HIV rates are down but discrimination continues for Indian sex workers

HIV and AIDS rate among female sex workers came down from 2.75% in 2013 to 1.6% in 2017.

The proportion of Indian sex workers with HIV/AIDS declined over four years to 2017, more use condoms than ever before and funding to control the disease rose 21% over the period, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of national health data.

But there appears to be little change in violence, stigma and discrimination against sex workers, how Indian states treat them varies, and funding and drugs are not always available when and where they should be.

Over 91% of Indian sex workers used condoms in 2018, and no more than 1.6% of female sex workers had HIV (human immunodeficieny virus) and AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) in 2017, down from 2.75% in 2013, mirroring a decline reflected among the general population, according to the latest available data.

Over four years to 2017, the “HIV prevalence rate”, the percentage of people tested and found infected, among men who have sex with men also dropped from 4.4% to 2.7%, said a 2018 report from UNAIDS, a United Nations organisation, and India’s National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).

As of 2017, India had a total of 2.17 million people living with HIV. New infections dropped 27% over seven years to 2017--from 120,000 to 88,000.

“This indicates that HIV prevalence is reducing among sex workers,” said a NACO representative, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Female and transgender sex workers and men who have sex with men are considered high-risk groups in determining HIV/AIDS prevalence.

“Globally, sex workers are 13 times more at risk of contracting HIV, when compared to the general population, because they are economically vulnerable, unable to negotiate consistent condom use, and experience violence, criminalisation and marginalisation,” said a 2018 study by UNAIDS.

The new data do not mean that sex workers now lead better lives.

Adorned with red lipstick and dressed in a long skirt with shiny earrings, Ramkali Kumar, 26, a transgender sex worker from the western Uttar Pradesh city of Noida, spoke about violent clients.

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How govt's bill for trafficking victims will make sex workers less safe

According to the Indian government, 4,980 victims of sex trafficking were rescued in the country in 2016.

Hoping to protect women from sexual exploitation, Indian lawmakers are pushing a bill that amends the criminal code to harden legal and financial penalties for sex trafficking.

The “Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill,” which passed the lower house of India’s parliament in July 2018 and may become law in 2019, seeks to make combat this lucrative, illicit trade.

Not everyone thinks harsh deterrence will work.

Days after it passed in the lower house of India’s Parliament in July, two United Nations experts said the bill leans too heavily on the criminal justice system. Without more of a “human-rights based and victim-centred approach,” the UN special rapporteurs on human trafficking and modern slavery warned, India “risks further harming already vulnerable individuals.”

India’s sex trade

According to the Indian government, 4,980 victims of sex trafficking were rescued in the country in 2016.

Sex workers in India oppose the bill that’s ostensibly meant to protect them, saying it inaccurately conflates human trafficking with consensual sex work.

In major Indian cities like Kolkata, Hyderabad and Sangli, sex workers are well organized and politically engaged. Yet no sex worker groups were consulted during the drafting of the legislation.

Community leaders argue that the anti-trafficking legislation promotes a dangerous idea that everyone in the sex trade is either a victim or a criminal.

“If this bill becomes law, the police will harass us even more,” said Kajol Bose, secretary of the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, one of India’s largest sex worker organizations. “The number of raids will increase and the number of clients will decrease.”

I believe Indian lawmakers could improve their bill by looking to the strong systems already in place locally across India that prevent forced prostitution.

I conducted anthropological research with Kolkata’s Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, which has a membership of 65,000 people across the state of West Bengal.

The group is based in Sonagachi, Kolkata’s iconic red-light district, which is tucked behind a main artery in the northern part of the city. This bustling and congested labyrinth of narrow alleyways lined by houses, most of which operate as brothels, is home to some 10,000 sex workers. An estimated 20,000 male customers visit Sonagachi daily.

Most Sonagachi brothels are managed by female brothel owners, or “malkins,” who keep half of their employees’ payment.

Most of the women I met working in Sonagachi came from poor, rural villages in India, Bangladesh or Nepal.

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