YOUNG WOMEN PROP UP THE REGIME

(By Banya Hongsar/ KaoWao)

November 16, 2003, Bangkok -- The capital city of Burma has turned into a sex haven offering a quick fix to not only ordinary customers but also strangers visiting the capital. In various locations throughout Rangoon, from street corners to popular clubs and hotels, young vulnerable girls are seen standing out among the general population, reported a journalist from the Burmese language New Era Journal recently.

Under the title of "Economic Sanction, Clothing Factory and Prostitution" a detailed article written by Warazein covered in depth the life of street sex workers in Rangoon who are exploited by 'Sex Bosses', a term in Burmese referred to as 'pha-gaung'.

According to Warazein, almost all female sex workers do not use condoms because they wish to avoid legal hassles in court, the secret police force watch out for people buying condoms to exploit the vulnerable. There is a higher-class of sex workers who are set up in city apartments with a telephone; their bosses arrange the meeting over the phone with rich customers including senior members of the military who can afford it, the report said.

There are three categories of sex workers in the city: The first works out on the street; the second in the nightclubs; and the last group in private apartments. Currently, the most popular nightclub is JJ Club at Mingalazay in Kyauk Myaung. During special events, thousands of sex workers are seen hanging around the clubs, the report added.

Local police officers sometimes threaten the girls for arrest confesses one worker, complaining they must pay not only cash but provide sex as well in La Tha area. Some have formed their own working group and occupy a location at the central main streets of Pan-soe-tan, Sulay, the City Hall, Anow-ra-tha and the corners of major cinema theatres.

Those who ply their trade in the nightclubs are protected by the Military Intelligence Officers and their business partners including the so called "peace groups or cease-fire groups" in the city. Well-known nightclubs including Theinkyizay D and Asia Plaza are the regular hotspots for family members of military officials, the report said.

The report affirmed that female sex workers were involved in the sex industry well before economic sanctions were imposed on Burma by the west. It concluded that the significant increase of young women working the streets is the result of the mismanagement of the current authority on the domestic economy, not the result of the closing down of clothing factories.

According to Warazein, after major hotels suffered a loss in business from the decline of visits from foreign guests and customers, many decided to turn to opening private nightclubs selling sex as a quick fix to their economic problems. It's a condition in which women are always used when times get tough, now so commonplace, sex workers don't have to produce their ID card to rent a room, "just go on ahead" the manager says, casual as going in for a cup of tea, a meeting that will destroy society as it is doing in many countries in Africa and around the world.

The State Peace and Development Council, the current ruling military regime implemented "Four Social Objectives" as a core agenda. Its first social objective boldly states, "Pride highly the spirit and moral principles of the nationality." Absurdly, the real picture is that hundreds of thousands of young girls, many of whom are from ethnic groups have turned themselves into hookers for survival to prop up the regime from economic ruin.

Female sex workers in Burma are found in the major urban centers such as Rangoon and other areas along trade routes and international borders. A shocking finding is that 52% of all female sex workers in Burma are HIV positive, reported the Burma Center Netherlands in October 2002, a growing crisis hardly reported in the international media regarding AIDS.

HIV prevalence among commercial sex workers tested in Rangoon and Mandalay has increased from approximately 4% in 1992 to 26% in 1997. HIV prevalence among women, visiting antenatal care clinics remained about 2% in 1998-1999 and 2000, the report of Burma Center Netherlands indicated recently.