Should we legalise sex work? GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS . . . Sex workers, like those pictured above, are coming out in the open and demanding the legalisation of their time-honoured trade, which has received backing from experts in health and human rights
GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS . . . Sex workers, like those pictured above, are coming out in the open and demanding the legalisation of their time-honoured trade, which has received backing from experts in health and human rights

GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS . . . Sex workers, like those pictured above, are coming out in the open and demanding the legalisation of their time-honoured trade, which has received backing from experts in health and human rights

Alois Vinga Features Correspondent
Arecent court judgment against the harassment of women suspected to be prostitutes by police, which many interpreted as giving power to sex workers by barring police from arresting loiterers, has led to renewed debate around the legalisation of sex work.

The move was greeted with wild cheers at known sex work dens while the moralistic in society were palpably angry.

But then, sex workers are coming out in the open and demanding the legalisation of their time-honoured trade, which has received backing from experts in health and human rights.

Florence, a sex worker in Chitungwiza, wants more.

“This judgment does not go far enough in protecting our rights as sex workers,” she says.

Ruth Dube, a sex worker who operates in the seedy backyard bars in Chitungwiza, also believes more should be done and that prostitution should be legalised.

“This is our only source of income. We cannot even go for regular medical check- ups because of the stigma associated with our work,” she said.

Criminalisation of sex work compounds the plight of prostitutes.

Another sex worker who identified herself as Angel Pee explained: “You really have to be careful not to bump into police officers on patrol. If you are caught and have no money, they demand sex. You cannot report this as rape because you will be operating illegally.

“Sometimes men who abuse us do not use protection, which exposes us to sexually transmitted infections. If prostitution is legalised, we will not face such hassles,” said Angel.

One sex worker who identified herself as Mucha operating from Nemamwa Growth Point in Masvingo argued: “The Government should legalise prostitution and collect taxes from us just as they do with other professions. The truth is there are a lot of people who seek our services, even dignitaries such as ministers and men of the cloth.”

Prostitution is not a criminal offence in terms of Zimbabwean law and the act of engaging in sexual intercourse for a reward is not criminalised, though Section 81 of the Criminal Law and Codification Act criminalises solicitation for purposes of prostitution.

Tariro Tandi, a women’s rights lawyer, observes: “Parties subscribing to the criminalisation of prostitution are of the belief that prostitution is a social evil which should be done away with through the use of criminal law. Criminal law is thus used to punish whoever is found selling sex.

“Justifications for criminalisation vary from community to community with some countries like South Africa arguing that the law on prostitution prevents social ills such as public nuisance, child prostitution, trafficking in women and children, public health as well as some associated crimes.

“When criminalisation and regulation fail, the sound option becomes decriminalisation.

This is the complete removal of prostitution and related offences from the ambit of criminal law.

“Unlike regulation which reinforces marginalisation, decriminalisation improves the prostitutes’ quality of life . . . This is mainly due to the realisation that laws which segregate against prostitutes further drive them to violence as there are people who are bound to manipulate them.”

In Africa, countries like Mozambique, Mali, Senegal, Ethiopia and the Ivory Coast have legalised prostitution for reasons ranging from attempts to decrease the number of rape cases, STIs and human trafficking for the purposes of prostitution.

New Zealand is one of the countries that have adopted a liberal approach to prostitution which allows for its prohibited existence through the Prostitution Reform Act of 2003 which sought to decriminalise prostitution and reduce harms caused by prostitution, while not endorsing or morally sanctioning it.

The Act empowers prostitutes by clearly stipulating that a prostitute has the right to refuse sex with a client while also controlling advertising of prostitution by potential migrants. The Act also offers protection to prostitutes by allowing them membership to trade unions.

Internationally, strides have been taken to address prostitution.

The 1986 International Charter for prostitutes Rights (ICPR) urges responsible authorities across the world to decriminalise all aspects of adult prostitution resulting from individual decision.

The ICPR was born out of two World Whores Congresses held in Amsterdam in 1985 and Brussels in 1986.

In 2003, an article published in the journal, New Humanist, noted that the World Charter was now being utilised by human rights groups in most countries to legalise prostitution.

UN 1997 Special Report titled “Violence against Women” has indirectly dealt with the issue of prostitution on trafficking women.

The report observed that: “Where prostitution is not legal; women are unprotected by labour laws.

“This means that they have no guarantee of being able to work in a safe environment and they have no right to social security.

“They have no right to reject clients and if they experience abuse, they have no means to take action against the abusers.”

Member of Parliament, Honourable Thabitha Khumalo, laments: “The duty of the media should be prioritising the issues that affect women and giving adequate coverage of issues affecting women.

“The law must protect women regardless of any factor characterising them. The continuous suffering of prostitutes is a result of inadequate protection from law.”

But the issue remains contentious.

Christian conservatives are against the decriminalisation of sex work. Isaiah Ndanga, president of the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ), says: “Every country has its value systems and ours are hinged on Christian principles. These are the very issues which led to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

“Even the Bible in Leviticus 19:29 reads: ‘Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land becomes full of wickedness’.”

Academic Dr Watch Ruparanganda said legalising prostitution would destroy Zimbabwean culture as it is immoral and encourages people to engage in unsanctioned sexual encounters.

Bishop Patience Hove of Elshadai Ministries has also criticised prostitution stating that the Christian community would not allow “such evil deeds to occur in society as sex is meant for marriage and cannot be commercialised”.

Feminist Rutendo Tapiwa opposes criminalisation of sex work under the guise of observing cultural values. “Whose values and culture are we talking about? My values are not your values. Let prostitution be legalised for the sake of those who are interested in it.

“We can’t keep denying that prostitution is real. Ministers, pastors and ordinary are hooking up with these sex workers.”

For Tapiwa, the need to preserve culture is not a solution to the problem of prostitution.

“Why are brothels and lodges sprouting even in rural areas? We must view this from a economic sense. The legalisation of sex work will benefit the nation,” she added.

As once echoed by renowned author Thomas Gammarino in the novel “Big in Japan; A Ghost Story”: “We’re all prostitutes if you think about it. The whole capitalist system is built on meretriciousness.

“You sell your body or you sell your mind, and the Cartesian mind or body thing is a fallacy anyway. Your mind is just your brain, so it amounts to the same thing really.”

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