WOMENAID µ INTERNATIONAL |
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SEX INDUSTRY ASSUMING MASSIVE PROPORTIONS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA |
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Economic incentives and hardships fuel the growth of the sex sector. Migrant women, children are particularly vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation Prostitution in Southeast Asia has grown so rapidly in recent decades that the sex business has assumed the dimensions of a commercial sector, one that contributes substantially to employment and national income in the region, according to a new report - published by the Geneva-based International Labour Office. The report suggests that in spite of Asia's economic crisis, the economic and social forces driving the sex industry show no signs of slowing down, particularly in light of rising unemployment in the region. According to Ms. Lin Lim, the ILO official who directed the study, "If the evidence from the recession of the mid-1980s is any indication, then it is very likely that women who lose their jobs in manufacturing and other service sectors and whose families rely on their remittances may be driven to enter the sex sector." As to the prospect of a slowdown in the demand for commercial sex services following region-wide declines in personal income, the ILO report notes that "poverty has never prevented men from frequenting prostitutes, whose fees are geared to the purchasing power of their customers." Moreover, after decades of interaction with other economies, the sex industry in Asia is effectively internationalised: overseas demand is likely to be unaltered by domestic circumstances and may be even fuelled as exchange rate differentials make sex tourism an even cheaper thrill for customers from other regions. Although researched prior to the current crisis, the ILO report warns that the growing scale of prostitution in Asia, combined with its increasing economic and international significance, have serious implications relating to public morality, social welfare, transmission of HIV/AIDS, criminality, violations of the basic human rights of commercial sex workers, and commercial sexual exploitation especially of the child victims of prostitution. Yet, there is no clear legal stance nor effective public policies or programmes to deal with prostitution in any of the countries. "The sex sector is not recognised as an economic sector in official statistics, development plans or government budgets." Governments are constrained not only because of the sensitivity and complexity of the issues involved but also because the circumstances of the sex workers can range widely from freely chosen and remunerative employment to debt bondage and virtual slavery. The countries have, however, taken action to eliminate child prostitution, an activity the ILO report characterises as "a serious human rights violation and an intolerable form of child labour." Child prostitution risks growing as poverty and unemployment strain family income and contributes to the expanding ranks of street children who are an increasingly common sight on the streets of cities world-wide. The report, entitled The Sex Sector: The economic and social bases of prostitution in Southeast Asia, is based on detailed studies of prostitution and commercial sex work in four countries - Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. The authors of the ILO report emphasise that the scrutiny of the sex-sector of these four countries does not suggest that they have a unique prostitution problem or that their social, moral or economic values are especially aberrant. In fact, the national case studies in the report "are illustrative of the situation in many countries," and prostitution and its attendant problems are universal. Source:
The Sex Sector: The economic and social bases of prostitution in Southeast
Asia edited by Lin Lean Lim, International Labour Office, Geneva,
1998. The
Child Victims of Prostitution As with adult prostitution, it is not possible to have precise figures on the extent of child prostitution. A 1997 report put the number of child victims of prostitution at 75,000 in the Philippines. In Thailand, a 1993 estimate was between 30,000 to 35,000 child prostitutes. In Indonesia, a 1992 survey found that one-tenth of the prostitutes were below 17 years and of those who were older, more than a fifth said they had started working before the age of 17. In Malaysia, more than of those "rescued" from various sex establishments were under 18 years. Prostitution and the Feminization of Migration Significantly, the country studies encountered few, if any, women working as prostitutes in the towns or villages where they grew up. Prostitutes tend to be procured from rural areas or small towns for the cities or, as young, first-time job seekers new to urban areas, are vulnerable to being drawn into the sex sector. The ILO report also cites available evidence to suggest that there has been a rise in international trafficking of women and children for the sex sector. Underground syndicates operate "ruthlessly efficient" networks, often with official connections, to recruit, transport, sell women and children across national borders. An estimated 20,000-30,000 Burmese women work in the sex sector in Thailand: nearly all are illegal immigrants at constant risk of arrest and deportation and 50 per cent are estimated to be HIV positive. In India, some 100,000 Nepalese women work as prostitutes, with an additional 5,000 Nepalese trafficked to the country each year. An estimated 200,000 women from Bangladesh have been trafficked to Pakistan over the past decade and thousands more to India. The report also identifies the feminization of labour migration as one of the major factors fuelling growth in the sex sector. It says that some 80 per cent of the Asian female migrant workers legally entering Japan in the 1990s were "entertainers", a common euphemism for prostitutes. Most are from the Philippines and Thailand. Thai women work as prostitutes throughout Asia as well as in Australia, Europe and the United States. Flows of prostitutes throughout south and south-east Asia are described as almost "commuter-like" in their regularity and complexity. What is to be Done? The report says that "measures targeting the sex sector have to consider moral, religious, health, human rights and criminal issues in addressing a phenomenon that is mainly economic in nature." A major hurdle to the formulation of effective policy and programme measures to deal with prostitution has been "that policy makers have shied away from directly dealing with prostitution as an economic sector." The report states categorically that it is outside the purview of the ILO to take a stand on whether countries should legalise prostitution. While fully acknowledging the complexity of cutting through the many ambivalent inconsistent and contradictory perceptions swirling around prostitution, the report does, however, offer some recommendation on developing a policy stance. Target Child Prostitution for Elimination The ILO says that entirely separate measures need to be envisaged for adult prostitution versus child prostitution. Children are invariably victims of prostitution whereas adults could choose sex work as an occupation. "International conventions all treat child prostitution as an unacceptable form of forced labour; the goal is its total elimination." Success in eliminating child prostitution would also reduce the problem of adult prostitution, since many adult prostitutes report having entered the sex sector while they were still underage. Recognise
the Variety of Circumstances Prevailing
among Prostitutes and Eliminate Abuses Focus
on Structures that Sustain Prostitution,
nor just the Prostitutes Themselves
"Any
meaningful approach to the sex sector cannot focus only on individual
prostitutes,"
says the ILO report. "An
effective response requires measures directed at the economic and social
bases"
of the phenomenon.
"The
stark reality is that the sex sector is a big business that is well
entrenched in the national economies and the international economy,"
with highly organised structures and linkages to other types of legitimate
economic activity.
"Prostitution
is also deeply rooted in a double standard of morality for men and women,
as well as in a sense of gratitude or obligation that children feel they
owe their parents." Macroeconomic Analysis The ILO suggests that official recognition of the activity, including maintaining records about it would be extremely useful in assessing, for example, the health impacts of the sector. The scope and magnitude of labour market policies needed to deal with workers in the possibilities for extending the taxation net to cover many of the lucrative activities associated with it. It is also important to recognise that policies for the promotion of tourism, the export of female labour for overseas employment, the promotion of rural-urban migration to provide cheap labour for export-oriented industrialisation, etc., combined with growing income inequalities and the lack of social safety nets, could all indirectly contribute to the growth of the sex sector. The Health Aspect The ILO warns that "the health dimensions of the sex sector are too serious and urgent to ignore." While awareness of the HIV/AIDS threat is high, state agencies may still keep their distance from the sex sector. "Any health programme targeting the sector cannot cover only the prostitutes. Measures should also be directed towards clients, especially since the chain of transmission from the sex sector to the population involves clients who also have unprotected sex with their spouses or others." Source:
Wednesday 19 August 1998 released simultaneously |
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WOMENAID |
INTERNATIONAL