NIPPANI

On 18 February 2002, an armed mob of ruffians hounded 30-odd women in prostitution and sex work out of their homes in Nippani, a small town in Karnataka. VAMP had acquired a piece of land in Nippani for its regular HIV/AIDS prevention meetings. After the second meeting, local corporators tried to stop these meetings. The women refused. They were then threatened and subjected to violence. Shabana Kazi, complained to the police and asked for protection. Circle Police Inspector (CPI) SS Khot refused to file her complaint, verbally abused her, and threatened to rape her. Fearing for their lives, the women fled to neighbouring villages.

Perhaps the most important experience for SANGRAM and VAMP as advocates for the rights of women in prostitution and sex work came in the form of the Nippani incident. The events at Nippani contained multiple layers of rights violations – of women, of women as sex workers, of outreach staff working on HIV/AIDS prevention. The violators were not just a ‘narrow morality’, but also the State, the police, and thugs aligned with political parties.

The Nippani incident marks a number of firsts for VAMP and SANGRAM. It was the first time women in prostitution and sex work came out on the streets in such large numbers to demand justice. On 9 April 2002, over 1000 women in prostitution and sex work took out a rally on the streets of Sangli. Although sex workers routinely face violence and harassment from the police, the Nippani incident brought this unseen violence out into the open. The violence of a limited morality that judges women in terms of their sexuality. The incident also forced the local community to acknowledge what was happening in their midst; 1000 women and sex workers had never marched through the streets of this town.

It was also the first time women’s rights groups joined in to protect the rights of women in prostitution and sex work. Rarely has violence against sex workers been seen as an act of violence against women, even by the women’s movement. Feminist groups from around the country rallied against the violence faced by women in prostitution and sex work, and the violent language of the State. Around 16 women’s organizations from Bangalore wrote a memorandum to the National Human Rights Commission about Nippani, while 30 organizations in Pune spontaneously supported the women of VAMP. Women’s NGOs from Delhi to Tamil Nadu, some who had nothing to do with HIV/AIDS or women in prostitution and sex work, also showed their support to VAMP as a collective of women.

Other organizations working on HIV/AIDS prevention came out to support the struggle of their fellow outreach workers. And the lobbies of NGOs who worked for women in prostitution and sex work also joined the advocacy process. The efforts and support of all these groups and their presence at protest marches and rallies eventually contributed to nationwide support for VAMP.

The events at Nippani also gained international attention, thanks largely to the internet. Letters of protest, the exchanges between VAMP and the State, and a constant update of events were posted via email across the globe. Once it reached foreign shores, advocates there wrote to their consulates and embassies in India demanding that they lobby with the Indian government to take a stand and allow the women to safely return to their homes. This was unprecedented in the movement for sex workers’ rights in India.

Though intensely terrifying for the women of VAMP, the Nippani incident bolstered their confidence – they knew they were not alone, that they had rights like other citizens. It is perhaps this confidence that galvanized them to extend their support to sex workers in Baina in the neighbouring state of Goa two years later.

Baina

At 7 am on 14 th June 2004, as the monsoon unleashed its full force on the state of Goa, the residents of Baina - a settlement of migrant people, many of whom migrated to Goa years ago - woke to the sound of bulldozers tearing through their neighbourhood, brutally and ruthlessly razing their homes. In a matter of hours, hundreds of homes were bulldozed and thousands of people, including a community of sex workers, lost their homes and livelihood.

In a gross violation of human rights, they were intimidated, abused, beaten and arrested by the police. Women and children were forcibly evicted and their homes demolished before their eyes. Frightened, confused, without food or shelter, they had nowhere to go. The government of Goa had violated their basic right to shelter.

VAMP and SANGRAM decided to intervene in the situation, out of a sense of solidarity with sex workers living in a neighbouring state. A fact-finding team was sent to Baina, including for the first time, women in prostitution and sex work. VAMP’s general secretary Shabana Kazi lived on the streets with the displaced people in Baina for a week. A group of organizations fighting for the rights of the evicted people called the Forum for Justice in Baina was formed and it continues to carry on the struggle. Six months later in January 2005, Shabana visited Baina again, this time to take the women basic rations.

SANGRAM and VAMP brought its experience in lobbying for the rights of sex workers in the Nippani struggle to Baina. More importantly, it stood up for the rights of women in prostitution and sex work. Other NGOs were willing to exclude sex workers from the struggles against the demolitions. Collective action has included writing letters of protest to the centre and the state, and garnering nationwide and international support for the victims of the Baina evictions. The international human rights body, Human Rights Watch has also written to government authorities both at the centre and in Goa.

Throughout the Baina episode, SANGRAM and VAMP have consistently pointed out rights violations that have occurred at each step. Key among these is the labelling of sex workers as outsiders to the state and attempts to deport them, a policy that is clearly unconstitutional in a country that gives citizens the right to live and work where they want. The campaign has also demanded that sex workers’ voices be heard and their concerns be taken into account in the planning of any rehabilitation programme.