Cross-border sex work likely to fuel HIV in China and Mongolia, says the National AIDS Foundation
29 May 2007
Mongolian women working in the Chinese sex industry are highly vulnerable to HIV infection, and cross-border sex work is likely to fuel the epidemic as they return home, says the National AIDS Foundation (NAF), the Alliance’s linking organisation in Mongolia.
NAF was reporting on a visit to the Chinese town of Erenhot, just across the border with Mongolia. The town has a large concentration of Mongolian female sex workers and is also a transit post for a network of groups engaged in human trafficking.
China is considered to be among the five countries where HIV will spread most rapidly in the next five years. Being a border town, Erenhot draws people from all over China, and Mongolian sex workers are going to Erenhot and other parts of China in ever-increasing numbers.
The NAF report reveals the risk factors in cross-border sex work for the spread of HIV and sexually transmitted infections in both China and Mongolia. The team spent time in Erenhot with the sex workers, mainly organising voluntary counselling sessions and offering HIV testing facilities. Researchers from NAF and the National Center of Communicable Diseases heard first hand from sex workers about the growth in cross-border sex work and the women who are involved in it.
Many of the women working in Erenhot are there as a result of skilled traffickers in Mongolia and were unaware of the true nature of their work until they arrived and were sold on to an owner. Half of the money they earn goes to their owner, leaving them with a small amount to pay for their food and accommodation and little chance of buying back their freedom. Even if they could escape their bosses, they face a long and cumbersome bureaucratic process if they try to return home with no identity documents or travel passes.
The team talked to the Mongolian consulate about the steps they are taking to protect the human rights of Mongolian sex workers and reduce trafficking. The Consul acknowledged that the process of returning legitimately to Mongolia is lengthy and complex. The Mongolian agencies could be doing more to resolve this humanitarian issue, believes NAF.
Read more about cross-border sex work and the women involved.
