The Federal Government has been called on to legalise prostitution as it would curb the spread of HIV.
The Nigerian Sex Workers Association who made the call also added that HIV infection had continued to increase because the government treated prostitution as a crime.
It stated that law enforcement agents, especially the police, consequently harassed sex workers and sometimes demand sex without using condoms.
The National Coordinator of the association, Amaka Enemo, said this in Abuja on Wednesday during an interview with journalists at the presentation of a report titled, ‘Understanding the High Risk of Urban Sexual Networks in Nigeria.’
Enemo was said to have played an active role in gathering information for the report, which was compiled by the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, the University of Manitoba, United States, and the World Bank.
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She said, “Sex workers face violence, especially from their clients and law enforcement agents. Sex work is seen as a crime and the police raid streets and brothels to arrest sex workers. They collect money and if the girl cannot pay money, she will have to give sex to the policemen. If the law enforcer does not want to use condom, the sex worker has to agree and this is why HIV is on the increase.
“So, in this study, all the sex workers we interacted with said their biggest trouble was law enforcers.”
The 36-year-old said several studies had shown that countries where prostitution is not illegal had lower cases of sexually transmitted diseases, while Nigeria, where it is illegal, had one of the highest rates of HIV in the world.
She said sex work should be made legal, and government should not saddle sex workers with the responsibility of paying tax.
Enemo said, “When I visited Amsterdam (Holland), I was able to visit the red light district where sex workers work because prostitution is legal there. I have also visited New Zealand where they have decriminalised sex work.
“When you decriminalise it, there will be less exploitation of sex workers and the violence will reduce.”
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