Citation

Misra G, Mahal A, Shah R. Health Hum. Rights 2000; 5(1): 88-115.

Affiliation

Ford Foundation, 55 Lodhi Estate, New Delhi 110003 India. g.misra@fordfound.org

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Harvard School of Public Health, François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11154525

Abstract

Although India is a signatory to numerous international agreements on the rights of women and has a constitution that prohibits discrimination and exploitation by gender, as well as a plethora of related legislation, it has failed to satisfactorily protect the human rights of women, particularly those of sex workers. This is manifested in high levels of violence in the sex industry, child sex workers, lack of access to health care, and high levels of HIV infection. Policies that revolve around rescue and rehabilitation, or are based on the premise that sex work is immoral, are unlikely to effectively promote the well-being of sex workers. An alternative paradigm, which revolves around an explicit recognition of the human rights of sex workers together with an activist approach to achieve them, involving a collaboration between NGOs and collectives of sex workers, has worked well to protect the human rights and health of sex workers in India.

Language: en