South Africa P.I.G.: PROSTITUTION

Showing posts with label PROSTITUTION. Show all posts

AIDS girls on World Cup game

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhBdsQcnr2WlZocsgTVWfvm1h2YfRLUn-Rjqnc3S3ODeHAiLlmAC6eLhnZvaE6PVULroS0BR1afSfZecvlq1m4Y83eOYJjhwazYA3rFt1jO7g5PF3Fls6tvD1AApLTjIfNjvAVmom5S_o/s1600-h/sex-workers-sa.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344574145556722082" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhBdsQcnr2WlZocsgTVWfvm1h2YfRLUn-Rjqnc3S3ODeHAiLlmAC6eLhnZvaE6PVULroS0BR1afSfZecvlq1m4Y83eOYJjhwazYA3rFt1jO7g5PF3Fls6tvD1AApLTjIfNjvAVmom5S_o/s400/sex-workers-sa.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 280px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 390px" /></a>PROSTITUTES in South Africa are preparing to cash in on England fans during the 2010 footie World Cup. But HALF the nation’s hookers are infected with HIV or AIDS. A shock investigation by The Sun has revealed girls from poverty-stricken townships are desperate for ENGLAND to qualify and bring their army of fans. Parading on the hard shoulder of the N7 road from Cape Town, they wait for passing trade while dreaming of the boost in business 2010 will bring. Road to ruin ... Levola, Yolanda and Samantha wait for punters The city’s stadium will host group matches and a semi-final. It isn’t finished yet but teenage prostitutes Yolanda, Lavola and Samantha are already dreaming of the extra cash they stand to earn. They save what little they can from their sordid encounters to pay their share of the cost of a convoy of minibuses ready to take the sex show on the road in just one year. If their teams qualify, Brits risk paying the ultimate price for a cheap thrill if they use the desperate women who punctuate the barren landscape either side of all roads to Cape Town. The three girls I spoke to, from shanty town DuNoon, are in high spirits about the approaching footie fest, despite having just been fined for exposing themselves to drivers. They had been flashing their boobs and lifting their skirts to show they were ready for work. Yolanda Lorika, 19, squeals: “We just can’t wait. We only get paid about £10 for sex when drivers stop for us here. English men will pay a lot more. “We’ll probably have to fight over them with the girls who already have pitches in that area, but it will be worth it. “We’re hoping to earn enough to get a decent life.” A decent life is something she knows nothing about. Yolanda and little sister Lavola are homeless. They have been abandoned by their families and repeatedly robbed and raped. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfE_BlGPHzlsKvhaVVQAtSKavt7urJr5kdXvkETTKeZChiZebXG6KGrlKz466pYyo_ogr5z3EZfo1SSQlCuoR9J3oi8Ieq3fmt8QKZn2-L1-DfhyphenhyphenYtTPCHOWtoBcZsbTuOCe88zx7AXmY/s1600-h/soccer_fans_-_FIFA_World_Cup_2006_(03).jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlKqUtVsWi6VbOZgUD_9GQsFdnItOYLNPUSI3ls9QwcQKXB7iG2bjfXeRJEHFxIg7_HUlfr1JSyCgq7h4o-brgzsYOS-BL7O8EZBvbgSSDobmfD8yII1nExPqnqnuPhbYQkgG8YGZMqlw/s1600-h/soccer_england_footie3.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344584702094050162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlKqUtVsWi6VbOZgUD_9GQsFdnItOYLNPUSI3ls9QwcQKXB7iG2bjfXeRJEHFxIg7_HUlfr1JSyCgq7h4o-brgzsYOS-BL7O8EZBvbgSSDobmfD8yII1nExPqnqnuPhbYQkgG8YGZMqlw/s320/soccer_england_footie3.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 231px" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhit-BASmBr9cP3KhaDUePL9uiS-0HcVE_cIB2ZTMSR9xQv9lN9CR4KsagrKcoe8gDuqehl1swTf7mrHEgh-ZAfbapSRv1W7gU3E6rRsAyQmZkEaHJc8kpO04At0GwsIFGQkeKDWNHTqaE/s1600-h/soccer_england_footie3.jpg"></a>Up for some fun ... English fans? They are fortunate to have a health clinic near their homes and say they are regularly tested for HIV/AIDS. But punters planning to party with girls like these should remember that one in every two prostitutes in South Africa has tested positive. Yolanda describes how she came to be a street walker. She says: “I remember when we lived in the bush, near a farm. My father left us for another woman and we had no money so my mother got desperate. “She took me and my sister to live with our grandparents in a settlement near Cape Town. “I was nine years old when my grandfather raped me. I thought I was being smart when I went out and found a pay phone and called the child abuse line. Looking back, I think maybe I should have kept quiet. “My grandfather was arrested and put in jail. My grandmother threw me and my sister out on to the street with nowhere to go. “We were taken into an orphanage by social workers and for the next few years it was a calm, safe place for us. “But by the time I was 14 I was fed up with all the rules and regulations. I wanted freedom. “Lavola and me left. We slept on the floor in friends’ shacks until they asked us to go. “At the moment we are living with our friend Samantha and her mother. There isn’t really room for us but we all share a bedroom and we are close. Samantha’s mother is very sick with AIDS and we share the work of looking after her. “We don’t have any identity documents, no birth certificates or anything, so we can’t even think about getting jobs. I had a boyfriend who always threatened me. He wanted me to start dealing in drugs and give him the money. He said he would kill me if I left him. “But I’ve seen so many girls led into drugs and sex work, giving all the money to pimps, and I’m not going to do that. “I left him. My sister and our friend Samantha and me now work together on the motorway. “It’s dangerous, and some of the men and women in our settlement curse us, calling us whores. “What’s worse is that the tsotsis (gangs) come after us in the street near our home, telling us we must give them the money we earned. If they catch you they won’t let go until they’ve raped you and robbed you.” All three girls have been raped several times. In DuNoon, where they live, it is the norm. Yolanda longs to be a social worker. She says: “If I can earn some big money when all the World Cup fans arrive that will be my dream. Maybe I could go to a government department and try to get some identity documents, get out of this life.” Her sister Lavola, who looks older than her years in her tight-fitting top and thigh-high denim skirt, is just 16. With Yolande and Sam, Lavola leaves the chaotic settlement of shacks and poor government housing at DuNoon and dodges traffic to take up her place on the hard shoulder each morning. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifTyRFMH4z8vOuzAXrMvO9Lj3NLhYXWhv-bwCBgekTg8QLwHaeRyGamPTYgSYw91subdmt0RbULtCKRN1yCnZb5a1xjaOXmd9zH4U2C5vphquWH2GcSy9ihmw2A-X4rTdi_Dxz-KcJCE8/s1600-h/soccer-new-stad-ct.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344579966902096322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifTyRFMH4z8vOuzAXrMvO9Lj3NLhYXWhv-bwCBgekTg8QLwHaeRyGamPTYgSYw91subdmt0RbULtCKRN1yCnZb5a1xjaOXmd9zH4U2C5vphquWH2GcSy9ihmw2A-X4rTdi_Dxz-KcJCE8/s400/soccer-new-stad-ct.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 384px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 235px" /></a>The girls manage to stop half a dozen vehicles each day, climb in without a thought for their safety, and receive around £10 a time for sex acts with strangers. The reason for optimism ... Cape Town's new stadium They say they always use condoms, stolen in quantities from the health clinic in DuNoon. “They would give us some for free, but not enough for our work,” said Lavola. They know about HIV/AIDS – they have grown up with it – but it is just an occupational hazard. Samantha, 16 like Lavola, told matter-of-factly how her sick mum had “finished her course of pills”. Samantha says: “My dream is to find a nice man one day, marry him and have babies and a good life. “I would take my sister and brother and my mother out of DuNoon and we would live together somewhere without problems.” The youngster has already had her six-month-old baby, Tania, taken into foster care. She says: “The baby was an accident. My boyfriend at the time had no money and we didn’t know what to do.” Sometimes she visits Tania and, smiling like the child she still is, she tells me: “I like to hold her.” The young absentee mum then explains her background. “My father was lazy and didn’t work. He drank a lot so one day my grandmother came and took me and my mother. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisoaiwvSsF_yKXtV2aLDG-1V5joqfI49QYP9v8OiHRujzj6ZsYIVRP3fTqYep_UjQSMk86vIgPhx5W4aIfO6cZbruH0QxtBQPOd1amzy4hXK09Tzxim3-pr3vZso6QM1LZy1Zxy4xsDNs/s1600-h/FiFa_South_Africa_2010.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344583760033187922" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisoaiwvSsF_yKXtV2aLDG-1V5joqfI49QYP9v8OiHRujzj6ZsYIVRP3fTqYep_UjQSMk86vIgPhx5W4aIfO6cZbruH0QxtBQPOd1amzy4hXK09Tzxim3-pr3vZso6QM1LZy1Zxy4xsDNs/s200/FiFa_South_Africa_2010.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 183px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8RvWTRqXf7sczBzOC_NNRcM2BFr6TAZCIImYU6hrppTB8X9VrLoSO8fOI84z-B1WVCgDQWJJYwb2DUlyKY8jkhgmsTaZGSOb4zT9mTo0SrmN1r04o-czrXmLhlUgaBH2F1zWnJCg_gtk/s1600-h/FiFa_South_Africa_2010.jpg"></a>“She brought us here but after two months she died. The rest of the family were unkind to us. “I had to get up at 5am every day and fetch water from the river in a bucket, then walk to school. Top event ... South Africa 2010 “As I got older some bad girls I knew said they would take me to a Somalian guy and he would give me money. I said ‘No, I don’t want to do that.’ They found a Nigerian guy instead and he had sex with me in his house and gave me £7. “I realised this was the only way I would ever have any money.” The three girls know they are breaking the law but their poverty, ignorance and desperation prevents them from changing. Prostitution is rife in South Africa. The Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Trust wants the law changed to decriminalise the girls. Spokesman Vivienne Lalu said: “We want to reduce the risk to sex workers, to give them a health regime and police protection from violence. They are at immense risk of HIV and need to have free health checks to protect them and their clients. “Our concern is for the sex workers in a situation where clients will actually pay more for sex without condoms. We want legal rights for all prostitutes.” South African MPs recently discussed the possibility of legalising prostitution for the duration of the 2010 World Cup. No final decision has been taken. For anyone paying to play away in 2010, it could be a deadly mistake. source - <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1018041.ece">http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1018041.ece</a>

AIDS girls on World Cup game

PROSTITUTES in South Africa are preparing to cash in on England fans during the 2010 footie World Cup. But HALF the nation’s hookers are inf...

6:05 AM

Entire sex industry should be criminalised

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkH1RSyCqao9MlmmNY9ZzRRzyjfXAoUtOSknNgZecBc9d8nHdGqGMCxpVcWpV_KZEkpZec-ZBRjOBKBC6HTID0QZKl8oRfQ8NT2y9w2DANW0HQzxiluaYYPubctcpl0F-e7mvXJG20iag/s1600-h/sex-workers-hoes.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340910562248220194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkH1RSyCqao9MlmmNY9ZzRRzyjfXAoUtOSknNgZecBc9d8nHdGqGMCxpVcWpV_KZEkpZec-ZBRjOBKBC6HTID0QZKl8oRfQ8NT2y9w2DANW0HQzxiluaYYPubctcpl0F-e7mvXJG20iag/s400/sex-workers-hoes.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 296px" /></a>The question of legalising prostitution in South Africa for the World Cup is becoming increasingly pertinent in view of compelling evidence. On July 7, 2000, Germany was announced as the host nation for the 2006 world cup finals. In 2002, prostitution was legalised in preparation for the tournament. This pattern is currently being repeated in South Africa. The "Report of the Act Regulating the Legal Situation of Prostitutes (Prostitution Act)" published by the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth states that: "In 2006, the issues of trafficking in human beings and forced prostitution drew great media attention in the context of the Fifa Football World Cup. At home and abroad, not least on account of the distorted reporting on the matter, supporters of a general ban on prostitution criticised both Germany's attitude to prostitution and the Prostitution Act. "For example, the Prostitution Act was accused of not having improved the prostitutes' social and legal position, and of promoting prostitution and favouring brothel operators and pimps. In addition, the Prostitution Act, as it was claimed, made it more difficult to combat trafficking in human beings and forced prostitution." These discussions - along with its obligation to report to the German Bundestag - encouraged the German federal government to revisit the goals of the Prostitution Act. The goals were: <ul><li>For prostitution to no longer be considered immoral; </li><li>To ensure that prostitutes could take legal action to enforce their pay; </li><li>To facilitate access to social insurance; </li><li>To remove the breeding ground for prostitution-related crime; </li><li>To make it easier for prostitutes to leave prostitution; and </li><li>To improve working conditions (which pose as few health risks as possible). </li></ul>The "Report on the Prostitution Act" summarised the federal government's conclusions as follows: "The federal government believes that the Prostitution Act has only to a limited degree achieved the goals intended by the legislator. <ul><li>Although it has been possible to create the legal framework to enable contracts of employment to be concluded that are subject to social insurance, few have as yet made use of this option. The Prostitution Act has thus, up to now, also not been able to make actual, measurable improvements to prostitutes' social protection. </li><li>As regards improving prostitutes' work conditions, hardly any measurable, positive impact has been observed. At most there are tentative signs that point in this direction. It is especially in this area that no short-term improvements that could benefit the prostitutes are to be expected. </li></ul>The Prostitution Act has not recognisably improved the prostitutes' means for leaving prostitution. <ul><li>There are as yet no viable indications that the Prostitution Act has reduced crime. The Prostitution Act has as yet contributed very little in terms of improving transparency in the world of prostitution. </li></ul>On the other hand, the fears that were partly linked to the Prostitution Act have not proved true, in particular in the area of fighting crime. The Prostitution Act has not made it more difficult to prosecute trafficking in human beings, forced prostitution and other prostitution-related violence." Since South Africa won the right to host the 2010 World Cup tournament, various officials and organisations have been lobbying for the decriminalisation of prostitution - ostensibly to secure the "human rights" of women trapped in sexual slavery. The terrible abuse and sexual exploitation of women and children trapped in prostitution have been a blight on our nation for many years. Why the urgency now to decriminalise the sex industry - a policy the overwhelming body of international evidence shows does not help women and children in prostitution? The answer lies in the fact that this morally reprehensible, but lucrative trade in human flesh, stands to make crime syndicates, sex traffickers and corrupt officials millions of rands and underscores the point that legalised prostitution has nothing to do with the human rights of women and children - and all to do with the money it will generate for these human parasites. Significantly, research drawn from nations such as Australia, New Zealand, Germany and the Netherlands shows that decriminalising or legalising prostitution does not improve or ensure the human rights and dignity of women and girls trapped in prostitution. At the most basic level, an expansion of the sex industry in its current forms will be accompanied by increased incidences of violence. Since legalisation, violence against women in prostitution does not seem to have decreased in the Netherlands or Victoria. There are even suggestions that it has increased. (Jeffreys 1997, Daley 2001). The only people who benefited from this policy are organised crime figures, sex traffickers and pimps. Tragically, legalised prostitution in these nations has removed barriers and thrown the door open to international sex traffickers to operate with impunity. As a result, there has been an explosion in legal and illegal street prostitution, child prostitution, drug dealing and money laundering. The mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, has admitted that this policy has failed in the Netherlands. Organised crime dominates the sex industry. On May 18, Adam Walters reported in The Daily Telegraph that illegal brothels were exploding across Sydney in Australia, amid accusations that all levels of government were doing little to drive them out of business. It has been claimed "tough" new laws have failed to prevent unprotected sex, slavery and corruption. An investigation by The Daily Telegraph revealed illegal brothels and escort services outnumbered licensed establishments by four to one - and the gap is growing. The Adult Business Association (ABA) estimates the number of illegal sex services in the metropolitan area exceeds 400. "It's out of control," association spokesman Chris Seage said. Despite the introduction of legislation 18 months ago to ease the burden of proof for councils that want to close illegal brothels, the ABA said they continued to thrive. Alarmingly, the crisis in Australia is being repeated in other major First World countries that have legalised or decriminalised prostitution. Bonnie Erbe, contributing editor at US News & World Report, wrote in the June 15 2006 Seattle Post-Intelligencer article headed "Cry Foul on World Cup Prostitution" that "Germany is one of several European nations where prostitution is legal. Germany came late to this game, in 2002. "In only four years, it built up a work force of 400 000-strong for its multibillion-dollar annual prostitution business. My admiration for relaxed European attitudes towards sex comes to an excruciatingly cacophonous halt on the issue of legalised prostitution. "Women's-rights activists believe the German government's sanctioning of sex services for world cup visitors will drive the illicit international trade in sex trafficking. This, in turn, could force thousands of unwilling women into prostitution. "Whether women enter the sex trade willingly or not, no government should sanction prostitution. By its very nature, prostitution is demeaning to women and encourages antisocial, some would say depraved, behaviour by men. ...German officials... should ban prostitution altogether. Sanctioning of sex services for World Cup visitors will drive the illicit international trade in sex trafficking." Gunilla Ekberg, special adviser to the Swedish division for gender equality in the Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications, wrote an article titled "The Swedish Law That Prohibits the Purchase of Sexual Services: Best Practices for Prevention of Prostitution and Trafficking in Human Beings." Published in the October 2004 issue of Violence Against Women, it said: "In Sweden, prostitution is officially acknowledged as a form of male sexual violence against women and children. "One of the cornerstones of Swedish policies against prostitution and trafficking in human beings is the focus on the root cause - the recognition that without men's demand for and use of women and girls for sexual exploitation, the global prostitution industry would not be able to flourish and expand. "Prostitution is a serious problem to society at large. "Therefore, prostituted women and children are seen as victims of male violence. Instead, they have a right to assistance to escape prostitution." We agree and call for the criminalising of the entire sex industry with particular focus on men who solicit and buy sex, procurers, pimps and sex traffickers. This must be accompanied by government-supported exit programmes to help women and girls escape prostitution.

Entire sex industry should be criminalised

The question of legalising prostitution in South Africa for the World Cup is becoming increasingly pertinent in view of compelling evidence....

8:59 AM

South Africa P.I.G.

AIDS girls on World Cup game

Entire sex industry should be criminalised

Popular Posts

Blog Archive