December, 2006

A Thought on International Human Rights Day
The Double Discrimination of Mainland Sex Workers

Rose Wu

Three month ago I was invited by Zi Teng, a sex worker rights group in Hong Kong, to write the preface for their newest publication entitled Two-Way Secrets: Life Stories of Twelve Sex Workers from Mainland China. After reading all the stories, I was not only deeply touched by these women's strong will and courage to survive and to overcome many difficult situations in their lives, but I was also greatly disturbed by the Hong Kong government's unjust system and our society's attitudes of prejudice towards sex workers, especially those who come from mainland China.

As the staff of Zi Teng noted, there is hardly anyone in our society trying to understand why and how these women left their home to come to Hong Kong and ended up providing sexual services in Hong Kong. In spite of their poverty and lack of education, they still want to shoulder their family responsibilities by coming to Hong Kong to work. No one cares what these women actually experience in Hong Kong though because they are already condemned by our society as immoral and bad women. Therefore, Zi Teng decided to publish these stories with the hope that the public will understand more about the unknown side of mainland sex workers in order to change their discriminatory attitude toward these women.

According to the first World Female Imprisonment List, 2,708 women and girls were imprisoned in jails and detention centres in Hong Kong at the end of October last year. These results earn Hong Kong the distinction of having the highest proportion of female prisoners in the world. A study done by criminologist Karen Joe Laidler and law professors Robyn Emerton and Carole Petersen found that there was a significant increase of mainland sex workers who were jailed in Hong Kong from 3,646 in 2000 to 11,794 in 2005. The study indicates that the prostitution trade in Hong Kong has boomed since 2003 when the individual tourist programme was introduced. Visitor numbers soared from 500,000 in 1997 to 10.5 million last year with more than half of all mainland tourists entering as individual travellers.

In Hong Kong, sex work is not against the law, but the industry is heavily restricted. For example, there are laws banning prostitutes from soliciting or massaging clients, and landlords can be charged for renting flats used by prostitutes. Such laws have forced sex workers to go underground, leaving them open to abuse by the police and clients.

Since the Hong Kong government eliminated the free test for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) for transit travellers in 2003, mainland sex workers have been exposed to a greater risk of STDs and HIV/AIDS. According to Zi Teng, this year's number of mainland sex workers using the service of government social hygiene clinics dropped 40 percent compared with the number in 2004. They often ignore their health problems until they leave Hong Kong as it is too expensive for them to receive medical check-ups or treatment in Hong Kong. Zi Teng thus has set up a mobile clinic for mainland sex workers to receive appropriate medical service and support.

Moreover, as mainland sex workers are illegal workers in Hong Kong, their lack of understanding of their rights and Hong Kong's laws create an opportunity for law enforcement authorities to abuse and harass them. According to Zi Teng's recent survey, in response to increased police activity, 80 percent of prostitutes did not have condoms for their clients as they were afraid that these would be used by the police as evidence against them. Among the 80 sex workers Zi Teng reached at the government clinics and during their outreach service, they found that the number of women who insist on their clients using condoms dropped 20 percent compared with the number in 2005. Furthermore, they will also stay in their flats instead of standing on the streets. When they can find a client, they will take anyone, even bad clients, who may insist that they do not wear a condom or who may rob or rape or abuse them.

Zi Teng's social worker Elise Chung also adds that sex workers are very often abused by the police in Hong Kong. The current police code of conduct during undercover operations, which account for 90 percent of all arrests, allows police to accept manual stimulation from sex workers but no oral sex or sexual intercourse. However, Chung points out that, in reality, it is very common for the police to breach their code of conduct to ask for full sexual services with the migrant sex workers.

Legislator Margaret Ng agreed that the police code of conduct allows too much room for abuse. She also commented that allowing the police to exploit the vulnerability of sex workers for free sexual services is a form of corruption, a phenomenon that will harm the morale of the police force.

In addition to the maltreatment above, Chung also worries about the abuse of these women in the criminal justice system. Many women will plead guilty, even when they are not, because this is the quickest way to get home. An appeal may take a year while a guilty plea takes two months.

From a human rights perspective, we believe that all women, regardless of their profession, social status, religion or race, have the same human rights, that they are equal and entitled to fair and equal treatment in the legal and judicial system, that no one should be oppressed. We also believe that sex work is work, and sex workers are entitled to basic legal, labour and human rights. They should never be treated as criminals unless they are really found breaking the law. As we study the experiences of mainland sex workers in Hong Kong, it is quite clear that they face double discrimination, that is, the current unjust system of laws and the disadvantaged position of mainland sex workers. We believe it can only improve when current laws are revised and the public's discriminatory attitude changes. It is for these reasons that we support Zi Teng's campaign to abolish laws on prostitution.

Our Christmas Gift

For this Christmas, HKCI will invite all Christians to share the love and compassion of God by extending our friendship and hospitality to the asylum-seekers in Hong Kong. We remember again that baby Jesus and his parents were forced to leave Bethlehem to Egypt in order to escape the threat of King Herod. We hope that the birth of Jesus brings us a new hope for our world today: the hungry are fed, the prisoners are freed and the strangers are offered hospitality.