Thaindian News

Kolkata, Jan 27 (IANS) A high profile UN team Thursday visited Asia’s largest red-light area here and urged an umbrella organisation of sex workers to prepare a scheme for their economic rehabilitation in old age.”The umbrella body - Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) - is running a cooperative society involving the sex-workers. We have asked them to initiate an investment scheme according to the needs and capacities of the sex-workers so that they can get a higher return during their old age,” said Nafis Sadik, special advisor to UN secretary general and envoy (HIV/AIDS) in Asia.

The cooperative society now has 16,228 account holders out of more than 30,000 sex workers living in the red light area - Sonagachi, in northern part of the city. The cooperative has also disbursed loans to at least 400 sex workers amounting to Rs.4 crore.

“Among the borrowers, 60 per cent have taken loans for educating their children,” said a member of the co-operative society.

“The UN officials - Sadik and Charles Gilks, (UNAIDS country coordinator for India - visited the entire area and interacted with the sex workers and lauded the projects implemented by us. They will file a report detailing their experiences before the UN secretary general on their return,” said BMSC’s secretary Bharati Dey.

“The UN officials were happy to see the sex workers are aware about HIV and AIDS and its preventive measures, and need for investment schemes. They admitted that all the projects involving the sex workers have been wonderfully implemented here,” said Bharati.

Apart from cooperative society, the BMSC also runs a children’s home, educational institute and health centres in Sonagachi.

“The sex workers came out briskly and interacted with the team members. The UN officials also expressed their satisfaction on the activities carried out by the BMSC and said they are considering to implement the Sonagachi model in other red light areas across the world,” added Dey.