Sex workers have rights too

Women sex workers have faced the worst of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India. Although they suffer high levels of HIV infection, some programmes contribute to the stigma sex workers carry, by labelling them core transmitters of infection. Others programmes typically regard sex workers as victims with little ability to change anything.

SANGRAM - a non-governmental organisation started working with sex workers in 1992 to create a sustainable response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. SANGRAM views sex-workers as individuals who can change their own circumstances and become agents of change. It started a peer based programme with sex workers in Sangli, Maharashtra, which includes:

• HIV/AIDS education, condom distribution, training and counselling those who are unable to persuade their clients to use condoms
• helping sex workers with sexually transmitted diseases and other health problems to access medical care and related services.

In 1996, the programme broadened into a collective of women sex workers against injustice - VAMP (Veshya Anyay Mukti Parishad). VAMP tries to build a common identity among the women and empower them to find their own solutions. It now works with more than 5,000 women, through 60 peer educators.

Why the VAMP approach works

VAMP gained recognition as a collective that has prevented HIV transmission while ensuring that women sex workers are treated as human beings, with the same rights and dignity as other people. The programme has been successful because it:

• is peer-focused, with the 'educators' and the 'educated' living in similar circumstances where they can understand each others' experiences
• is women-centred, based on their needs, perceptions and experiences rather than what the programme thinks the women need
• is process-oriented, emphasising how sex workers can effectively negotiate safer sex with clients
• empowers sex workers, which is a central goal rather than a by-product of peer education
• fosters a common identity among sex workers as an end in itself, rather than a means to prevent HIV/AIDS
• links HIV/AIDS to other vulnerabilities, such as violence, discrimination, gender and human rights violations.
• frames HIV/AIDS within a context of sexuality, gender and rights: condoms are viewed as life-saving equipment that women sex workers must have access to, as a right.

It is important to train women in various rights issues, such as law, inheritance and property rights. HIV/AIDS interventions relating to sex work can work only through an approach that places human rights, dignity and the status of vulnerable groups as core values.

Meena Seshu and Meena Shivdas

Meena Seshu
SANGRAM and VAMP, Aarohan, 162/163 Ghanshyamnagar, Madhavnagar Road, Sangli, Maharashtra, India
T +91 (0)233 2312191 / 2311644,
F +91 (0)233 2312191
meenaseshu@yahoo.com

Meena Shivdas
Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough House, Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5HX, UK
T +44 (0)207 9301647
F +44 (0)207 7476457
mshivdas@yahoo.com

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