Le Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Commitee de nouveau attaqué!!
Mes amies!
Au moment où j’écris ce message, nous, les travailleuses du sexe de Sonagachi à Kolkata sommes de nouveau assiégées! Seulement aujourd’hui, les agresseurs ne sont ni des fiers-à-bras, ni des voyous, ni des brutes locales! Cette fois, les brutes portent l’uniforme : c’est la police de Kolkata qui nous attaque!
Comme vous (et la plus grande partie du monde) le savez, nous, les travailleuses du sexe de Sonagachi et d’autres "red light" du Bengale Occidental sommes collectivisées sous le nom du Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC; en français : le Comité social des femmes irrésistibles), une organisation faite par et pour les travailleuses du sexe. L’un des meilleurs programmes d’intervention MTS/VIH du monde, c’est le DMSC qui le fait fonctionner : le renommé "Sonagachi Project". De plus, nous avons notre propre société de microcrédit, Usha, notre volet culturel, Komol Gandhar et notre syndicat, la Binodini Srameek Union. Nous dirigeons aussi des conseils d’autoréglementation dans les quartiers "red light" afin d’empêcher que des mineures fassent l’objet de trafic et de prévenir leur entrée dans le milieu. Chaque nouvelle arrivante dans l’industrie du sexe, qu’elle soit adulte ou mineure, est interviewée et conseillée par les conseils d’autoréglementation du DMSC. Nous aidons activement toutes les adultes et les mineures qui désirent quitter l’industrie du sexe.
L’une des retombées directes des activités d’intervention du DMSC parmi les travailleuses du sexe est que, depuis quelque temps, Sonagachi avait oublié ce qu’étaient les descentes policières. Cependant, sous prétexte de chercher et de sauver des mineures qui sont entrées dans l’industrie en tant que victimes de trafic, un groupe de policiers du quartier général de la police de Kolkata effectue depuis peu des descentes dans des bordels, harcelant les travailleuses du sexe adultes, mais aussi arrêtant et harcelant les filles de travailleuses du sexe, prétendument pour les "sauver". Nous avons déposé des plaintes officielles à ce sujet, mais le gouvernement n’a rien entrepris afin de faire cesser ces actes.
Ce matin, un groupe de policiers dirigés par un certain Shib Shankar Guha (agent spécial, Cellule Trafic immoral du QG de la police de Kolkata, Lalbazar) a effectué une descente dans un bordel de la ruelle Imam Bux dans le "red light" de Sonagachi et a emmené au poste Payel Mazumdar de force, affirmant qu’elle était mineure et "qu’elle avait été emmenée à Sonagachi, victime de trafic". Payel Mazumdar est une travailleuse du sexe adulte, elle a deux enfants et travaille dans l’industrie du sexe depuis 6 ans à Sonagachi. Lorsque les femmes de la maison et du voisinage se sont mises à vigoureusement dénoncer ce harcèlement, le groupe de policiers s’est livré à une attaque à la matraque brutale et non provoquée! De nombreuses travailleuses du sexe militantes ainsi que des membres du personnel du projet d’intervention ont été blessées et ont dû recevoir des soins médicaux. Des passant-es innocents, notamment les enfants du voisinage, n’ont pas échappé à la brutalité policière : une quinzaine d’entre eux ont été matraqués et ont dû aussi être hospitalisés!
Nous nous sommes immédiatement plaintes de ces actes barbares perpétrés par la police et avons mandaté quelqu’un pour déposer une plainte officielle auprès du poste de police local. Nous avons demandé au poste de prendre des mesures pour empêcher leurs agents de perpétuer cette violence faite contre les travailleuses du sexe et pour ramener les choses à la normale dans le quartier. Cependant, alors même que je vous écris, les groupes de policiers balaient les ruelles de Sonagachi à la recherche de visages vus lors des nouvelles télévisées! Amies! Il semble que les policiers de Kolkata soient devenus comme les "Bérets Verts" lors d’opérations "search-and-destroy" et ne veulent rien de plus qu’écraser une fois pour toutes la résistance des travailleuses du sexe vis-à-vis la violence policière!
Amies! Nous condamnons résolument cet acte de terrorisme perpétré contre nous par la police de Kolkata! Ici à Durbar, nous croyons fermement que ce genre de brutalité policière à notre égard révèle un mépris absolu de nos droits humains et porte atteinte à notre droit à la subsistance. De plus, de tels actes de violence commis par les "défenseurs de l’ordre public" sur la personne de travailleuses du sexe nous marginalise encore plus, nous rend méfiantes à l’égard des interventions "ordinaires" et met en péril les acquis qu’avait assurés le DMSC lors de ses efforts de prévention des MTS et du VIH parmi nous! En un mot, de telles atrocités policières ne nous enlèvent pas que notre gagne-pain, mais aussi notre santé et notre vie même!
Nous faisons appel à vous pour protester avec véhémence contre cette violation des droits de la personne et du droit à la subsistance par la police de Kolkata (Division QG)! Amies, nous avons gravement besoin de votre soutien! S’il vous plaît, faites parvenir vos protestations par la poste ou par courriel à la liste des personnes ci-dessous! Amies! Ne tardez pas! Chaque minute compte! Insurgez-vous contre cette action policière brutale immédiatement! Protestez afin de protéger les droits des travailleuses du sexe, protéger notre santé et notre subsistance! Acculées au pied du mur, nous nous battons corps et âme et nous avons besoin de votre soutien! Nous SOMMES ASSIÉGÉES!!
En toute urgence et en toute solidarité!
Swapna Gayen, secrétaire du DMSC
Kolkata, le 13.01.2004Veuillez envoyer vos courriels de protestation aux personnes de la liste que vous trouverez ci-dessous, après le texte en anglais.
Traduction : Catherine Ricard
The Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Commitee Under Attack Once Again!
As I write these lines, we, the sex workers of Sonagachi in Kolkata (India) are under attack once again! Only this time, the attackers are not goons or hoodlums or local thugs! This time the thugs are in uniform: the Kolkata Police is striking at us!
As all of you (and most of the world know), we, the sex workers of Sonagachi and of other red light areas in West Bengal have collectivised ourselves under Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) an organisation of and for sex workers. As DMSC, we run one of the most successful STD/HIV Intervention Programmes in the world the famed "Sonagachi Project". Besides DMSC, we have our own micro-credit society Usha, our cultural wing Komol Gandhar and our trade union, Binodini Srameek Union. We also run Self-regulatory boards in red light areas to prevent trafficking and entry of minors into the trade. Every new entrant to the sex trade, adult or minor are interviewed and counselled by the DMSC Self-regulatory Boards. We actively help all unwilling adults and minor girls options out of sex work.
As a result of DMSC’s successful intervention activities among sex workers, Sonagachi had forgotten police raids for a while. However, of late, a group of policemen from the Kolkata Police Headquarters have, in the pretext of searching for and rescuing minor girls trafficked into the trade, been raiding brothels and harassing sex workers who are of age, and also picking up, arresting and harassing, in the name of 'rescue', girl children of sex workers. We at DMSC had lodged formal protests about the matter but the government did not take any action to stop this.
This morning, a posse of police under the leadership of one Shib Shankar Guha (Special Officer, Immoral Traffic Cell, Kolkata Police HQ, Lalbazar) raided a brothel in Imam Bux Lane in Sonagachi red light district and forcibly picked up Payel Mazumdar on charges that she is a 'minor' and 'has been trafficked recently' into Sonagachi. Payel Mazumdar is a sex worker who is 'of age', has two children and has been working as a sex worker for the last 6 years in Sonagachi. When women in the house and neighbourhood protested strongly to this harassment the posse of police resorted to an unprovoked and brutal baton-charge! A large number of our sex worker activists and staff of the intervention project suffered body blows and had to receive medical care. Innocent bystanders, notably children of the neighbourhood too, did not escape the brutal police third degree around fifteen of them received baton injuries and had to be hospitalised!
We immediately protested these acts of barbarism by the police and gave a deputation to lodge a formal complaint with the local police station requesting it to take action, stop their brethren from continuing violence against sex workers, and restoring normalcy within the area. However, even as I write, police posses are sweeping down the lanes and by-lanes of Sonagachi district searching out 'faces' that were featured in evening news capsules on the TV! Friends! It seems that the Kolkata Police are become like "Green Berets" in "search-and-destroy" operations and desire nothing more than to crush the sex workers’ resistance against police violence once and for all!
Friends! We of Durbar strongly condemn this act of terrorism perpetrated on us by Kolkata Police! We at Durbar strongly feel that this kind of violence by the police on us reveal their utter callousness about our human rights, and infringe on our right to livelihood. In addition, such acts of violence by 'upholders' of 'law and order' on sex workers only manages to marginalise us more, makes us suspicious of 'mainstream' interventions and sets back by a quantum leap the gains DMSC had made in STD/HIV prevention efforts among us! In short such police atrocities take away not only our livelihood, but also our health... and our lives!
We call upon you to protest against this human rights violation, and violation of the right to livelihood by the Kolkata Police (HQ Division) in the strongest possible way! Friends we need your support in this hour of our need! Please send your protests by post or by e-mail to following list of persons! Friends! Do not delay! Time is of the essence! Protest against this brutal police action immediately! Protest to protect the rights of sex workers, to protect our health and our livelihood! We are fighting with our backs to the wall and we need your support! We ARE UNDER ATTACK!!
In urgency and in solidarity!
Swapna Gayen, Secretary DMSC, January 13, 2004
Please e-mail your protests to:
- Mr. Budhhadev Bhattacharya, Chief Minister Govt. of West Bengal : cm@wb.gov.in
- Dr. Surya Kanta Mishra, Health Minister Govt. of West Bengal : michealth@wb.gov.in
- Mr. Narendra Nath Dey, Minister-in-charge Kolkata Police, Govt. of West Bengal : mic-ca@wb.nic.in
- Mr. Pratyush Mukherjee, Minister of State, Health, Govt. of West Bengal : moshealth@wb.gov.in
- Mr. Sreekumar Mukherjee, Minister of State, Home, Govt. of West Bengal : moshome@wb.gov.in
- Mr. JVR Prasada Rao, Health Secretary, Ministry of Health & FW Govt. of India : secyhlth@nb.nic.in
- Mrs. Meenakshi Dutta Ghosh, Addl. Secretary and Project Director NACO (India) : mdg@nacoindia.org
- Mr. Asok Gupta IAS, Chief Secretary Govt. of West Bengal : chiefsec@wb.gov.in
- Mr. AK Barman IAS, Secretary Health & FW, Govt. of West Bengal : sechealth@gov.wb.in
- Mr. Suresh Kumar IAS, Project Director WBSAPCS : s_suresh_k@rediffmail.com
- Mr. SK Chakraborty, Commissioner of Police, Kolkata (Lalbazar) : cp@kolkatapolice.org
- Mr. Somen Mitra, DC-DD, Kolkata Police (Lalbazar) : dcdd@kolkatapolice.org and dcddkol@vsnl.net
Pages reliées :
whose Story? whose Voice? - 50 Women in Prostitution Speak Out, VampNews, 04-04
Chroniques de Kolkata, Roxane Nadeau, 2004
Sortir de l’ombre : la quête de progrès dans la réalisation des droits humains des travailleuses sexuelles, Revue VIH-sida, droit et politiques, Réseau juridique canadien VIH-sida, 12-04
Sex Workers in Calcutta and the Dynamics of Collective Action. Political Activism, Community Identity and Group Behaviour, Nandini Gooptu, 05-00
A few texts from the DMSC, 1998
Manifeste des travailleuses du sexe de Calcutta, DMSC, 1997
Not Beyond the Society, Dr. Smarajit Jana and STD-HIV prevention progam at Calcutta
The Soganachi Ek Yuug Celebration - February 15 - March 3, 2004 - Kolkata
It is with great honour that we complete 12 years of the renowned Sonagachi Project on February 15, 2004. We are proud to announce the happening of our mega celebration that marks a milestone in HIV/Aids intervention projects.
The DMSC, a sex worker's organisation in West Bengal, India, has been involved in an internationally acclaimed HIV/STD Prevention program (SHIP) since 1992. Widely known as the Soganachi Project (for having started in the Soganachi red light area of Kolkata), SHIP is a model project of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and has been operating in the red light area of West Bengal.
Our organisation was formed when a need was felt by the management of SHIP to empower sex workers socially, economically and politically to effectively strengthen its implementation. In 1995, the DMSC was created to provide formal structure to the already growing unity among sex workers. We are an autonomous organisation, an exclusive forum to give the sex workers community a platform to voice their opinions. With 66 branches and a strong membership of 60.000 sex workers across West Bengal, our objectives have always been to raise awareness concerning the Aids epidemic, health education, literacy and empowerment of sex workers and their families, the recognition and respect of sex workers rights and the decriminalisation of sex work.
The DMSC has had full management of the Soganachi project since 1999, which has, to date, been replicated in 36 red light districts in West Bengal. Furthermore, we are also involved in various non-formal education programs, promoting talents of sex workers through our cultural wing. We have set up a cooperative bank for sex workers and their families, and an anti-trafficking wing across West Bengal to prevent the forcible entry in sex work and the entry of minors in sex work. We also operate two shelters for children in distress.
Human rights violation is rampant worldwide towards the sex workers communities. We are committed to bring a stop to this. And we believe that, by sharing our experiences and expertise together on an international level and strengthening our ties, we can better achieve the goals common to all sex workers' organisations.
This twelfth year Celebration is special to us. Having its roots in Indian mythology, twelve years represents the completion of a cycle, a Yuug. The Soganachi Project has completed its twelfth year and although there is much work still ahead, we have achieved significant progress in the fight against HIV/Aids and in the empowerment of sex workers. This is why we have entitled this year's Celebration the Soganachi Ek Yuug
It is therefore with great pride and enthusiasm that we announce this two week Soganachi Ek Yuug (February 15, 2004 - March 3, 2004) Celebration in which there will be debates, forums, workshops as well a various artistic acts representing the diversity of our culture, performed with great skill and talent by sex workers and their children.
Herein is a list of the topics to be discussed during the Celebration. We eagerly wait for your inscription as a participant to our Celebration. Should you not be able to attend our Celebration, we would greatly appreciate a few words of support, in solidarity.
Mrinal Kanti Dutta
dmsccelebration@yahoo.co.in
Program Director of DMSC
Kolkata, India
The Soganachi Ek Yuug Celebration : February 15 - March 3, 2004 - KolkataDebate
- Sex work is work
- Gaining sex workers rights will break barriers, structures and prejudices
- Accepting men having sex with men / Fighting for the removal of the section 377 of the law forbidding homosexuality
- Equal opportunity and recognition for sex workers' children
Panel-Discussion-Forum
Workshops
- What are the global political effects of the international sex workers movement?
- The impact of the DMSC on the international sex workers movement
- How far have the other Indian marginalized communities gotten in receiving recognition?
- Worker rights for sex workers
- The role of youth in sex worker rights
- The role of sex workers in combating HIV/Aids
- Trafficking
- Decriminalization and legalization
- Sex education in schools
- Stigma on HIV/Aids in the health departments
- Setting of self regulatory boards on national level
- Support and care for people living with HIV/Aids
- The rights of people living with HIV/Aids
Mis en ligne le 25 novembre 2003 par Nicole Nepton
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