sex workers - The African Mirror

May

2021

‘Ugandan sex crimes law targets LGBT+, HIV-positive’

NITA BHALLA A new Ugandan law that seeks to better protect victims of sexual violence has been criticised by rights campaigners who say it discriminates against vulnerable groups including LGBT+ people, sex workers and those living with HIV. The Sexual Offences Bill has drawn praise for provisions such as protecting victims during trials and outlawing sexual harassment, but it also criminalises gay sex and sex work and sets out harsher sentences for HIV-positive rape defendants. UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said she was "deeply troubled" by parts of the legislation, which consolidates existing laws and rulings and was passed by…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 traps more girls in sex work

COVID-19

JORDAN MAYENIKINI WHEN Naomie's mother asked the teenager to join her as a sex worker in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo last September, she knew it was a matter of survival for the family. The fallout from the coronavirus pandemic - from rising food prices to a curfew resulting in fewer clients for her mother -left the 15-year-old with no choice but to take to the streets. "I am fatherless, and I have an eight-year-old brother," Naomie - whose name has been changed to protect her identity - said one evening this month in the Tshangu district…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

From sex workers to HIV patients, Myanmar unrest poses ‘huge’ health risks

WORLD

BEH LIH YI POLITICAL turmoil in Myanmar poses "huge risks" to the health of vulnerable people including sex workers and HIV patients, aid groups said, warning that medical supplies could be disrupted as the public healthcare system struggles to operate normally. The Southeast Asian nation plunged into crisis after the army ousted Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in a February 1 coup, declaring a year-long state of emergency that has sparked strikes and protests - including by doctors. Myanmar's public hospitals and clinics, which were already under pressure due to COVID-19, are in disarray, according to medical…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Kenya woman’s ordeal highlights newly identified sex trafficking route

HUMAN RIGHTS

AYENAT MERSIE J's cousin promised her a well-paid job in India as a housekeeper. Instead, she found herself in a brothel until the United Nations brought her home to Kenya when it was alerted to the human trafficking route. "When I heard there were job vacancies in India, I was so happy," said J, asking that only her initial be used to protect her privacy. When she got there, her passport was confiscated and she was forced into sex work to pay off $9,000 her traffickers, fellow East Africans, told her she owed them for her travel and lodging, she…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Who is going to stand up for us?’ A trans sex worker in Uganda on life under lockdown

LGBT+

LGBT+ rights in Uganda have long faced social and cultural hurdles. Last year, the "Kill the Gays" bill – so-called as it would introduce the death penalty for gay sex – was raised again by Ugandan lawmakers, despite having provoked international condemnation on its first airing in 2014. The proposal was dismissed by the government, but the controversy sparked by the bill's new backers shone a spotlight on the problems faced by the LGBT+ community in the country. Transgender people living in Uganda, many of whom earn a living as sex workers, face particular difficulties, as Anna Xwexx Morena explains.…