At around 9 pm, a group of women in their 20s and 35s are waiting around the Inya Lake for male customers. One of them is a woman who is waiting for a customer tonight.
Ma Ohnmar, in other name, was bravely waiting to be arrested for going out at night, as she will only be able to support her family if she gets paid. She is out on the street at night waiting for a male customer who can pay her to make ends meet. She has been waiting for a client to earn some cash for her family at home, but on the other hand, she has to keep an eye on the police to avoid arrest.
For prostitutes, it is very difficult to get clients on the streets because they are afraid to talk to them on the street during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said. As a result, most people who do this work are using social media to find customers, rather than on the streets. However, some people do not use social media well. Due to the difficulty of finding customers, there are people who take to the streets in search of customers.
If the police find them, they will be arrested and face at least three months to three years in prison if they do not pay for their release. The woman, who was once a factory worker, began working as a prostitute to alleviate her family’s food shortages when the disease began.
It was only after COVID-19 arrived in Myanmar that she began working as a prostitute to provide for her family and had previously worked as a factory worker in a garment factory in Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone.
While working as a factory worker, she was paid only enough to feed his family and had no extra money to save. In the past, she was able to support his family by earning a living from the factory, as well as borrowing money from relatives and others.
Generally, unemployment is not a problem faced by a single person, it is a problem faced by almost every factory worker in the country. As most of them face this problem, it is no longer possible for others to borrow more money, so she began to think of other ways to earn a regular income. When she thinks of a job as a prostitute, who could easily earn money during this time of crisis.
So in early 2020, she began working as a prostitute, struggling to make ends meet as she struggled to make ends meet.
“I never thought I would be able to do this job. Nowadays, with so few people in the economy, I decided to borrow money from outside and make a living for my family. I only do this job when it is not at all convenient,” she said.
The Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population said that many factories in the country were affected by the COVID 19 pandemic, which closed 175 factories and left about 6,000 workers unemployed and she was one of them.
As a result of the economic crisis, not only the prostitute but also most of the unemployed female factory workers are working.
These include domestic problems; landlords often evict tenants for renting a home. The people who do this work say that they are doing this to solve their financial problems and other problems as much as possible.
Family subsistence; Although they work as prostitutes to solve most of the financial and other problems, women who do such work no longer carry condoms.
They want to carry condoms in their pockets, but if they find them, they will be arrested under prostitution law for fear that they will stop carrying condoms and sometimes have sex with clients without a condom.
Prostitution is also on the rise in prostitutes who are allowed to have sex without condoms.
If prostitutes do not carry condoms, they will be arrested under the Anti-Prostitution Act if police find them on the streets when they find them on the streets.
“When they need a case, they open the bag and search for it without even asking for permission. If they find a condom in the bag, they will be arrested under the Prostitution Act. If they do not pay the fine, they can go to jail”, said Nilar.
In addition to not carrying condoms to avoid arrest, some customers have demanded that they be allowed to have sex without using a condom. Attempts to have sex without a condom are infecting you. Women who work as prostitutes are paid more than usual if they are allowed to have sex without using a condom. More people are allowed to have sex without condoms because they earn more money, so the incidence of HIV and AIDS in the country has not decreased.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are 38 million people living with HIV worldwide. Of the more than 54 million people in Myanmar, more than 240,000 are infected with HIV. In September 2020, 94% of those infected were taking ART, according to a WHO report.
“We also want to use condoms. We also want to carry them in our pockets. On the other hand, we do not dare to take legal action against prostitutes if we find them carrying condoms. We also use condoms as much as possible when having sex with a client”, she added.
Unprotected sex with prostitutes can infect one person and become a source of infection for others.
Sandar Min, from Zammu Thiri constituency in 2013, pointed out that some prostitutes were reluctant to carry condoms because of some officials who were practicing the law against prostitution.
The Prostitution Act states that only prostitutes are required to abolish prostitution, and only women who commit crimes are prosecuted, and no men are arrested for having sex with women.
Men who have sex with these women are prosecuted for using prostitutes as witnesses, and the law also allows men who have sex to be free to testify if they testify. As a result of this law, men who had sex with prostitutes made the law one-sided and beat the prostitutes who had sex with them for free. There is also bullying.
Prostitution is not a legal profession in Myanmar, and because it is severely persecuted, she is harassed and harassed by male clients who enjoy having sex with her. Torture; It is impossible to report beatings except to remain silent. They are unknowingly deprived of the human rights that everyone deserves, even in the spirit of working illegally.
Despite civil society groups calling for the legalization of prostitution in Myanmar, former Yangon Prime Minsiter Phyo Min Thein objected to the development of a health screening and licensing system for prostitutes in Myanmar, arguing that it was not possible in Burmese culture.
It is questionable whether the increase in the number of prostitutes in the country is due to the inability to create adequate employment opportunities in the country. If this increase in employment is due to the inability to create job opportunities, the government needs to effectively address the issue of people’s livelihood.
“The rise in the number of prostitutes in the country is due to the country’s poverty and job shortages,” he said. In addition, prostitution has become a major crime and arrests and punishments are common. “Can we stop the increase in the number of people working as prostitutes?” she said.
Now that the government is working to develop the economy by inviting foreign investors to the country, it is also questionable why it is not effectively addressing the problem of job shortages.
In addition, in Myanmar, the grassroots are forced to work as prostitutes because they do not have enough money to earn enough to work as factory workers. On the one hand, it is easy to make money, but side effects include infection, Torture; Human rights are being violated.
To create adequate local employment opportunities to effectively address these issues; Getting a decent salary; Training is needed to become a sufficiently qualified worker.
Underage prostitutes, who can easily earn a lot of money if they do not create adequate wages and job opportunities; Women who are struggling to make ends meet will continue to work.
Therefore, it is necessary to develop job opportunities in the country. Job growth needs to be developed not only in big cities but also in small towns. If there are not enough job opportunities, prostitutes should be allowed to work as prostitutes if they have been tested for the disease and are free of disease. If allowed to do so legally, the government would be able to control the spread of HIV, the government would receive annual tax revenue, and women working in prostitution would enjoy full human rights and legal protection.
Otherwise, it will not create job opportunities. If prostitutes are not allowed to operate under official licenses and are prosecuted under the Prostitution Act, they will be arrested for the same incident.
