India: Commercial Sex Workers in the times of Covid

By Anil Dhir; Bhubaneswar

The government’s decision to impose the strict lockdown to curb the spread of the Corona virus triggered a mass exodus of migrant workers from cities; most of the economic activity came to a standstill. But for thousands of sex workers living in cities across India, there is nowhere to go. The loss of income overnight has plunged one of the most vulnerable and marginalised groups into the depths of anxiety and deprivation. They live on the brink of invisibility; the lockdown has meant a complete loss of income and a struggle for daily survival.

Sex workers don’t feature anywhere as a marginalised group. The government doesn’t want to accept that there’s prostitution in the country. It’s the elephant in the room. The 20 lac crore package announced by the government has nothing for the benefit of sex workers. In April this year, the Global Network of Sex Work Projects and UNAIDS released a report on the hardship and discrimination faced by sex workers during the Corona pandemic worldwide and urged countries to ensure that their human rights be respected and fulfilled. The statement read: “Whenever and wherever possible, sex workers are responsibly self-isolating in response to governments’ calls. However, when they are excluded from COVID-19 social protection responses, sex workers are faced with putting their safety, their health and their lives at increased risk just to survive…”

While the official figures of the number of sex workers in India is below a million, activists who are working in the field estimate that the figure could be anywhere between 1.25 million and 3 million. In the urban red-light areas, multiple women live together in squalor, in tiny dilapidated rooms which stand cheek by jowl on narrow streets, where social distancing is impossible to follow. The financial situation is made worse because sex workers often have no savings. Now, with no cash coming in, they fear not being able to pay rent and may end up without a place to live. The migrants went home; these poor women have nowhere to go. Even the homeless and beggars are being put in shelters, but nobody even acknowledges the existence and plight of sex workers. Read more via Orissa Diary