Policemen Sleeping with Us Without Using Condoms – Ashawo Girls Cry Out

Wahala dey oh! A community based organization of s*x workers, Ohotu Diamond Women Initiative (ODWI) has called on the Nigerian Police to stop abuse on sex workers. In a statement by the group, they lamented over what they termed the widely misunderstanding status about s*x work:

“The illegal status of s*x work in most countries, including Nigeria has not eradicated prosti-tution. Instead, criminalization has increased s*x workers vulnerability to human rights abuses and created fertile ground for police exploitation, especially of brothel and street-based s*x workers.

“S*x workers deserve the basic respect and protection from violence that each nation owes its citizens. But in many settings, police abuse of s*x workers receives scant public attention despite its entrenched global reality. Street and brothel-based female s*x workers, one of Lagos and Abuja most vulnerable populations, find themselves targeted for arrest by police, and they experience high levels of violence that go unpunished.

Current city and law enforcement policies towards s*x workers create a cycle of arrest that does not result in appropriate or long term solutions for the community or s*x workers,” the statement reads.

On the challenges s*x workers face, the Ashawo group said: “The challenge that we face as 50 participants from different L.G.As are almost similar. Many of us face violence and discrimination on a regular basis. Regardless of which State or tribe we are from, many of us have experienced being r*ped, verbally, emotionally and physically abused by police, clients and community members. 

“There is an unfair discrimination from service providers. S*x workers are not protected or defended by the law when they are exploited and abused. We demand that these violations stop immediately and decisive action is taken against perpetrators.” 

The statement further revealed how s*x workers suffer abuse from the Nigerian Police Officers.

“Thirty percent of s*x workers interviewed said that they had been threatened with violence by police officers, while 27% actually experienced violence at the hands of police. Reported incidents included officers physically grabbing and kicking, as well as beating them; one incident of r*pe; one woman was stalked by a police officer; and throwing food at one subject.

S*xual harassment included handling of body parts; giving women cigarettes in exchange for s*x; and police offering not to arrest s*x workers in exchange for s*xual services. 

"Several times Police have raided our hotels; beating, stealing and having s*x with us without protection." 

To curtail the abuses s*x workers suffer from Policemen, the Executive Director of Safe Haven Development Initiative, Ms Margaret Onah has criticised the method of which Policemen uses to extort money from s*x workers and abuse. 

According to Onah, the Nigerian Policemen are not mindful of the fundamental human rights that should be accorded to s*x workers. 

“It is dehumanising when Policemen abuses s*x workers the way they do. We are using this channel to voice out our pains in the course of survival. The government needs to do something about it. It is better if s*x workers are charged to court than naming them, harassing them, stealing their money, stealing their properties, and having s*x with them unprotected.” 

On what could be done to end the abuse by Policemen, Ms Margaret said: “the Police needs to re-strategise. The fact that s*x work is illegal doesn’t mean that they should kill anyone find doing the job. S*x workers are citizen of this country first of all, and they need to be respected like every other citizen.”

One of the Ashawo girls, Esther Eghosa said: “Time without numbers, the Policemen break our doors to start packing us like goats to the station. If you don’t have money to bail yourself, they will say they want to sleep with you unprotected which is very bad.

Eghosa, who is a s*x worker, further stress that, “As a woman in the brothel, we protect ourselves, we use condoms, but with the Policemen, you don’t have a say.”