Malawi: Police Force HIV Tests for Sex Workers

Malawian police on a routine sweep for criminals in Mwanza earlier this month arrested 14 women deemed sex workers and allegedly forced them to undergo HIV tests, rights workers say. The women were subsequently charged for "deliberately trading in sex while having a sexually transmitted disease."

There is no law specifically criminalizing sex work, but other laws have been invoked to crack down on sex work in major cities, advocates said.

Police charged the Mwanza women for a misdemeanor violation of section 192 of the Penal Code against potentially spreading STDs in sex work, said Dave Chingwalu, a department spokesperson. Local media quoted a Mwanza hospital official who confirmed he tested the women and that all 14 had HIV. Chingwalu denied the women were tested involuntarily.

"Consent was not sought for the 14 women," said the Center for Development of People. "On that basis alone, the HIV testing is inconsistent with the Constitution and therefore invalid."

"It was part of our investigations," Chingwalu explained. "We do that in various other cases of defilement ... we have to take the defiler for a test on HIV or any other [STDs] for us to be able to establish the extent of our case."

The women charged could not be traced, but another woman said she experienced a police raid a week earlier in Zomba, and that she was forcibly tested for HIV. "It's not that we agreed to go for a test," said the woman, who is HIV-positive and spoke on condition of anonymity. "They did not ask us whether we wanted to go for the test or not ... but they force us into it because that is the only way they can justify their illegal actions on us."

"If it's a way of dealing with HIV/AIDS, then they should find another way," one that is based on consent and counseling, said Undule Mwakasungula of the Center for Human Rights and Rehabilitation.

Of 28 Malawian districts surveyed, HIV infection rates among sex workers ranged 70-80 percent, said Dr. Mary Shawa, the country's secretary for HIV/AIDS and Nutrition. Sex workers should organize to be part of the solution, instead of being part of the problem, Shawa said.

Back to other news for October 2009