Covid-19 threat for African sex workers

Women engaging in sex work have always been more vulnerable to violence, but a surge in attacks on sex workers since Covid-19 restrictions came into force has sent a chill through the industry. A DispatchLIVE report notes that the spike in violence in Kenya has been fuelled by police who blame them for spreading the coronavirus. ‘It's really frightening what we are seeing happening across the country,’ said Peninah Mwangi, executive director of the Bar Hostess Empowerment and Support Programme, a sex worker-led organisation with 10 000 members in Kenya. With brothels and guest houses closed, sex workers are now working alone and risking their personal safety on the streets, in their clients' residences or even in their own homes.

The Kenya Sex Workers Alliance, a coalition of 30 sex worker rights groups, said it has documented six murders of sex workers since the east African nation imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on 27 March. It recorded 80 incidences of violence against sex workers in the first month of the pandemic compared to a monthly average of 25 incidents. Grace Kamau, regional co-ordinator for the African Sex Workers Alliance, said police in countries such as Uganda, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Zimbabwe and SA, were raiding brothels and bars, assaulting and arresting sex workers. ‘Sex workers are an easy target in a time of crisis. Clients feel they can take advantage of them, and law enforcement think they can use them to show that they are implementing Covid-19 measures,’ she said.

Full DispatchLIVE report