They were also raped by
soldiers and security officers, the Sex Workers National Indaba was told on
Tuesday (30 October 2018).
National Key Populations
and Vulnerable Groups Officer Khanyisile Lukhele from the Swaziland National
AIDS Programme (SNAP) revealed the statistics. Lukhele also said 44 per cent of
those who were raped were afraid to report the attack for fear of being
stigmatised.
The Swazi Observer reported she said half the sex workers who took part
in a survey said they were refused police protection and some had been
blackmailed and physically harassed.
Sex workers from across
Swaziland gave testimony at the workshop. The Observer reported, ‘The sex workers said they
do not get any police protection and every time they are attacked and call the
police they are simply told to go to sleep.
‘They said the sad part was that some of the attacks
are done by the same police officers who should be protecting them.’
Chief Police Information and Communications Officer
Phindile Vilakati disputed the sex workers’ accounts. The Observer reported, ‘She said [police] view such accusations as a
way to tarnish their name.’
This was not the first time police in Swaziland had
been said to rape sex workers. In August 2017 Swaziland’s police chief Isaac Magagula denied his officers used sex workers without paying. His comment came when
he said prostitutes were an ‘infestation of our cities’.
Police had been clamping down against female sex workers across the kingdom. In a statement published in Swazi media National Commissioner of Police Magagula said it was wrong to say that sex workers, ‘are targeted because of sour grapes that police officers are failing to pay for services rendered’.
Police had been clamping down against female sex workers across the kingdom. In a statement published in Swazi media National Commissioner of Police Magagula said it was wrong to say that sex workers, ‘are targeted because of sour grapes that police officers are failing to pay for services rendered’.
He did not state that
police officers did not use the services of prostitutes. Prostitution is
illegal in Swaziland.
There is a lot of evidence
that policeman in Swaziland use prostitutes. A survey published by the
Swaziland Government in 2007 on female sex workers listed police
officers among their ‘commonest clients.’
Separately, in 2010, Alec Lushaba,
then editor of the Weekend Observer
newspaper in Swaziland, wrote,
‘In a country known for its skyrocketing HIV and AIDS rates, conservatism,
Christianity and traditional mores, it may come as a surprise that the abuse
and rape of sex workers in Swaziland at the hands of police is a growing and
widespread problem.
‘Sex work, known as one of
the oldest trades, is still illegal in the country, yet sex workers have
reported targeted campaigns of rape and violence at the hands of Swazi police.’
In an article
published by Gender Links,
Lushaba wrote, ‘A recent report by Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse
(SWAAGA), in partnership with other local organisations, noted: “It is not just
that they are arrested, to a greater or lesser degree they are forced by police
to comply with demands for free sex or sex in exchange for not being arrested.”’
See also
Poverty
forces girls into sex work
Parents trade own girls for sex
Soldiers sex for food with girls, 14
Police drive against sex workers
http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/police-drive-against-sex-workers.html
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