As the coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep around the world, with more than half-a-million cases of the disease and close to 24,000 deaths worldwide along with the economic devastation caused by lockdowns and business closings meant to control spread of the virus, sex workers are pleading with their governments to include them in the economic relief packages that most countries will provide.
AVN.com has reported earlier on sex workers in Bolivia and Bangladesh who are struggling after their governments shut down legalized brothels to help curb the pandemic.
Now, sex workers in South Africa have launched an appeal to that country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, to guarantee that their profession is included in the Temporary Employer and Employee Relief Scheme which will prop up businesses and pay the wages of workers forced to stay home during the coronavirus pandemic.
South Africa, a country of 59 million, has reported 927 cases of coronavirus infection as of Thursday—but so far, at least, no South African had been reported to die of the disease.
But unlike in Bolivia, Bangladesh, Germany and other counties, sex work remains illegal in Siuth Africa, leading the country’s Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce, and the National Movement of Sex Workers to appeal to the government for inclusion in the TEERP.
“Will it include sex workers? Sex work is currently criminalized in South Africa and sex workers are considered criminals—not workers,” a statement issued by the groups said. “As the hardest-hit group of workers by the global pandemic, they will most likely not qualify for the Temporary Employer and Employee Relief Scheme.”
Since the coronavirus outbreak hit South Africa, the groups say, sex workers have seen a drastic drop in business, pushing them farther to the “margins” of society, and forcing them to be exposed to increased “risky sexual behavior and violence.”
Sex workers in India—which imposed a lockdown on its entire population of 1.3 billion starting Tuesday—issued a similar appeal on Thursday, as the LGBTQ rights group Jimme Foundation launched an effort to raise funds for Mumbai sex workers who have been left without income by the shutdown.
Mumbai was largely shut down prior to Tuesday’s nationwide order.
"As a part of a community that has faced social ostracism, the onus is on us that we stand up with others who also are at the receiving end of prejudice," the Jimme Foundation said in a statement quoted by Reuters—noting that large numbers of sex workers in the Indian city of 18 million inhabitants are single mothers who struggle to feed their children on a weekly basis.
"Sex workers survive on daily income from customers," rights advocate Bani Das told Reuters. "They don't have masks, hand sanitizers, even sanitary pads. They are in a miserable state."
Photo by John Walker / Wikimedia Commons Public Domain
