But with the eviction of these brothels in 1999 they were thrown into the streets, often intimidated by hoodlums and assaulted by police.

Thousands of these teenage sex workers then never found a proper shelter so drifted from slum to slum continuing to conduct mankind's oldest trade in city parks, pavements and cheap residential hotels.

But soon things started to change with positive interventions by some big NGOs. The country's estimated 60,000 or more sex workers started to unite against the persecution and social prejudices against them. The formation of a confederation called Sex Workers Network of Bangladesh (SWNB) in 2000 changed their outlooks. They organized the third national conference in the city in last week attended by representatives from 22 sex workers' organisations and talked freely about their rights.

Kajal, 26, now working for Akkhoy Nari Shonghoton, narrated how she was forced into prostitution. At her very childhood her father died and her mother chose to remarry and settle in Narshindhi. The tragedy of her life took place at the age of 9 when she alone from Sylhet went to meet her mother in Narshindhi. After the meeting when the child Rahima, as she was called then, was returning to Sylhet, was under the grip of a trafficker.

That was the start of Rahima or today's Kajal's long ordeal starting at the age of nine. She was drugged and bundled across the river Sitalakkhya in Narayanganj, where the gang put her in a house under lock and key for three years until she reached puberty. Rahima became known as Kajal at the Tanbazar brothel house.

Sitting at the CARE office in Mohammadpur Kajal recalled her past but confidently said all sex workers had great responsibilities in the society.

"All our members now know that one of our first tasks is to have and inspire or teach others to have safe sexual behaviour, to avoid dangerous diseases," she said smilingly.

"We did not know anything about such responsibilities until we became united under a banner, where we were taught the right behaviour," she added.

However, most of the sex workers cherished to return to normal life. In doing so some were successful while others were not. Sex workers like Razia and Phulon were able to get back to normal life. Razia is now working as field coordinator in Durjoy Nari Songoton, while Phulon is now earning a living by rickshaw pulling in the Jatrabari area of the city.

"Earlier I used to work in Kakrail as a floating sex worker and were faced with many harassments," said Razia.

"But later as I left the job and joined the organisation working for the betterment of the sex workers, the outlook of the same persons who earlier harassed me changed and now they honour my present job and me as well," she added.

Phulon, who pulls rickshaw in the guise of a man, said that the day she was forced into sex trade, she thought of escaping from its grip. "I left the profession eight years ago with the first opportunity I had but found no other way to survive until one day I started to pull a rickshaw. Other than this job I am working as cashier in Ulka Nari Sanghya," said Phulon.

However, not all women are as lucky as Razia and Phulon. Rokeya, 40, was also forced into prostitution at her childhood. She has a daughter whom she kept outside the brothel at her mother's residence to guide her into a normal life, which she herself was unable to get. But as Rokeya was a sex worker, the hoodlums continued harassing her daughter. Rokeya lost the battle to keep her daughter away as she was forced to enlist her young daughter into the trade.

Faced with intimidation, physical torture and deprivation on a regular basis most of the street-level sex workers now have learned to defend their rights to some extent. But they are still far away from achieving many of their goals related to human rights. They are now demanding one of the most fundamental rights a human being may ask for ---- the right to burial or cremation of dead workers as per social and religious norms.