Sex workers who were recently evicted from a brothel in Tangail, along with sex workers who were similarly evicted a year ago in Madaripur, demanded the right to return to their homes during a protest organised by the Sex Workers Network (SWN) of Bangladesh yesterday.
Sex workers and their civil society allies formed a human chain at the National Press Club yesterday where their spokespersons said they had been evicted without warning and under duress.
Speakers said on July 10, the followers of the mayor of Tangail had given them a three-hour ultimatum to vacate the brothel premises. They said the decision to evict them was allegedly taken at a meeting between Mayor Shahidur Rahman Khan Mukti and local MP Amanur Rahman Khan Rana.
On July 12, the local mayor’s followers disconnected the power supply of the brothel area after the sex workers defied the ultimatum, said Chumki Begum, vice president of SWN.
After the power was cut, the brothel workers left the premises, fearing for their lives. “Now the evicted sex workers and their children have no place to live and they are shunned by mainstream society,” said ex-president of SWN, Shahnaz Begum.
The mayor of Tangail denied the allegations made against him. “I am not the type of person that would evict them from the brothel without offering some sort of rehabilitation. They left the brothel willingly. Their organization never contacted me about their demands. They were evicted by their landlords,” said Mayor Shahidur Rahman Khan.
“House owners ordered the sex workers to leave the brothel because they were being harassed by the local people. Forced eviction is a violation. How could I, an elected representative, force them out of their homes?” he questioned.
“I promise if they come to me for rehabilitation or for living space, then I will look into it,” Shahidur told the Dhaka Tribune over the phone.
His story was disputed by the sex workers’ group. Aklima Akhter Akhi, leader of the Tangail brothel, said: “I informed the local mayor many times about the threats made against us. Even when sex workers were fleeing the brothel in fear for their lives and I asked the mayor to intervene, he did nothing.”
Some influential residents of the area tried to have the brothel evicted in 2006. But protests by sex workers and support from the district administration helped the sex workers remain where they were.
The protesters demanded the government and local administration step in to help them. They also raised issues regarding ambiguities in the law to be eliminated, for street-walking sex workers to not be arrested, for allocations in the national budget to improve the lives of sex workers and their children, and to protect sex workers from being evicted from brothels. Representatives of Care Bangladesh, Action Aid, ICDDRB, HASAB, UNAIDS, Save the Children, BLAST, and ASK participated in the human chain.
