Tough brothel law threatens India HIV program

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Tough brothel law threatens India HIV program

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NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Plans to toughen India's laws to prevent human

trafficking could drive prostitutes underground and jeopardize HIV-

prevention in a country suffering the world's second-highest

caseload, health officials said on Thursday.

The legislation, which would make it an offence to visit a brothel

to have sex with a victim of trafficking, has been proposed by the

Ministry of Women and Child Development.

But it has run into criticism from the Ministry of Health and its

HIV/AIDS program coordinators.

" It (the law) is guided by moral feelings and righteousness. And it

will be a disaster for HIV prevention, I am sure of that, " Dr

Smarajit Jana of the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) told

Reuters.

The women's ministry wants to tackle human trafficking by also

handing out tougher penalties to people who operate brothels.

" This act basically says that brothel-based sex work will end and

that will be very damaging for sex workers, " Mona Mishra, who leads

the United Nations Development Programme's trafficking and HIV

prevention project, told Reuters. " The brothels are at least place

where you can negotiate safety and insist on condom use. " NACO says

the changes may end up pushing the sex trade deeper into the

shadows, making it harder for health workers to reach some of the

most vulnerable people in a country which, by government figures,

has 5.2 million people living with HIV -- the second largest

caseload in the world after South Africa.

The National Network of Sex Workers, which is also campaigning

against some of the amendments, says that the law's new definition

of trafficking is so vague that the police could apply it to all sex

workers.

At the moment, it is illegal to run a brothel in India but not to

visit one. The upshot of the new law, campaigners say, is that

clients will steer clear of brothels for fear of arrest

India's health secretary echoed those concerns.

" Sex workers cannot be driven underground, and anything that

threatens them makes monitoring them much more difficult, " P K Hota

told Reuters.

But Reva Nayyar, India's women and child development secretary, says

the fears are unfounded and that NACO's health workers would still

be able to keep in contact with sex workers.

" Of course they can still find them (sex workers) - they're just

across the GB Road, " she said, referring to New Delhi's red light

district. She said it was necessary to punish clients who were

encouraging the trade and exploitation of underage children.

The National Network of Sex Workers argues that sex workers

themselves can be effective watchdogs against trafficking.

Putul Singh, a sex worker in the northern city of Kolkata, said she

was part of a committee that helped rescue under-aged girls from

being forced into the trade.

" We have helped send almost 370 women home, " she said.

Parliament is expected to vote on the changes to the Immoral Traffic

(Prevention) Act during the monsoon session beginning in June.

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