booming sex industry

The ILO urges govts to recognise booming sex industry

By Brian Tobia

THE United Nation’s International Labour Organisation (of which PNG is a member) recently urged governments to officially recognise the booming sex indus try and treat it like any other business only stopping short of calling for prostitu tion to be legalised.

An ILO survey indicated that prostitu tion in South East Asia had grown so rapid ly that the sex business now accounts for about 14 per cent of GDP in regional economies with millions of people’s liveli hoods depending on it. The situation is no different in Papua New Guinea.

Commercial sex is also on the rise.

Police and health officials do • agree that commercial sex is I I J /• 1 “massive” and is on the rise 9c although they do not have I . * statistics to prove this. % \ Acting Police Commissioner * MS robert Korus said k prostitution is mas sive in PNG. Korus l -AY investigation and ’ more manpower to crack down on those actively involved in prostitution. PNG’s Health Wj!p Department Secretary Dr Ila Temu also agreed that prosti tution is on the rise, resulting in an W%k increase in HIV/AIDS diseases.

Brian Brian Tobia, a Post- Courier journalist, met with some of It those in the business. This is his :count of a night out with some of them, visiting hot spots in llbt Port Moresby. I

was chatting

with two new |Mjß| found friends B when sudden one

B exclaimed:

“That is the hottest and most wanted one in here”.

As I turned, a yellow-haired, fairly built lass of no more than 19 walked into the premises. I was in what is known as “Three Mile Guest House” - a three bedroom house which has been turned into a brothel by the landlord. I was told he was a promi nent Port Moresby businessman who denied any connections.

The girl (name known) was later fol lowed to another place in the city where, with others like herself, a network is in place. They are picked up and dropped off by men in tinted executive cars night and day. The guest house has been raided by police many times.

Being new to the brothel, I attracted two male and three female friends with whom I struck up a conversation over beer. The conversation began when I told them I was new and wanted to know more about the place. Cathy (not real name), a 20-year-old from Gulf Province, said she had two chil dren and her husband was unemployed, so she has to work to support her children.

She said there was very stiff conpetition from other women for men but being pret ty, she attracted a fair number each day and usually goes home with between K6O and KBO in good times.

Thanking me for a K 5 note that I slipped into her hand to buy cigarettes, she said it was no use looking for a good hus band because she made out all right.

Besides, she said, noone would want to marry her after leading a prostitute’s life.

Another woman, also from the Gulf, said life was just hopeless for her. Having dropped out of Grade 6 at home, she made her way to Port Moresby with very low qualifications and could not find a job.

I reminded them about the danger of catching HIV/AIDS. Cathy pointed out that they always tried to persuade their partners to use condoms. My friends told me that every day women of all ages go to the brothels to try and attract customers.

The clients are men from all walks of life, including professional people and even unemployed youth - as long as they

have K3O to spend. To hire a room equipped with a bed is KlO and K2O is for service. A visit to one of the rooms revealed that is was not only dirty but also littered with used condoms and other rub bish. The girls said this was just one of many brothels, and there were many places to go in the city.

I visited a number of such places, most of them filled with about 70 per cent women and 30 per cent men. a good num ber of friends told me that a few women go to night clubs to drink, dance and enjoy themselves, while many of them go there with the hope of getting involved with men. “Some of us drink outside before coming to dances because we cannot afford to buy inside... we ask men to take us out,” said another prostitute, adding that these men normally book rooms for later.

Some men interviewed said that they do it to satisfy their sexual needs, while the women said it was the only way they could earn money in these hard economic times.

“Just leave us alone, we are not doing anyone any harm,” one woman said, “we would like to survive like everybody else”.

I also visited a number of nightclubs to confirm information, from various sources, about highly organised prostitution with the aid of middlemen.

I learnt that, in many cases, women rent rooms in hotels and motels, and then attempt to entice men to have sex with them. The fee for that service could be no less than K6O and up to KlOO per person.

If the woman is lucky, she could have more than one partner per night and go home rich. I tried bargaining a fee with a pretty Highlands woman who looked about 20years-old. Syhe charged me KBO. A lower offer of K4O was made to her, with her Pidgin reply being, “skin bilong man ya, I no stone”, which in English means “human being’s skin, not a stone”.

Interviews with hotel executives con firmed such activities. One said, “it’s none of your business... they are adults and we don’t have to tell them what to do”.

The executives said they run businesses and only step in when someone does some thing wrong that could jeopardise their operation.

Several of PNG’s elite executives con fided that all one has to do is get intro duced to girls who charge very high fees.

Or have the right contact number and the “goods” would be delivered at an appoint ed place and time. ■