Panama sex workers most abused in Latin America

PANAMA’S SEX WORKERS are the most vulnerable in Latin AMerica to police abuse, and demands for pay-offs, according to the Network of Sex Workers of Latin America (RedTraSex). Says an EFE news agency report .

In Honduras, which is also a very macho and a very violent country with women, we have managed to train nearly 300 policemen. Here (in Panama) there is only dialogue with the institutions,” RedTraSex, executive secretary Elena Reynaga told Efe.
Reynaga, who has more than 20 years fighting for the rights of her colleagues also cited the case of Nicaragua, where “the Supreme Court has trained 18 sex workers to be ‘legal facilitators ” and can act as mediators in a conflict.
In Panama, however, prostitutes do not have institutional support and suffer “recurrent” police abuse said Reynaga. Who had traveled to Panama to support the organization Women’s Dignity and Rights of Panama (MDD) and publicly repudiate the “illegal and arbitrary” detention suffered by a sex worker 8 months pregnant.
On June 24 Jennifer Mosquera was detained for more than 18 hours, handcuffed hands and feet despite being in advanced pregnancy because she was “freely exercising her profession of sex worker” in the streets of the capital, according to the MDD . “We do not want to fight (with police), we want you to understand that we need respect, we are not committing any crime and we should not be pursued in this way,” said the activist from Argentina.
In no country in Latin America, is prostitution a punishable crime,. “Sex work is not a crime, but it is not regulated, so there is a loophole that is used by the police ” said Reynaga, who wondered how much money wascollected by the police at night.
Agents “will not go empty-handed. They don’t care lead to a girl to jail, what interests them is what the girl has in her purse ,” she said
The economic boom in Panama, coupled with a dollar economy, has led to increased prostitution in the country, according tpReynaga.
“Panama is one of the countries with the greatest proportion of brothels, advertised as karaoke, or night clubs (…) However, those who suffer most violence are those outside in the street, “said the activist.
RedTraSex, founded in 1997, is an association that brings together organizations of prostitutes from 17 countries in Latin America to fight for human rights of sex workers