Printer-friendly versionSend to friend

A local-level association of sex workers utilizes a surveillance team from within a sex brothel to watch for and prevent the trafficking of under-aged girls.  When the surveillance team composed of senior inmates sees a suspicious activity occurring, they try to obtain background information from the under-aged girl.  The surveillance team then notifies the sex workers’ association.  Based on that information, the association sends a trusted person to the girl’s parents’ or relatives’ house and notifies them of the whereabouts of their daughter.

According to the World Health Organization, child abuse and exploitation in Asia is largely under-reported or ‘hidden’ (“Child Sexual Abuse and Violence,” Online).  In countries like Bangladesh, women and children are being trafficked in areas such as prostitution, pornography, and sex tourism (Firoze, Online).  A government statistic, which states that 16 registered brothels exist in Bangladesh where around 10,000 girls are forced into prostitution, indicates the extent of this problem (Firoze, Online).  Today, Bangladesh has ratified the Conventions on Combating Trafficking in Women and Children and on Child Welfare; yet until the problem of child abuse and exploitation is addressed at and dealt with at the local level, this form of abuse will continue to exist.

The sex workers’ association in Banisata Brothel, located in Banisata, Dacope, has sought to give meaning to this problem of child abuse and exploitation.  The association is community-based, self-help, self-organized, and self-funded.  Its activities revolve around prevention approaches such as rescuing.

The association has surveillance teams at sex brothels.  Most often, elders and senior inmates compose these teams.  These senior sex workers have relatively more spare time because they are either unemployed or they work in small trades.  In addition, their status indicates that they are more knowledgeable about the sex industry and can therefore be more observant of what is happening at the brothel.  When these inmates see under-aged girls being brought into the brothel, they keep track of where the girl is being kept.  Through windows or other openings, they communicate with the captive girl.  The team tries to find out information from the girl such as what village she is from, who she is, how old she is, who her relatives are, and whether or not she came to the brothel willingly.  Based on the information they collect, the surveillance team notifies the association.  The association then sends a trusted person to the girl’s house.  There, the trusted person informs the parents or relatives of the incident.  The next step rests on the parents or relatives to take action by going to the brothel and claiming their daughter back.

The association’s tactic creates community awareness and strength between the girl, the community, the team, and the association.  It promotes resilience and connection rather than acceptance and silence.  Having a surveillance team from the inside of the brothel indicates to the community the readiness of sex workers to help.  The tactic has been effective in many cases at rescuing under-aged girls.  In one case for example, the association notified a girl’s father and he came to the brothel to claim her back.

In implementing the tactic in another context, it is important to remember the local-level, grassroots characteristic of the organization.  The association is community-based, self-organized, and self-help; this therefore can lead to community acceptance and even involvement.  In addition, it is important to keep in mind that the surveillance team comes from within the sex brothel and is organized based on integrity and experience, 2) the association involves the community by notifying the parents or relatives to take action, and 3) the captive girl is not left voiceless but given a chance to participate in her rescue.  Possible challenges that may emerge are  with children who are trafficked from another country, who are orphans, or whose family sold them to the traffickers.  For this reason, it is important to acknowledge that this tactic is transferable in situations where the  child is kidnapped or taken without the child’s family’s knowledge.

Completed June 23, 2003.