********* Humaira Shahid *********

Prostitution is systematic sexual violence and oppression against women and children. The human rights of all women and children are seriously threatened by the massive and growing sex industry. Battering, incest, prostitution, stalking, sexual harassment, and rape constitute a continuum of violence against women. Like all forms of violence against women and children, prostitution deprives women and children of freedom of movement, threatens our safety and security, and creates conditions of terrorism, war, and slavery.
Women and children are manipulated, forced, trapped, and enslaved in a variety of forms of prostitution. They are delivered into prostitution by rape, battery, child sexual abuse, educational deprivation, poverty and discrimination of class and gender. Prostituted women and children comply with men’s demands because they are promised food, clothing, shelter, money, drugs, safety and protection from police for law violations. The differences that set prostituted women and children apart are not of choice or morality, but differences of circumstance. The concept of choice assumes at least two options from which one chooses. The difference between starvation, abuse, homelessness, loneliness, and death or prostitution can hardly be called a choice.
Prostituted women and children live lives of unlimited exposure. They are constantly exposed to disease, drugs, homelessness, malnutrition, murder, physical & sexual abuse and torture, sleep deprivation and verbal harassment. Women and children suffer physical, social, emotional, and psychological damage from being prostituted day after day and year after year. Women and children sustain physical injuries, organ damage, infertility, and high-risk pregnancies. They are isolated from mainstream society, miss out on a normal socialization process, and have difficulty establishing intimate relationships. The emotional effects of prostitution include anger, rage, deep pain, grieving, distrust and hatred for men, and feelings of humiliation, dirtiness, and shame. Psychological effects manifest in depression, drug and alcohol abuse, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, and self injuring and suicidal behaviors.
Prostitution is not meant to empower women and children. It was never the intention of pimps and tricks to liberate women socially, economically, sexually, or politically. Their intention is to use women’s and children’s bodies for sex and money. Men create the demand for prostitution and maintain the multi-million dollar sex industry by selling and buying women and children in streetwalking, brothels, escort services, adult book and video stores, sex trafficking and pornography. Many men believe they have the right to purchase unlimited access to women and children to satisfy their violent urges. Many men profit from selling women and children as commodities.
Despite the verbal commitments of all the governments of past and present no measures have been taken against the child prostitution and nothing has been achieved in that direction. Prostitution by children continues to flourish unhindered. A number of factors help in continuing child prostitution and there has been no 'political will' to contain the inhuman practice.
According to the proclamation of the United Nations' General Assembly on 20 November, 1959 (resolution 1386 XIV), Principle 9: "The child shall be protected against all forms of neglect, cruelty and exploitation. He shall not be the subject of traffic, in any form. The child shall not be admitted to employment before an appropriate minimum age; he/she shall in no case be caused or permitted to engage in any occupation or employment which would prejudice his/her health, education, or interfere with his physical,, mental or moral development," and Principle 2 reads, "The child shall enjoy special protection and shall be given opportunities and facilities, by low and by other means, to enable him/her to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity. In the enactment of laws for this purpose, the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration." But looking at reality, these principles do not seem to apply to child prostitution in Pakistan, even 34 years later.
Abduction is the most common cause. Young girls and boys are abducted from their villages/native places on some pretext or the other. Some of those are: going to movies, cities, making them film stars, offering job opportunities and marriage. Contrary to common beliefs, most kidnapers are females or couples, which again points out to this being part of the organized crime.
Rape is another big cause of the children entering prostitution. Rape is a great social stigma and in some cases the victims of rape are not even accepted in their homes. When they do not find any safe place in society or foresee a better future, the victims of rape find their way into prostitution.
Incest of children is another reason of coming to prostitution. The most common incest is between father and daughter, followed by uncle and niece. When the young victim of incest is exploited at home, she does not foresee safety anywhere else in society and slowly ends up in prostitution. We have even come across cases where the girls were sold by their own father or uncle or brother-in-law.
Female children of the women in prostitution invariably end up in prostitution, as there is no option for these children and there is no program to save them from prostitution. A few cases of girls coming in to prostitution are due to fake marriages or elopement. The police is part and parcel of the prostitution racket. Most brother owners regularly pay money to the police as Hafta or weekly payment. The younger the girl, the grater the Hafta.
Besides pornography has gone completely mainstream. The child’s accessibility to pornographic material through cables and uncensored TV programs, unmonitored Internet clubs, magazines & pictures and other sources are responsible in creating a climate of violence and sexual abuse.
But a lot of movies these days are very sexually explicit in a way that demeans and degrades women. We don't need explicit rape scenes in movies that don't deal with rape as a main subject. Rape has to be handled carefully--the scene has to show how horrible
rape is, but it cannot exploit the woman (or man) who has to act out the role of rape victim. No actor should be expected to go through hell to make a rape scene. And again, unless the movie is about rape, why the hell is a rape shown? Many of these rape scenes
are for titillation, and that is about as sick as sick can be. Rape scenes in movies basically present women for entertainment for men. What is worse that mujra’s and vulgar dances are given the name of "entertainment" and “performance” which is shameless as the purpose of theses dances is not performance but to expose them physically. Previously theses mujra’s were limited to stage but due to the absence of censorship of cables they have reached every household.
The value of advocacy is undisputed. Awareness and implementation of law is the only way to obstruct and eradicate prostitution. The media on the prostitution issue can only hope of creating public awareness and highlighting the social aspects of prostitution. The press has played a great role in educating the masses and creating public support. But the necessary measures would be that severe punishments should be given to people who are responsible in promoting this heinous crime or obstructing the victim’s access to justice. A serious political, social and moral ‘will' should be created to solve the problem.