Women for Justice, Education and Awareness
The Status of Sex Work in Guatemala
Sex work in Guatemala has been regulated by the Department of Health since 1938. The latest document updates were made in 1986 with the purpose of controlling the spread of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). Women sex workers are required to register with the Public Health Centers and to undergo regular STI check-ups and HIV tests. The results of these tests are kept in a notebook containing the patient’s photo. Women sex workers must permit employees of the Department of Health Inspections to see their notebooks whenever asked. These inspections are conducted randomly at their places of work. As a result of these regulations, the legal status of sex work has been ambiguous. Decreto 9-2009, the Law Against Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Human Trafficking, passed by Congress in February 2009, attempts to rid the law of its ambiguity concerning the legalization of sex work in Guatemala. Unfortunately, the changes made through this law are not to the benefit of the women. Article 193 of the law makes sex work illegal.
The prosecution of sex work leads to a situation of even more vulnerability for women sex workers. Some owners of bars and brothels have removed the beds from their businesses, telling the women to look for hotels to work in. Others are confiscating the condoms that the women get from the Public Health Center for fear that condoms in the rooms are proof that sex workers are working there. Besides owners of bars and brothels, government institutions have also taken action (or inaction) to comply with the law.
The Unit Against Human Trafficking of the Prosecutor’s Office stated in a public event that in their interpretation of Decreto 9-2009 “Sex workers are victims of human trafficking and they will be treated as such.” However, during raids that have been conducted as a result of the law, women sex workers who are foreigners to Guatemala are deported. This action contradicts the claim that all sex workers are “victims” as, according to the law, all victims of human trafficking, whether foreign or not, have the right to remain in Guatemala. Also, an organization that works in STI prevention asked the Women’s Unit of the Ombudsman’s Office to be present at these raids in order to prevent women sex worker’s human rights from being violated. The representative responded that there was nothing she could do about the raids and deportations because sex work in Guatemala had been abolished. Ultimately, the penalization of sex work allows for women sex workers to be at greater risk of violence, STIs and other violations to their human rights by clients, partners, police officers, and society in general.
At MuJER we respect a woman’s decision to be a sex worker. We understand that there are women who are victims of human trafficking and we condemn that. We are against prostitution of minors as it is a form of exploitation. However, we believe that adult women have the right “to free choice of profession and employment” as stated in Article 11 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) ratified by the Guatemalan government. In this regard, we, along with the Guatemalan sex worker organization Mujeres en Superación (OMES), and the STI prevention organization Asociación de Salud Integral (ASI) make the distinction between the terms ‘Sex Work’ and ‘Forced Prostitution’ when it concerns adult. ‘Sex Work’ is the voluntary exchange for sexual services that an adult individual makes with a client for money or other benefits. This is also the definition used by the International Health Organization. On the other hand, ‘Forced Prostitution’ occurs when an adult individual is forced or obligated to carry out acts of prostitution, pornography, or other commercial sexual activities to the benefit of a third party.
MuJER focuses its work on the community of women sex workers in Guatemala City and offers opportunities for self-empowerment while acknowledging that women in this business have often not had access to education, health, or justice. Our programs aim to provide more education and vocational opportunities for the women, while emphasizing self-esteem, autonomy, leadership and non-violence.
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