A Question Of Success

A Simple But Life-Changing Initiative In Malawi Is Offering Sex Workers Medical Treatment And Counselling Free From Discrimination, Criminalisation And Violence

- Edwain Steenkamp

Statistics concerning sex work in Africa are often limited or skewed by speculation, due to a working environment that is largely hostile to its participants. With the added challenges of human trafficking and drug trades, sex work can be one of the most dangerous professions on the continent.

One country where this is evident, is Malawi. The International Monetary Fund lists Malawi as one of the poorest countries in the world, with more than half of its population living below the international poverty line. The struggling economy has forced many women into the sex industry as a means of survival. But considering Malawi’s devastating statistics of sexually transmitted diseases, as well as institutionalised discrimination and violence against sex workers, these women end up risking their lives to earn a living.

Unlike in many countries in Africa, sex work in Malawi is technically legal. However, its scope in the country’s Penal Code is open to interpretation, and therefore many sex workers are still persecuted in one way or another. Unlawful and irregular arrests are still carried out against sex workers throughout the country, and related NGOs report that many women in the profession have had severe violence perpetrated against them, which is ignored or at times even incited by the police service.

Malawi also has strict ‘rogue and vagabond’ laws. A hangover from colonial times, these restrictive laws state that ‘any person in any public place at such time and under such circumstances as to lead to the conclusion that such person is there for an illegal or disorderly purpose, is deemed a rogue and vagabond.’ Sex workers frequently fall victim to prosecution under these laws, which drives them to operate more clandestinely and, therefore, less safely.