Covid-19 impact: Sex workers fight for survival
The outbreak of the Coronavirus Pandemic in Sierra Leone has exposed the inequality of social support systems and revealed the gaps that further marginalized vulnerable people.
Precarious workers like commercial sex worker are adversely affected by the pandemic, but are excluded from government relief and protection programs.
“I am a single parent of three school-going children that need support; prostitution is the only way through which I earn my money to care for my children and pay their school fees,” said Blessing Conteh.
Conteh who is currently the mentor (Mammy Queen) of a group of commercial sex workers at Lumley, West of Freetown, said that the outbreak of the Coronavirus in Sierra Leone has caused commercial sex trade to become increasingly difficult. Clients are few and funds are not enough to upkeep the workers, she said.
“COVID-19 has caused fall in demand of our services, a situation that is causing a significant fall in the prices we ask clients for. Some customers complain of reduction in their earnings due to COVID-19, thereby reducing the price we request and we in turn would have to bear the brunt because we have no option but to accept their own prices,” she emphasized.
“Human rights law mandates that human rights are inalienable, universal, interdependent and indivisible. Ensuring that this is a reality for all — especially the most vulnerable among us — is essential during this pandemic, but will also build the resilient communities we need to emerge from it.” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS.
Sex worker-led organizations all over the world report that sex workers are experiencing hardship, loss of income, increased discrimination and harassment.
In Freetown, the Sierra Leonean capital, the Aberdeen/Lumley Beach is the mecca of commercial sex work. The long stretch of seafront expanse with dozens of hotels, guesthouses and entertainment spots like bars, restaurants and gyms offer the setting for the sex trade to thrive.
As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, government has developed public health strategies which discourage large gathering in public places. This impacted commercial sex workers.
The government also announced economic relief to support businesses whose activities are impacted by COVID-19.
On the area of economic relief to support citizens, most sex workers are excluded from the stimulus package.
Conteh added that “The preventive measures (social distancing, curfew, partial and general lockdown) that were instituted by the government of Sierra Leone in a bid to curtail the virus, given the nature of their trade prevented them from working during peak periods and reduce the number of clients that should have solicit their services.”
“The number of clients had dropped drastically as some customers are afraid of contracting Coronavirus in the course of sex, because one of the methods of preventing Coronavirus is by maintaining social distance. “Some customers are afraid because we meet with people from all works of life,” she added.
According to her, prostitution is her only means of survival, and added that the initial measures imposed by government especially when the curfew was put from 6:00 am to 9:00pm and the lockdowns prevented clients from soliciting their service which adversely affected their income levels.
“Even though the Government of Sierra Leone had relaxed some of the restrictive measures, but sex trade has not come to normally. We are experiencing low client turn-out and the few customers pay less when compared before the outbreak of the pandemic,” Blessing said.
Another commercial sex worker, Juliet Kaimapo added that the curfew sometimes caused them to be held up in the homes of some clients, because they are afraid of falling foul of the law and be arrested by security personnel responsible for enforcing the curfew, thus causing them to waste time and earn meagre incomes.
A former commercial sex worker, Maria Konneh, also narrated that she worked for five years. She further explained that in 2015, she fell in love with a regular customer who later married her, changed her life and taught her to be a good housewife. She noted that hitherto her marriage in 2015, commercial sex trade would have seemed to her the only means to survival in life.
“Life during those periods was extremely challenging, and I had no option but to continue doing commercial sex work to survive. I am presently living happily with my husband and I am engaged in petty trading,” she added. She advised others commercial sex workers that there are other ways of making a living besides engaging in commercial sex trade.
The Project Officer National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) Umaru Samia, said that the Safety Net Project does not make provision for commercial sex workers to receive financial support from the government to cushion the impact of the pandemic on their livelihood.
“The project those not in any way cater for them. The project indicator those not put them into framework of its activities,” Samia said.
The mission of NaCSA is to promote community-based, demand-driven and sustainable social and economic activities leading to the alleviation of poverty, reduction in the threat of renewed conflict and improvement in the speed, quality and impact of development initiatives, while also providing social protection to vulnerable groups, in collaboration with other stakeholders in the country’s development endeavour.
He added that the safety Net target four type of people irrespective of their working group from the Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Tourism and the Trade sector; “but with the outbreak of COVID-19 the Government of Sierra Leone, World Bank and UNICEF and other development partners put aside USD $ 4M as contingency funding to support people that had been impacted by the virus seriously,” he said.
Samia noted that the project targeted 29,000 people, adding that because the fist phase of the project come out to be successful the European Union also supported the project with € 4.6m for support petty traders, those within the hospitality industry and worker that were laid off due to COVID-19.
This story was produced with support from Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), through it’s Mobilizing Media in the Fight Against COVID-19 in partnership with Sierra Leone Association of Journalists.
Issue: 8080
By George Modupeh Okeh Williams