Human rights violations
During a participatory community assessment in Mexico led by the Alliance, linking organisation Colectivo Sol, and Positive Action/GlaxoSmithKline, sex workers reported systematic discrimination from the police. This was symptomatic of discrimination throughout society that makes it harder for them to access health, HIV and other services. They stated that a police convoy began to patrol each day and to arrest “suspected delinquents”. Sometimes the convoy would pick up gang members, young people hanging around on street corners, or drunks, but they made a special effort to catch female sex workers. They would arrive without warning in the streets and areas where the sex workers usually went to offer their services.
They said that once the police had caught a group of sex workers, they would give them electric shocks and parade them around the city for hours, publicly humiliating them as criminals. The sex workers interviewed reported that they were made to line up in the parking lot, and no matter the time or the weather, the police got a hose and squirted them with freezing cold water. While they were still wet, they were given electric shocks and locked up.
They reported that these discriminatory acts happened on an almost daily basis, to the point that the members of the convoy began to recognise them.
As a response to this, Casandra began to establish a friendship with the lawyer who helped them get out of jail and spoke to her about what was happening. Every time the convoy arrived, Casandra ran away and, if she was able to escape, she went to inform the lawyer. The lawyer went with her to speak to the convoy chief, who told them that “human rights don’t matter here, they have to pay the fines”. On one occasion, they collected 170 receipts for the fines they had to pay to be set free and took them to the Human Rights Commission. The Commission intervened on their behalf and spoke to the municipal public security department and with the governor. Several negotiation meetings were held and although the municipal president said that prostitutes should not exist, and called them insulting names, he made a commitment to speak to the chief of police. Little by little, the police calmed down.
Without meaning to, Casandra began to gain the recognition of her co-workers, and they started to come to her with all of their problems. She began to accompany them so that they would not be denied services in hospitals, or so that they would not be charged more for services than other people, for example, for an HIV test.
Casandra, aware that she has become a leader, has become committed to organising the group and has recently started to set up a community based organisation. This new organisation is currently receiving support from Colectivo Sol to strengthen the group’s response to HIV.
