Sex workers and activists establish AIDS network

Sex workers and activists establish AIDS network

By T. Sima Gunawan

CHIANG MAI (JP): Sex workers and support groups in the Asia
Pacific region have formed a network to respond to the widespread
allegations that prostitutes are spreading the Acquired Immuno
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), it was announced yesterday.

The decision to set up the network was made in a satellite
symposium involving sex workers and activists from 20 countries,
including Indonesia, during the third International Conference on
AIDS in Asia and the Pacific yesterday.

A network spokeswoman said the forum's chief objective is to
promote the rights of the region's sex workers who have come
under strong pressure because of the AIDS allegations.

Different languages and different cultures are no barriers
because sex workers have a common ground to work together in
promoting their rights, Chantawipa Apisuk, a director of a non-
governmental organization called Empower, told a press
conference.

Other sex workers' support organizations involved include
Ikhlas of Malaysia, Panther of Australia, and Prostitutes
Collective of Victoria, Australia, and New Zealand.

"The issues of HIV and AIDS cannot be treated separately. It
must be integrated into programs which promote fair and safe
living and working conditions for sex workers," Kartini Salmah
from Ikhlas said.

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), causes AIDS.

Presenting the guidelines for the creation of the network, she
said the programs should recognize and support the roles sex
workers play in the prevention of the disease, and put an end to
the false allegations that sex workers spread AIDS, she said.

The network calls on people to accept that sex work is a
community issue and that everybody involved, including clients,
brothel owners, agents, police and social workers need to be
involved in HIV/AIDS prevention and care.

It also urged governments to stop punishing sex workers and
instead, start promoting and supporting their initiatives for
taking control of their own lives.

Ethics

According to the guidelines, in respect to sex workers'
rights, all research and clinical trials involving sex workers
should be conducted ethically, in collaboration with them and
with the informed consents of the participants. They should be
conducted in safe conditions with appropriate compensation, and
must ultimately lead to sex worker empowerment.

The network calls on the media to present sex workers as equal
members of society with equal rights, respect their privacy and
stop representing them as criminals or victims.

Campaigns on Anti-AIDS policies should target people's
behavior instead of singling out prostitutes as the main cause,
another activist from Malaysia pointed out.

Meanwhile, in a conference session, Bernadette N. Setiadi from
the Institute of Applied Psychology of University of Indonesia,
presented a study on sexual negotiations, empowerment of
commercial sex workers and the female condom.

The study involved 36 sex workers.

The majority of sex workers were reluctant to negotiate the
use of condoms with their partners, not only because they did not
know how to protect themselves and did not now how to communicate
the issues to the customers, but also because they were afraid of
the negative reactions of customers, which indicated their
feeling of powerlessness, according to the study.

Education and the introduction of female condoms could help,
but this would not be much use without men's increasing
awareness, as the study shows that, in general, men have higher
risks of being infected with HIV/AIDS because extra marital and
premarital sex for men are tolerated.

"This means that, without increasing men's awareness of their
risk of contracting HIV, intervention targeted toward women will
only put a heavier burden on the women, while the likelihood of
success remains low," Setiadi said.

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