Human Rights Advocacy
Prostitutes: No further cast out
Shekh Md. Muhibbullah
The great sin against humanity is not to hate it but to be indifferent to its cause. The world suffers a lot not because of violence of bad people but because of silence of good people. Prostitution is such a poignant issue which creates qualms of conscience but great silence waters down this burning. Prostitution in society has not been an unknown phenomenon; it is of ancient origin perhaps as old as the dawn of human civilization and has its appearance in various forms with varied degrees speculative on so-called social sanctions etc. The victims of this trap are the poor, illiterate, ignorant and background sections of the society and are the target group in the flesh trade; rich communities exploit them and harvest at their wretchedness and ignominy in an organised gangstersim.
Every element in the society is complementary to each other and prostitution is not an exception to it. Prostitutes are victims of absolute poverty, indiscriminate manipulation and ruthless betrayal by their fellow beings. The society pushes them to this living hell and makes them satisfy the carnal desire of lustful section of the society. These fallen women are not only deprived of social status but also refused of elementary human rights. It seems in the society that the prostitutes are not human beings but like an object of sexual entertainment and fulfillment of lustful desire.
Although prostitution is socially looked down upon in Bangladesh as in other parts in the world but this profession is not illegal in our country. In our constitution no express prohibition has been ever imposed over this flesh trade, but it never encourages this profession and state missionary is all out to prevent it by adopting various measures including rehabilitation scheme in consonance with our constitutional mandate in its directive state policy[article -18(b)]. Our constitution makers envisioned this problem and therefore they encoded it in the state policy.
But unfortunately prostitutes are not being treated as human being with minimum humanity and dignity. Article 11 of the constitution of Bangladesh declares that the republic shall be a democracy in which fundamental human rights and freedoms and respect for the dignity and worth of the human rights and worth of the human person shall be guaranteed. The prostitutes of Bangladesh are citizens of it, are enrolled in local administration as voters and do exercise the right of franchise. They manage their livelihood through prostitution which the state in the absence of any prohibitory legislation has a duty to protect and a citizen has the right to enforce that right enshrined in article 31 and 32 of the constitution. Though article 11 providing for dignity of human person not enforceable but rights under article 31 and 32 are enforceable for the citizens of Bangladesh.
Right to life under article 31: One of the essential parts of right to life is protection and guarantee of right to livelihood because it is easiest way to deprive a person of right to life by depriving him of his livelihood. Both Supreme Court of Bangladesh and India have held such deprivation of livelihood unconstitutional as it is tantamount to deprivation of right to life.
Another point needs to be highlighted that a man's houses is his castle, nobody could trespass and violate the privacy of the inmates of any houses, respectively prostitutes are the tenants under their respective landlords. The Premises Rent Control Act 1991 provides rights between the landlord and tenant to continue in the premises so long he/she is not evicted in accordance with law. A person is not only protected from the violence of individual terrorists but also protected from the persecution of state sponsor terrorism. Unlawful entry, seizure, search are frequently being conducted by Law enforcing agencies. Thus fundamental right of the citizen to be secured in his home against entry has definitely been violated.
In recent time it has been observed that prostitutes and sex workers are blended with vagrancy in the same jar. Prostitutes or sex workers must not be confused with vagrant unless one is found to be so and other conditions for the purpose are complied with.
Way out: The solution of this problem lies in real appreciation of the causes of this prostitution. Some says that state can make a legislation banning this flesh trade but it shall never cure this poignant disease rather open up a new venue for underground business of prostitution. The solution not lies in clamping down the prostitution by coercive methods but in the rehabilitation of this fallen goddess. It is the society which has created them therefore now the society has to take steps to retrieve the same. The business of prostitution has been now a vicious circle and it cannot be subdued only by means of law. Once Justice Krishnya Iyer stated, 'the success of law lies not in making the good laws but in the proper materialization and implementation of the law'. Law unless backed by social forces cannot solve this corrosive social disease.
Rehabilitation may be an effective means by which the problem can be put an end but this rehabilitation approach must not be incompatible with the prostitute's dignity and worth of human person but designed to uplift personal morals and family life including opportunity of job and better education, family connection and economic opportunities in order to minimize the conditions that gave rise to prostitution. Besides rehabilitation, psychiatric, moral and religious spirit and support needs to be addressed which will help them deleting their past story of animal existence from their mind. They should be given the lamp of enlightened life to enable them to dream of a better life free from violence, molestation, persecution and social stigma thereby casting them in the main stream of society from which they had been cast out one day.
The writer is Student of Law, University of Dhaka.
