Will Ouagadougou's Brothels Really Be Shut Down?

UNCLAS OUAGADOUGOU 000582

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KCRM ELAB SOCI PGOV UV
SUBJECT: Will Ouagadougou's Brothels Really Be Shut Down?

REF: OUAGADOUGOU 0504


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Since January 2008, the mayor of Ouagadougou has
worked to close down all brothel houses in the capital. While some
houses have been converted into rental property, and others
destroyed, many brothels are still open for business. In March
2009, after a twelve month grace period, the mayor once again
cracked down on the brothels leading employees of these
establishments to write an open letter to President Compaore
appealing the decision, claiming it would drive them out of a job.
Closing down the brothels they argue, would spell financial ruin for
the families who legally derive income from their work, but would
also impact city development by decreasing taxation revenues. END
SUMMARY.
More than a 1,500 brothel sex workers in Ouagadougou.
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2. (SBU) According to Mr. Zakaria Drabo's (union representative of
the brothel industry employees) open letter to Compaore, Ouagadougou
has about one hundred " rooms " ("Chambres de passes"),each
employing about fifteen people, totaling more than 1,500 employees
in the sex industry. He said that each of these employees' income
supports an extended family network, and pays for school fees for
their children. (Note: The sex workers are not only Burkinabe, but
also Nigerian, Ghanaian, Beninese and Togolese. End Note.) The
trade union reminds Compaore that every country in the world has
brothels, and that allowing the Mayor to close those in Ouagadougou
would only lead to poverty for those 1,500 income dependent
families, and the 15,000 people they support. The trade union
argues that it is "better to die, than to lose one's job, again."
Brothel work is already a step down from the jobs they once had and
lost as a result of a depressed economy, losing this job, they say,
would be the final straw and spell financial ruin. The hundred or
so sex "rooms" are sub-leased by the owners to pimps, who in turn
sub-lease them to prostitutes or hire prostitutes themselves to work
in them. The frequenters of brothels are men of all socio-economic
categories, who pay, dependent on use of condom or not, between 4
USD and 30 USD for sex. Local NGOs estimate that each room probably
receives an average of eight clients a night. NGO's reported that
some girls as young as fourteen are employed in these brothels.
Tax the owners and generate income for the State
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3. (SBU) The trade union suggests that rather than closing brothels
down and forcing people to the streets to work, the alternative
could save their jobs while being beneficial to the State. The
suggestion is that by taxing each brothel room owner about 500 USD a
month, the State could collect about 600,000 USD in revenue per year
in Ouagadougou alone. He suggests that this income could be used to
ameliorate university infrastructure by building a new amphitheatre,
could be used to improve living conditions at the city dilapidated
MACO city jail, or could help pay for medication at the hospital.

4. (SBU) COMMENT: Under Burkinabe law "simple" or voluntary
prostitution is not illegal. Pimping of prostitutes and active
solicitation of clients is illegal (Article 427) and using private
property for economic gains without prior consent by the local
administration is also illegal (Articles 158, 226, 227, 228 of
Property and Agrarian Reform.) The interdiction of brothel houses
in Ouagadougou is based on the fact that these houses were not
officially declared and authorized for this type of work, hence in
violation of Article 158.

5. (SBU) NGO's who work closely with the sex workers told us that
the "real", yet unpublicized aim of the Mayor of Ouagadougou is to
close the brothels in order to limit the spread of HIV/AIDS and
sexually transmitted diseases and to fight trafficking in persons by
limiting the outlet for women forced into prostitution. As noted in
reftel, the Mayor also wants to combat child prostitution by closing
down the city brothels. In addition, the Mayor has sought to shut
down brothels that are next to schools and places of worship, and
has targeted the brothels that did not pass minimum health
standards. We doubt that the union's open letter will persuade the
Mayor to change his plans, but is probably a good indication of how
difficult it will be to curb the sex trade in Ouagadougou. END
COMMENT.


LAEUCHLI