Sehgal Neha, Patni Chandra Bhushan
Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110007 India.
Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, Hindu College, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110007 India.
SN Soc Sci. 2023;3(3):53. doi: 10.1007/s43545-023-00631-9. Epub 2023 Mar 6.
The present paper is focused on the devastating effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on female sex workers (FSWs) in India and the globe. In Indian scenario, it emphasises on historical factors and theoretical frameworks that explicates the ceaseless exploitation of FSWs even before the pandemic. This inquiry analyses the efficacy of legislative and judicial endeavours taken with regard to FSWs. It highlights the role of non-governmental organisations and sex workers' community, actively working in providing support to the FSWs. Here, we attempt to document the scattered information from various reports regarding sex workers and prostitution. Literature search was done through search engines like Science Direct, Google Scholar and PubMed using keywords such as "COVID-19 pandemic" "sex workers", "prostitutes", "health", and "policies". Web hits from Google Scholar were collected using a Boolean search and retrieval method involving sex workers and the "AND" operator. During Covid-19 pandemic, due to stigmatisation of their profession FSWs are majorly excluded from government relief programs and health services. In India, the existing laws for FSWs are rigid in nature. They emphasize on prohibition of prostitution. There is an urgent need in India to move towards a substitute model which embody a flexible decriminalisation policy for sex workers. By studying relevant literature on the present topic the gap between policy formulation and implementation was identified. In case of India, it outlines recommendations, in particular providing immediate aid and relief, issuance of temporary documentation to sex workers.
本文聚焦于新冠疫情对印度及全球女性性工作者的毁灭性影响。在印度的情况中，它强调了历史因素和理论框架，这些因素和框架解释了甚至在疫情之前女性性工作者就不断遭受剥削的情况。这项调查分析了针对女性性工作者所采取的立法和司法努力的成效。它突出了非政府组织和性工作者群体在积极为女性性工作者提供支持方面所发挥的作用。在此，我们试图记录来自各种关于性工作者和卖淫的报告中的零散信息。通过使用“新冠疫情”“性工作者”“妓女”“健康”和“政策”等关键词，在科学Direct、谷歌学术和PubMed等搜索引擎上进行文献检索。使用涉及性工作者和“与”运算符的布尔搜索和检索方法收集谷歌学术的网页搜索结果。在新冠疫情期间，由于其职业受到污名化，女性性工作者基本上被排除在政府救济计划和医疗服务之外。在印度，现有的针对女性性工作者的法律性质严格。它们强调禁止卖淫。印度迫切需要转向一种替代模式，该模式体现对性工作者灵活的非刑罪化政策。通过研究关于本主题的相关文献，确定了政策制定与实施之间的差距。就印度而言，它概述了各项建议，特别是提供即时援助和救济、向性工作者发放临时证件。
