time in South Africa took to the streets and their voices will be heard, not just by the police but also the public who dehumanise us," said one of the sex workers in Johannesburg.

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2011-03-03- ... iolations/

[Marc of Frankfurt]

‘After Hours’: Life as Sex Worker in Addis Ababa



By Meron Tekleberhan

After Hours 1 - sex workers in Addis AbabaAddis Ababa, April 25, 2011 (Ezega.com) --

‘After Hours’ (Seate Elafe) is the title of a book by journalist Ermias Seyoum, chronicling the true life stories of commercial sex workers in Addis Ababa.

Although much has been said about the Ethiopian sex industry, this book takes a unique perspective by allowing the women to talk about themselves.

Unlike many other books that have been written on the subject, this book is different in that it doesn’t just present the observations of the author. The insight into the 47 women whose stories make up ‘After Hours’ and their views on their life as women in the sex industry makes for a riveting reading.

...

www.ezega.com/News/NewsDetails.aspx?Pag ... ewsID=2868

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Sexworker wehren sich gegen Schikanen und Festnahmen:

Prostitutes sick of arrests when they're off duty

Three sex workers are taking the minister of police to court - because they were repeatedly detained when they were not, in fact, working.


Apr 30, 2011 11:59 PM | By BUYEKEZWA MAKWABE


quote 'Sex workers have rarely fought for their own rights, but it's they who can really change things' quote

The three have filed a lawsuit demanding that the Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa, fork out close to R200.000 because they were arrested and shoved into a police van, but never charged.

An April 2009 ruling by the High Court in Cape Town banned police from arresting sex workers without charging them and from unlawfully arresting prostitutes who were "off duty" and had no intention of selling their bodies for sex.

Sally Shackleton, the advocacy officer at SWEAT - a non-governmental organisation which supports sex workers' rights - said: "All (the police) were doing was arresting sex workers for the 48 hours they are allowed to, then releasing them. It was purely harassment. There was no intention of following through."

The Cape Town trio alleged that, on one occasion, pepper spray was used on them while they were in a police van, and they spent the night in "horrendous" conditions, sleeping on wet blankets in the depths of winter.

The application for compensation was brought by the Women's Legal Centre on March 1 in the High Court in Cape Town.

A spokesman for the minister, Zweli Mnisi, said this was just one more case against the police.

"In the main, we are concerned about cases that are brought against the police, including police brutality."

However, Professor Elna McIntosh, a Johannesburg expert on sex workers, said prostitutes were routinely harassed, and it was "fantastic" that the three had lodged the claim.

"The reality is that sex workers have rarely fought for their own rights, but it's only they who can really change things. When are we as a society going to recognize that sex work is work?"

McIntosh said she was concerned that often police detained prostitutes merely to solicit bribes in return for withholding criminal charges.

Prostitution is illegal in South Africa, although sex workers are protected by new labour laws. Public discussions were held in 2009 on legalising prostitution, but legislation has yet to be tabled.

Shackleton said SWEAT was concerned that the process was taking so long.

"We see cases like these daily. There are many sex workers who are not willing to take their cases further. In those cases, we offer counselling and advice."

Stacey-Leigh Manoek, the attorney for the three sex workers, said prostitutes enjoyed the same constitutional rights as everyone else, as well as their inherent rights to dignity and security and the right not to be arbitrarily deprived of freedom.

"Our research has shown that of the sex workers interviewed, 44% were subject to unlawful arrest and assaults related to arrest. This is not only a violation of the previous court order ... but also a violation of the constitutional rights of sex workers."


www.timeslive.co.za/local/article104457 ... e-off-duty

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Weil die Sexworker vom Straßenstrich im Zentrum durch Polizei-Razzien vertrieben wurden,

gehen sie jetzt gezielt von Tür zu Tür in den Wohnsiedlungen, wo sie alleinlebende Herren und pot. Kunden vermuten:


Nigeria: Commercial Sex Workers Adopt 'Door to Door' Tactics


Nasir Imam
4 May 2011

Due to the recent clampdown on the activities of commercial sex workers by the FCT Administration (Federal Capital Territory www.fct.gov.ng ), such workers now go from door to door in residential areas soliciting for customers.

Head of Enforcement, Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Mr Olusegun Olusa, said the clampdown on commercial sex workers on Abuja streets by an FCTA inter-agency committee since June 2010, has scared them off streets in the city centre.

According to him, such women have moved to a higher level by knocking on people's doors after shadowing such houses and flats to ensure the occupants are single.

He warned commercial sex workers, who took advantage of the elections period to continue their activities on Abuja streets, to desist forthwith from such acts or risk arrest and prosecution.

Mr. Olusa advised them to leave the trade and patronise the services of a new rehabilitation centre to be commissioned next Tuesday at Lugbe, adding that they can acquire skills and help create jobs.

He said a gender focal office has been opened in all FCT secretariats and agencies ahead of the full establishment of the Department of Gender in the Social Development Secretariat for which provision has been made in the 2011 budget.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201105050798.html

[Arum]

Was es nicht alles gibt....

Zimbabwean man accused of bestiality says prostitute transformed into donkey

26 October 2011


ZVISHAVANE, ZIMBABWE (BNO NEWS) -- A Zimbabwean court heard a bizarre excuse on Monday when a man accused of bestiality claimed he had hired a prostitute who transformed into a donkey overnight, local media reported on Wednesday.

Sunday Moyo, 28, was arrested at around 4 a.m. local time on Sunday when officers on a routine patrol found him performing a sex act on a donkey in his yard in Zvishavane, a town in Midlands Province. The animal was lying on the ground and had been tied by the neck to a tree, according to the ZimEye news portal.

Moyo appeared in court on Monday but claimed he had no idea he was performing a sex act on a donkey. "Your worship, I only came to know that I was being intimate with a donkey when I got arrested," he said, as quoted by ZimEye.

"I had hired a prostitute and paid US$20 for the service at Down Town night club and I don't know how she then became a donkey," Moyo claimed, adding that he is now 'seriously in love' with the animal.

The court ordered Moyo to be examined by two government psychiatrists and remanded him in custody until Thursday on a charge of bestiality. Both bestiality and prostitution are illegal in Zimbabwe.

http://channel6newsonline.com/2011/10/z ... to-donkey/