Nowadays, sex workers are exploited, harassed, physically beaten and otherwise abused by the police, gangsters and moralists in society simply because of their status as sex workers. Known sex workers are marginalized in the health system and frequently receive inadequate medical care. There is little attention for their specific health needs, especially regarding their sexual health, and physical and mental traumas due to violence. Sex workers are legally marginalized by a system which has in essence criminalized prostitution. Those who engage in sex work often find themselves entangled in a debt trap: they are fined for carrying out their work, but the only way they can access money to pay off fines is through more sex work. They have no legal and political rights, making it impossible to make a legal case for physical or sexual violence experienced while at work.

Legal framework

In India as well as elsewhere, trafficking of women and children for prostitution is a hot topic. Trafficking, defined by PATH as "using force, coercion, or deception to transport people across or within borders for purposes of forced labor", is clearly a human rights violation. Many projects try to prevent trafficking or offer shelter to those who are rescued. The Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act is the main law dealing with trafficking and sex work in India. It does not criminalize prostitution in itself but punishes activities by third parties facilitating prostitution, such as brothel keeping, living off earnings, and procuring services. One of its main flaws is that it does not distinguish between coerced prostitution and consensual sex work.

Because of this lack of distinction in the law, sex workers are penalized repeatedly. For this, sections 7 (soliciting in public places) and 8 (sexual activity in public places) of ITPA are used. Originally, the purpose of the Act was to punish the traffickers and protect women from abuse. From this perspective, it is unthinkable that women solicit for themselves, even though this practice is highly visible on the streets. To solve this ‘contradiction', the women are labelled as criminals and put into prison. A study commissioned by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) revealed that even trafficked women and girls who are rescued from brothels are charged with soliciting for prostitution. The report concludes: "it is disturbing to note that out of almost 14,000 persons arrested every year under ITPA, approximately 90 per cent are women, despite the fact that the majority of exploiters and abusers, including traffickers, clients, etc., are men."¹

In the South Indian state of Kerala, there are about 10,000 street-based sex workers, almost half of them are male sex workers (mainly feminised males, kothis, providing sexual services to men). The first HIV/AIDS interventions among population groups with high-risk behaviour in the State started in the second half of the 1990s. Presently, there are more than 50 projects in Kerala that target marginalized populations. All of them are funded and controlled by the State AIDS Control Society, an arm of the government's Health Department. The Sex Workers Forum Kerala (SWFK) is an informal network of sex workers in Kerala State. Interviews with sex workers conducted by SWFK showed that these programmes have inadequately addressed the laws criminalizing sex work, stigma attached to sex work and human rights violations by both the public and police.

It is very difficult for HIV prevention projects to work effectively in a criminalized atmosphere. In the case of Kerala, co-ordination between the law-making and implementing authorities and the Health Department never materialized, producing frustrating results. For instance, a peer education programme initiated by SWFK and sponsored by the Health Department continuously faced threats that peer educators would be arrested for soliciting for prostitution.

There are no red-light areas or permanent brothels in Kerala. There used to be drop-in centres funded by the government, which offered opportunities for organizing sex workers. However, after protests from the community, the government withdrew its financial support and this component vanished from the existing government-funded projects. Finally, there is no powerful organization of sex workers in Kerala similar to the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) in the red-light district of Sonagachi, Kolkotta (see Box) and this prevents collective bargaining for condom use with clients.

Sex Workers Forum Kerala

SWFK organizes sex workers to advocate for their basic human rights, runs drop-in-centres for homeless street-based sex workers, organizes conferences, and runs homes for sex workers' children. SWFK is part of the National Network of Sex Workers (NNSW), a forum of rights-based sex workers' organizations. The Forum combines HIV/AIDS-related activities with activities that aim to create an enabling environment to promote sex workers' health and well-being:

HIV/AIDS-related activities – Some members of SWFK are working with state-sponsored HIV prevention programmes among sex workers and their clients. In the past, there were two projects that included drop-in centres which were run by SWFK in Kovalam, a beach resort, and Thrissur, a city in central Kerala, but these were closed when the government funding ended. Also, SWFK was involved in a feasibility study on female condoms organized by Hindustan Latex Limited and Female Health Company, the developer of the female condom.

Anti-violence/stigmatization-related activities – SWFK believes that the fight against violence and illegal police arrests, the lack of co-ordination between various departments in the government and the promotion of human rights are as important for sex workers to address as the promotion of safer sex practices. SWFK realizes that one is not possible without the other. Many of its activities are therefore aimed at fighting violence and harassment by the police and stigmatization of sex workers by society. The need to decriminalize sex work is another immediate necessity.

Some of the activities to achieve these goals are:

Participatory research on violence to inform activities

Lobbying with parliamentarians and the government to change the ITPA and Section 377 of the Indian Code of Criminal Procedure

Organizing Sexuality Rights Campaigns that demand repeal of Section 377 and ITPA

Open dialogues with the police to decrease violence and harassment

Networking with international sex workers organizations and human rights associations

Advocacy with the media to sensitize the public

Demonstrations, e.g., sit-ins in 2001 and 2002, to let sex workers' voices be heard

Community activities, such as organizing the Festival of Pleasure in 2003, the national conference of sex workers

The development of documentaries to show the realities of sex workers' lives³

Observance of International Sex Worker's Rights Day on March 3 and International Candle Lights Memorial Day on May 16 to address stigma and discrimination.

SWFK is struggling to give space and a voice to the hitherto sexually marginalized communities in Kerala, i.e. sex workers and sexual minorities such as MSM. With the NGO FIRM (Foundation for Integrated Research in Mental Health), which facilitated its formation, SWFK has been actively campaigning for human rights and justice for sex workers and sexually marginalized populations. It functions as a corrective force within the government-sponsored HIV prevention programmes and demands changes in the existing repressive laws so that all consensual adult sex work in India is decriminalized.

3. SWFK produced two documentaries, Jwalamukhikal (2002), also known as A day in the life of a sex worker, and A peep into the silenced (2004), which was produced in the framework of the multi-country project "Documenting Our Lives", conducted by GAATW (Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women).