Decriminalisation of sex-work sought as anti-AIDS mechanism

South African AIDS and rights activists on Friday urged that commercial sex-work be decriminalised as a means of tackling the spread of HIV.

The call came as 'International Sex Worker Rights Day' was observed for the first time on 3 March in the city of Cape Town.

Nathan Geffen, spokesman for the AIDS lobby group, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), told PlusNews the event was needed to address the sexual and physical abuses encountered by sex workers.

"The criminalisation of commercial sex is not only a breach of rights to dignity and freedom of association, but also places these men and women at increased risk of HIV infection and gender based violence," he commented.

Geffen expressed concern that failure by the authorities to recognise the profession as legitimate, hampered HIV prevention, as sex workers often had difficulty accessing health-care services because of the stigma associated with their work.

"They frequently do not have the power to negotiate safer sex with their clients, so the decriminalisation of their trade would bring these men and women under the protection and ambit of the law, and help them to better organise themselves in terms of unfair labour practices," he said.

Local organisers of the event, the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), agreed that changes in existing laws could also help address the issue of violence and harassment.

SWEAT director, Jayne Arnott, told PlusNews: "In South Africa, street based sex workers are constantly harassed and arrested under local by-laws. The Sexual Offences Act is the piece of legislation that criminalises sex work, but it is local by-laws that are used to arrest sex workers."

Arnott alleged that the by-laws were often abused by the police. "Individual street arrests take place up to five times a month, often with physical abuse and requests for sexual favours by the arresting officers in lieu of not carrying out the arrest."

SWEAT was confident that decriminalisation would also help encourage the involvement of sex workers in promoting HIV prevention and safer sex among themselves and their patrons.