(8 Mar 1996) Spanish/Nat
Some Mexican prostitutes have joined forces to protest against what they call police abuse against them and their clients.
The prostitutes have complained of repeated physical and verbal aggression from the police. They also charge the police demand bribes from their clients, and illegally arrest the men.
A government group has launched a campaign to protect the prostitutes and educate them about their civil rights.
Prostitutes walking along the streets of La Merced neighbourhood in Mexico City don’t look terribly brave.
But these women risk their lives each night many times — often, they charge, at the hands of the police.
The prostitutes, or sex-service workers as they’re called in Mexico, have complained of repeated physical and verbal abuse by police.
Most of them are afraid to denounce the abuse.
And those who dare are often ridiculed by the authorities.
The prostitutes also claim their clients are being illegally arrested and shaken down for bribes.
They point out that there’s no law banning prostitution.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
“When is the client committing a crime? Never, but they threaten him with taking him to his home, with telling his family, with asking him for an enormous quantity of money, more than what he gives us, and take him to the police station. Many times they beat him, and they steal from him. They steal from him, they extort him. To me it is an extortion what these policemen do.”
SUPER CAPTION: Susana, prostitute
The prostitutes from La Merced gathered in the capital for a series of conferences on prostitution.
Covering their faces with masks and dark glasses, the women discussed their plight with human rights activists.
The president of the federal human rights commission, Luis de la Barrera, said only certain prostitution practices are banned by law.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
“Our rules of procedure of civil justice do not typify prostitution as a crime, but it does to some ways of practicing it or encouraging it.”
SUPER CAPTION: Luis de la Barrera, President of the Federal District Human Rights Commission
De la Barrera did not specify which practices are prohibited but he vowed to help the sex workers in their fight for respect.
A spokeswoman for the prostitutes says these women have no other means of survival.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
“It’s got to be taken into account that they are women and mothers before they are prostitutes. They do this job because they didn’t have access to education.”
SUPER CAPTION: Angelica, representative of prostitutes
A group of police officers were recently accused by the prostitutes, but they were set free for lack of evidence.
The prostitutes have offered to organize themselves and work on areas designated for their practice to avoid further conflict with the authorities.
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