Although the report may indeed be hyped (and the stuff about STDs mere speculation), the horrific basis of it is indeed true. The police are implementing a Neanderthal approach based on beliefs, even though those beliefs have been shown to be harmful. It is likely that the cunt at the top has support from clergy-influenced higher ups that are covertly encouraging it.
To give you an idea of how bad this policy got in one country... Cambodia accepted money from George Bush to "fight AIDS" and the money was linked to zero tolerance. The police there also used possession of condoms as evidence that the women "might be prostitutes" and took them to the police station "for questioning." They would be routinely gang-raped and then released from custody. In Cambodia, as here, the anti-prostitution drive was made part of a drive against sex-trafficking, which was used as a cover for zero tolerance.
The zero tolerance reversed a successful program to combat AIDS. The government made condom use compulsory in brothels and the HIV rate dropped massively, as noted by the United Nations General Assembly. However the The Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation made prostitution illegal, heavily influenced by Bush's religious convictions.
"Although police abuse of sex workers is not a new problem, the Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation only provides another avenue and renewed zeal for police abuses. Cambodian police claim that the new law helps them "put order to the streets." Once sex workers are arrested, protocol is to detain the workers in the rehabilitation centers, which hypothetically provide rehabilitation services to people who go on a voluntary basis. In reality, sex workers are involuntarily detained, often following arrests that are "completely arbitrary and not based on any investigation of alleged crimes." The Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) reports that these detention centers operate under appalling conditions. Further, sex workers report being raped and robbed by guards while detained at these facilities." Condoms can't be used as evidence but police don't seem to care.
I am not suggesting our police would act as callously as some Cambodian police: but the opportunities for abuse are clearly widened. Furthermore the policy is proven to be counterproductive to law, the rights of the individual, health and well-being.
For a sample of the evidence to back all this up and sensible proposals about the range of issues see:
External Link/Members Only(A quick report here:
External Link/Members Only)
