By Flavia Nassaka
HIV advocates have condemned the continued harassment of sex workers by especially police officers who defraud them of their heard earned cash in the disguise of implementing COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Macklean Kyomya, Executive Director at Alliance of Women Advocating for Change (AWAC), an organization that advocates for rights of key populations said that they have recorded complaints of officers breaking into hotel rooms and arresting sex workers while forcing them to pay a bribe.
Calling for an investigation into the monies extorted from sex workers by police officers while handling such cases, Kyomya says at a recent raid that happened at a guest house in Rubaga division, girls reported paying not less than Shs100, 000 to be released.
“In Kisenyi they have actually upgraded the hotspots. Initially they were these small houses but now the girls operate on top floors of the flats. Police get into those buildings, break the doors and they take the girls out”.
Calling for president Museveni not to accent to the controversially passed Sexual Offenses Bill, Kyomya said the police are already warming up for it’s coming into force since it criminalizes sex work.
While on the face of it, the bill passed by parliament in May was meant to prevent sexual violence and repeal outdated provisions in other laws on sexual offenses, human rights activists say the bill infringes on rights of individuals.
For instance, shortly after it was passed, the Human Rights Watch issued a statement highlighting that the piece of law violates international human rights law by criminalizing consensual sexual acts between adults and yet falls short in its definition of consent.
“Ugandan lawmakers should focus on ending endemic sexual violence rather than seeing this as an opportunity to imbed abusive provisions that criminalize the sex lives of consenting adults,” said Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch in the statement.
“Sexual offenses legislation should advance the rights of survivors and potential victims of violence, not enshrine rights violations into law.” Apart from criminalizing sex work, the law also criminalizes lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
However, while it’s unclear how these other groups are thriving during thelockdown, Kyomya says her organization has had to rescue sex workers who were being held in custody and they reported majority of their colleagues to have paid their way out of detention.
Similar stories are told by another Rights Activist Richard Lusimbo who doubles as the National Coordinator for the Uganda Key Populations Consortium (UKPC) says they have rescued nine girls in Mbale district who had been detained over sex work.
While the Presidential directive of curfew starting at 7pm has pushed sex workers off the street, Lusimbo says the women have found themselves in a hard place without food and are not considered among the vulnerable groups considered to receive the shs100, 000 cash relief from government.
“There has been loss of livelihood which has left a lot of sex workers, men who have sex with men and transgender homeless and there’s the issue of food. Unfortunately government programmes do not target our communities”.
He pushes for inclusion of key populations in programming such as sex workers, prisoners and injection drug users among others as recognized group of people in Uganda whose needs should be put into account since already some national policies and programmes like the National HIV and AIDS strategic plan has recognized them.
But, Dr. Daniel Byamukama who heads HIV Prevention at the Uganda AIDS Commission says this is hard currently with current societal prejudices, especially the call to repel laws criminalizing sexual activity and sex work.
“It’s difficult to change laws. We made proposals that continued advocacy will create for us people who are knowledgeable and understanding that they don’t have a right to judge others. It will take time”.
He however notes that the commission is set to conduct a legal environment assessment. In this exercise, he says even the sexual offenses bill which is not yet accented to will be evaluated where the consultant will among others ask communities and other stakeholders their view about the legal regime in relation to the HIV/AIDS response.
The report from this assessment will then act as a guide or reference book for MPs when legislating such issues as human rights and HIV.
“The voices are coming in that even before this law is signed, the new sexual offenses bill, let the consultants evaluate it. This will be a national report and all stakeholders are involved”.
