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. -------------- -------------- ¶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 -------------- -------------- ¶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