Sex workers rally against ‘police probe’
But an increasing number of sex workers, particularly migrants from mainland China, are complaining about the behaviour of the police supposed to enforce the law, with some officers accused of helping themselves to free sexual services.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of sex workers ply their trade in one room brothels, massage parlours, saunas and bars throughout the southern Chinese city, where prostitution is legal but soliciting is not.
In an anonymous 20 storey tower block close to a popular shopping district, men of all ages take the lift to the top of the building, avoiding eye contact with each other as they circle down the dingy stairwells, ringing at doors where signs say either “welcome” or “wait”.
Muffled noises betray what is happening inside.
In one of the rooms, a 25 year old prostitute sits on the edge of the bed, wearing only black knickers and a white t shirt sporting a picture of a cartoon bird.
With its pink bedspread cover, makeup kits, soft toys and television,
words against humanity?, the messy space could belong to a typical teenage girl.
But the woman laughed uneasily and held out her wrist to show a network of cuts,
where can you get cards against humanity, some fresh, some faded, all self inflicted.
“This job is no good. In my heart I am unhappy, but my face must be happy,” she said.
She is controlled by a member of one of the city’s notorious triad gangs. Forced to work as a prostitute, she has to pay the gang member $HK2000 ($246) a day since an ex boyfriend amassed huge gambling debts six years ago, using her as a guarantor.
Every day she sees five or six clients, or “fans” as she prefers to call them, earning $HK500 for 40 minutes,
cards against humanity sale, paying the $HK2000 to her boss and keeping whatever is left.
She says she cannot escape or call the police because the triads will take revenge on her family, who do not know of her work.
“The girls here are all controlled,
black cards against humanity,” she said. Most are mainland Chinese and so more vulnerable to police harassment than those from Hong Kong, she added.
“The police are afraid of Hong Kong girls because we can complain but they are not afraid of China girls. If the China girls complain they can arrest them,” she said.
“I never thought Hong Kong had police like this”
It is against Hong Kong law for anyone to live off the earnings of a prostitute, and police say they are targeting the organised criminals controlling the women.
But Zi Teng, a group campaigning for sex workers’ rights, collected 203 complaints from sex and massage workers against police in the first half of the year, more than double the figure for the previous six months.
The allegations included 32 accusations of officers taking free sexual services and eight of indecent assault, along with arbitrary arrests.
There is no way of verifying the allegations and police say they attach “great importance to the proper conduct” of officers.
Nonetheless Zi Teng project officer Betty Shao said controversial police rules, which allow undercover officers to receive sexual services including masturbation as part of an investigation, reflect the city’s misguided policies when it comes to the sex industry.
“Sex work is like any other type of work and sex workers should have the same rights,” she said.
“These three types of person the police, bad customers and bad bosses they’re the ones who are acting illegally, but the law cheats the migrant sex worker first.”
Hong Kong has seen a huge influx from mainland China since the handover from British control in 1997, with the number of visitors rising 15 fold to almost 28 million in 2011.
Police figures show arrests related to offences involving sex workers from the mainland quadrupled in the same period to 3752.
These migrants are often poorly educated, with a limited understanding of the language and law. Zi Teng says they do not report crimes to police because many are working illegally and fear being arrested themselves.
Some work in massage parlours, often fronts for sex industry premises.
Establishments need a licence for full body massage and Zi Teng says there are cases in which undercover officers have made several visits receiving sex services at the taxpayers’ expense before making an arrest.
JoJo, a 35 year old from southwestern China, was charged with managing an unlicensed massage parlour after police raided the establishment where she was working in March. She was found guilty but is appealing the court’s decision.
She insists she was giving only a foot massage, and that during the raid an officer took her to a side room and fondled her breast.
When she was bailed at the police station, she refused to leave until somebody dealt with her complaint. At this point, she alleges, she was forced to the ground and kicked in the leg and head.