PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC – The chair of an organization that advocates for the interests of sex workers in Suriname says there are “sex workers” in the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country active under the age of 18 years.
“Sometimes they do not see themselves as sex workers, but if the dire economic situation makes them do this work to provide for their livelihood, then that is it, Denise Carr, chair of the Denise Carr Foundation (DCF), told the de Ware Tijd newspaper.
She said boys between 14 and 18 are active in the capital, Paramaribo, and the surrounding area.
“I see them as children, and in fact, my organization does not have children as members, but you do see them, especially when you drive around at night,” says Carr, who is also a sex worker and has lived in Suriname for 26 years.
“These young people are picked up on the street by men,” she said, noting that the DCF is seeking to provide help in collaboration with the LGBTQ+ community.
“The men who pick them up see it as normal because the boys are often not accepted at home because of their sexual orientation,” said Carr, noting that despite their young age, the boys are sometimes placed outside the home because they are discriminated against.
Carr said that girls sometimes approach an older man to buy certain material things for them. “They often start a relationship that way,” she said, noting that there are about a thousand female sex workers.
“Keep in mind that sex workers are not just women or men on the streets. Some people work in clubs, as escorts, or sometimes even from home, which pushes the numbers up even more,” Carr said, adding that her organization uses registration to confirm the number of sex workers here.
“Sometimes they are taken off the streets by the police, which leads to them preferring to work from home. So people are looking for alternatives to do the work. But it escalates”.
She told the newspaper that she is also worried that “a large proportion of sex workers have unprotected sex because they earn more that way.
“ People take risks for this reason alone. Moreover, they continue working, even if they know they have an STD or HIV.”
Carr says that according to the Department of Health, the number of people infected with HIV has increased.
“It used to be that if infected clients said they would pay you more, you would refuse. The trend now is that the sex worker thinks: ‘I’ll lose a client because he’ll go to someone else.’
“With the bad economic situation in the country, you have little choice. I have seen sex workers stay on the streets for two days because they do not have the money for the rent and do not want violence from the landlord against them.”
Carr said sex workers are given information about STDs and HIV/AIDS. They can do cervical cancer screenings with donor funds from the Canadian Fund. DCF also ensures that sex workers can have their blood pressure or glucose checked at regular intervals and can be screened for breast cancer.
“We pay for some health screenings for our members. The Dermatology Service can screen you for free. Still, the problem is the prescription drugs because they are costly,” Carr said, noting that this a challenge for the average sex worker “because we can’t afford those extra costs.
“Health care is almost unaffordable,” she adds, noting that while in the past, some sex workers chose to work on the French side, “now that has also become more difficult because you cannot get care if you cannot prove that you live in French Guiana.
“Sex workers are only human, and we want to be treated as such,” she told de Ware Tijd newspaper.
Efforts to obtain a response from the health authorities here have failed.
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