sex work
Life of sex workers inside Dhaka
Brokers are forcing women and girls from different parts of Bangladesh into prostitution in the name of providing jobs to Dhaka
Inside the world of Dhaka sex workers
Women and girls are brought to Dhaka by brokers in the name of giving them jobs but are forced into prostitution by different means, including blackmailing
Sonali, Reshmi, and Jahanara talked with this reporter about how they have to continue working after entering this profession. Each of them claims that brokers have never been more powerful than they are now. Because, earlier the profession was directly controlled by the workers.
Now everything is like this brother gang.
They are the ones who get the customers, who allocate the space, who earn the income…we just do the work, Sonali said.
Prostitution is not banned in Bangladesh but the Constitution discourages it while some laws criminalize buying and selling of underage girls for this purpose. On the other hand, an adult woman can engage herself in this profession through a declaration in front of a magistrate and can stay at government-registered brothels. However, there is no brothel in Dhaka or nearby areas.
Moreover, due to the eviction of several large brothels in Tangail and Narayanganj, and the customers’ unwillingness to visit brothels fearing for their reputation, the demand for floating sex workers or those linked to hotels is on the rise.
Prostitution behind ‘spa centres’
Nowadays, visiting cards in the name of various brothers can be seen scattered on the road since the demand, as well as the number of floating sex workers has risen. The cards contain only names and phone numbers. There is no address.
After seeing a brother’s card, a person called the number in the guise of a customer called Rimon (pseudonym). He was called at the Kakali bus stand in Banani. They said to have university students and models among the sex workers. The broker’s man accompanied Rimon from Kakali to an apartment in Banani Graveyard Lane.
Rimon found that all the flats in that apartment had different offices and he was welcomed at an apartment upstairs, arranged like a spa center. He was shown 6–7 girls and asked to choose from them.
The girls were very young and they cannot be called the educated class,” Rimon told this reporter sharing his experience. When he wanted to come out, saying he did not like the girls, the main broker appeared from inside and tried to stop him, threatening him in various ways. Later, Rimon was able to come out using multiple tricks. But then he was threatened over the phone by different numbers, saying that the CCTV footage would be made public.
How girls become sex workers
Nasima, a 14-year-old girl from Dhaka’s Vasantek slum, was told to go to work one day by Rahima Khala of the neighboring street. By making her go to this job for a continuous month, Rahima lured her with the assurance of earning money quickly. She finally succeeded. Nasima is now a sex worker. She gets work through two brokers.
“If you don’t follow their words, you will be subjected to physical abuse. These ‘brothers’ work by area. They have girls in their hands and teach girls the tricks of pulling one girl over another. When a new girl is brought to the hotel to talk about work, the brokers record a video and force her to continue working as a sex worker,” Nasima added.
Ann activist working with sex workers, Ayesha Akhter Mim, said: “Usually, girls are brought from the villages by talking about love; thus, each ‘brother’ builds his circle with many such girls. Guardianless women are brought from villages in the name of working in garments.
“However, many women now come to this profession voluntarily, despite having other ‘better’ life opportunities.”
Girls brought from outside Dhaka
The women and girls brought from outside Dhaka are kept in rented houses. Most of these girls become sex workers without understanding. Those who come from outside Dhaka are put to work forcibly and are threatened with sharing videos with family members. Then they are forced to continue working. These sex workers stay in one place for 10–15 days and then return to the village. Next time, they will be asked to come to Dhaka again for a few days.
Mentioning an incident, Ayesha said: “Once a 12-year-old girl came from the village and got involved in this work. After receiving the news, one of our colleagues met her as a customer and gave her a mobile phone. Later, she was rescued from the circle. But she could not go back to her village and now works with us.”
According to the sex workers, clients have to pay Tk500–4,000 per job based on the time. But the sex workers get 10–15% of this. The rest of the money is taken by the broker, house or hotel renters, and others — precisely, the police.
Shahnaz, the founder of Jiboner Alo — a sex workers’ organization, said: “The police know everything about who works in which area. There is an understanding between the police and brokers. Sometimes we are forced to do four after going for one job. If we don’t want to do it, the brokers threaten us with the police. If you can capture the brokers, then they’ll reveal who has ties with whom.”
Customer risk is high
Shahnaz has been working with sex workers and their rights for a long time.
She said: “There is a risk for both us and the customers in contacting the ‘brothers’ by looking at the card and going to their homes and hotels. However, the risk is higher for customers.
“They might force me to do four jobs and deprive me of money for one. But there are many brokers, who pull customers like this and snatch valuables from them. Those customers cannot complain to the police station or anywhere else. Due to social restrictions, they cannot go anywhere and tell what happened to them.
“This was not the case when brokers did not have the entire system under their clutches.”
This reporter contacted the police stations in the areas where the hideouts of the “brothers” were found, but none of them wanted to admit it.
Additional Commissioner of the Detective Branch of Police Harun-or-Rashid said they have learned about prostitution taking place in different houses and hotels in the capital. “Investigations on these issues are carried out at various times. The detectives are working to bring those involved under the law.”
An influential “brother” of the Mirpur area refused to speak at first when contacted about the allegations of giving less money to girls and various forms of harassment.
However, he blamed the girls, saying:
The girls who became known in this profession are the ones who get us into trouble. We do not hold back or underpay any girl. They already know how much money they will get. Even with the police, they have better connections than us
