March 3, 2006 Boys as well as girls are selling their bodies, according to Albu van Eeden, the chief executive of Doctors for Life (DFL), which runs a centre in the heart of the city's notorious Point area to rescue and help prostitutes rehabilitate themselves. Many of the child prostitutes are orphans, whose parents have died from Aids. The development has also brought a changing attitude among clients, said van Eeden. Just as pornography is an addiction which is progressive and driven by the need for bigger kicks, so clients are going for younger and younger prostitutes. But getting to the child prostitutes to help rehabilitate them was proving "difficult" as they were protected by pimps, he said. DFL had, however, successfully rescued some 14-year-olds from the streets. Van Eeden said this on the eve of International Sex Worker Rights Day, which the South African Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (Sweat) is celebrating tomorrow with a group of sex workers in Cape Town. Sweat wants the industry decriminalised, arguing that it will enable sex workers to get better protection in the workplace. They would then be able to open bank accounts, get loans and take their escort agency bosses to the Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. The SA Law Reform Commission is currently producing a discussion paper on possible changes to the legislation. Sweat director Jayne Arnott said the organisation would also launch a campaign to stop arrests of sex workers under loitering by-laws. After research in Cape Town, Sweat believes that the police are abusing by-laws and indiscriminately targeting sex workers. Arnott claimed human rights infringements were taking place and sex workers were being verbally and physically abused and this included police officers pepper-spraying sex workers in the back of police vans. There were also reports of police demanding sexual services in lieu of not arresting sex workers, she said. Meanwhile, outgoing Deputy Mayor of the eThekwini Muni-cipality, Logie Naidoo, said when the national green light was given, the city could well have a red light district. Julie-May Ellingson, the city's strategic projects leader, is reported to have said the planning and development committee would investigate setting up an adult red light entertainment district. No details of exactly where this might be located have been given. Adult sex workers needed to know that help was available; that by learning new skills, there were other ways of making a living, she said. But any move to decrim-inalise the industry and set up a red light district in Durban would be opposed by DFL (as well as other objectors). Legalising it would attract more girls to the business, Van Eeden said. "Keeping it illegal remains a very powerful incentive to a girl to ask for help and rehabilitation." Decriminalisation would send an official message that prostitution was an acceptable profession. Legalisation meant the state became the pimp, collecting taxes and acting on behalf of customers to ensure the products were not contam-inated with sexually-transmitted infections. Van Eeden called on the government to help nongovernmental organisations to help rehabilitate prostitutes. "If more money was available in terms of accommodation and skills training, more prostitutes would quit." DFL comprises 1 300 (on date published) doctors - 75% South African and the rest overseas - and has already rehabilitated more than 200 sex workers since the Point operation opened nearly a year ago. 'Doctors for Life International' represents more than 1400 medical doctors and specialists, three-quarters of who practice in South Africa. Since 1991 DFL has been actively promoting health care that is safe and efficient for all South Africans. DFL was founded as a South African organization in 1991 and has spread across the globe. DFL is involved in several community projects including orphan care, the care of terminal AIDS patients, malaria prevention and the care of abused women. |