Daulatdia: breaking the cycle of sexual exploitation in Bangladeshi brothel

Once they arrive in Daulatdia, many women stay for the rest of their lives. And often their children with them. Munir Uz Zaman / AFP

Bangladesh is home to one of the largest brothels in the world. The daughters of sex workers often have little choice but to follow in their mothers’ footsteps. Local activists in Daulatdia are doing what they can to stop this.

In the afternoon, the Daulatdia brothel is quiet. Women sit outside their rooms looking at their mobile phones; men transport goods through the narrow alleyways; some children play. Come evening, clients will flock to the area, where gambling and drugs, as well as sexual services, are on offer.

The Daulatdia brothel is considered to be one of the biggest in the world, with between 1,300 and 1,500 prostitutes working there. The small town of Daulatdia is a major transport hub, and the brothel is said to have existed since British colonial times. According to NGOs, some 3,000 clients come here each day, many of them passing through on their way to the capital Dhaka, 70km away.

The Brahmaputra and Padma rivers converge at Daulatdia. Not so long ago, the only way to cross the water was by ferry, but since the building of a bridge, traffic has picked up. This also means fewer prostitutes are working in Daulatdia, because of a drop in the number of clients. The women’s already precarious financial situation has thus become even worse. On top of this, the country is in a dire economic state.

Until a few years ago, there were an estimated 2,000 prostitutes working in Daulatdia, but today there are fewer than 1,500. Munir Uz Zaman / AFP

Why we are writing about this

Switzerland was one of the first countries to recognise Bangladesh as an independent state after it seceded from Pakistan in 1971 in a war that resulted in enormous losses. Since then, both the Swiss development agency SDC and numerous NGOs have been active in the country.

The activities described here are carried out by the local organisation Mukti Mohila Samity (MMS). It implements projects as a partner of the Swiss children’s aid organisation Terre des HommesExternal link (TdH).

During the week of December 16-20, the fundraising organisation Swiss SolidarityExternal link is organising a Solidarity Week. The donations collected will be used to fund projects to protect children from violence and abuse, including the projects described here.

Swiss Solidarity is the humanitarian arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, SWI swissinfo.ch’s parent company.

Shunned like lepers

Bangladesh is one of the few Muslim countries where prostitution is legal. Yet the residents of Daulatdia face massive social exclusion. Over the past two decades, local NGOs have fought to improve the legal status of the women and their children. More than 500 children live on the site, mostly in the same rooms where their mothers work.

Coping with the seriousness of life through play: activities organised by local NGO MMS are aimed at the daughters of Daulatdia, who often grow up in very difficult circumstances. Giannis Mavris / SWI swissinfo.ch

At the Mukti Mohila Samity (MMS) centre, located next to the brothel area, teenage girls take part in sports activities. Before playing handball, they do some exercises with their eyes closed. These are aimed at building the girls’ confidence. “We want to improve their negotiation and communication skills,” says a social worker, “and strengthen their trust in other people. Most of them have had a traumatic childhood.” The girls grew up in Daulatdia.

Around 50 children and teenagers are currently registered at the centre, which offers lessons, training modules and sports activities, as well as day and night care. The staff are doing all they can but, as one of them bluntly puts it, “there is little hope in Daulatdia”. Nonetheless, there are some rays of light.

Every girl who does not take over her mother’s work is a success story. This is true both on an individual and on a structural level, as she then shows by example that the cycle of sexual exploitation can be broken.

How the women organised themselves

Morjina Begum is an important figure in Daulatdia. When she walks through the brothel, she is greeted respectfully from all sides. No other person has done so much for the people here.

Begum herself was once a sex worker in Daulatdia. She was married at the age of 13 and soon gave birth to a daughter, but she could not stand living with her older husband. She left home and, a few years later, ended up in the brothel. She does not talk about the circumstances, but stresses: “I did not come here voluntarily.”

Being “headstrong by nature,” as she explains, she began to rebel against the injustices. “We are citizens of this country, so why don’t we have any rights?” she asked herself. The women in the brothel had no access to state services, and violence was rife. Children did not receive birth certificates and sex workers who died had no religious burial; instead, their bodies were thrown into the river. “We had to fight for our rights,” Begum says tersely.

It was a chance meeting with a woman working for NGO Save the Children that set Begum on the path of activism. Since then, she has been imprisoned for her actions, but over the years she has managed, together with others, to secure more rights for the women – rights to which they are entitled as citizens of Bangladesh. And in this way, she says, they have slightly improved the women’s “miserable lot”.

“At first, we women were not allowed to leave the brothel. Then we were only allowed to do so barefoot, so that we could be recognised. If I went to see the authorities, they wouldn’t let me inside their offices,” says Begum. “Today, they sit at the same table with me and respect me as a contact person.”

The residents have a lot to thank her for: Morjina Begum is a central figure in the prostitutes’ fight for more rights and acceptance. Giannis Mavris / SWI swissinfo.ch

Human trafficking a central problem

Every story in Daulatdia is different, but trafficking plays a central role in almost all of them. Many girls and women end up in brothels as victims of human trafficking. They are sold by brokers, relatives or husbands to “madams”, or older women who run the brothels, to work as sex slaves until their supposed debt is paid off.

But then there is practically no way out for them. Sex workers are exposed to extreme social exclusion in Bangladesh. Returning to their families is usually out of the question. And in this bitterly poor country, other sources of income are almost impossible for single women without male protection and with illegitimate children. So they stay in Daulatdia – as do their children.

“They live in a context of violence, right around the clock. No child should have to grow up like this,” says Jiniya Afroze, programme manager at Terre des Hommes. A major problem, she explains, is that the children often drop out of education after primary school, which they can attend locally. This often occurs in Bangladesh, where child marriage and child labour are common. But in Daulatdia, this means something else: it means the daughters are following in their mothers’ footsteps. “Our goal is to break the intergenerational cycle of sexual exploitation,” Afroze says.

There are ways out of Daulatdia. But there are many obstacles to overcome. Giannis Mavris / SWI swissinfo.ch

The children should go to school – and stay in education. This is a key concern of the organisations on the ground. They work with local institutions to strengthen child protection and combat trafficking, although this is particularly difficult given the strong criminal structures.

Although there are state services for victims, many women in the brothel are not aware of them, says Afroze, and are unable to take advantage of them. It’s one of the reasons why awareness-raising work is also being carried out.

The local organisations also provide one-off cash payments, without conditions, to the sex workers. This enables some to buy a plot of land or open a small business and develop other sources of income. But “funds are limited,” says Afroze.

Begum left the brothel two decades ago and made activism her profession. Today, she lives nearby and still works with the women and children of Daulatdia. It is her life’s project, she says. She is particularly proud of the fact that, thanks to her organisation, over 700 children have already made it to secondary school.

Now she has her sights set on a project to help boys from the brothel. “They live precarious lives and often end up on drugs or turning to crime,” she says. “Nobody looks out for them.”

Edited by Benjamin von Wyl. Adapted from German by Julia Bassam/gw