Africa Coronavirus Lockdown: Sex Workers Become 'Easy Target' For Murder During Pandemic

Sex workers are reportedly becoming more vulnerable to physical violence and killings since COVID-19 restrictions came into force.

In an east African community, women engaging in sex work have become an “easy target” of physical attacks and homicide. A sex worker named Peninah Wanjiru was recently found dead at her home in Majengo, which lies in the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya.

Wanjiru, 35, was known to be careful with how she conducted her business and only allowed clients to enter her home for a “quickie.” But after a curfew was imposed all over the community to quell the spread of the coronavirus, Wanjiru was forced to let one of her clients stay over on May 7.

Later that night, the 35-year-old sex worker was found lying in a pool of blood, Reuters reported. Wanjiru had apparently died before help could even arrive.

While police are currently investigating the incident, a post-mortem report revealed that Wanjiru had been stabbed multiple times in both the chest and stomach area and suffered head trauma.

The homicide case wasn’t a novel one, especially for sex workers like Wanjiru. Women in the sex work sector were at higher risk of experiencing violence. But due to the ongoing global health crisis, the attacks and killings have soared to a surfeit of cases, striking fear into the whole community.

“It’s really frightening what we are seeing happening across the country,” Peninah Mwangi, the executive director of the Bar Hostess Empowerment and Support Programme, a sex worker-led organization with 10,000 members in Kenya, said.

Mwangi, who is also a women's and health rights activist, revealed that the girls became petrified upon hearing the news.

“Our girls are really scared. We are hearing of women going with clients, only to find their bodies dumped,” she added. “In one case, a sex worker was killed by her client’s family when she went to his house. Even so, they are more scared of hunger than murder.”

The recent cases of violence saw a sudden spike when COVID-19 restrictions were largely imposed. The intensity of these cases, however, was attributed not only to clients attacking sex workers but also to police and other community members who blame these workers for the spread of the viral disease.

Grace Kamau, a regional coordinator for the African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA), revealed that police in countries like Uganda, Kenya Ivory Coast, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa have been raiding brothels and bars to assault and arrest local sex workers.

“Sex workers are an easy target in a time of crisis. Clients feel they can take advantage of them, and law enforcement think they can use them to show that they are implementing COVID-19 measures,” Kamau shared.

There has been a rise in incidences of “mob justice,” where neighbors who blame them for spreading COVID-19 have been assaulting these sex workers, as per Kamau.

On top of this, customers have already been staying away for fear of contracting the virus. The COVID-19 lockdown has also ceased the operation of bars and brothels, compelling sex workers to conduct business independently.

This, in turn, increases the risk of sex workers being harmed on the streets, in clients’ residences or even in their own personal homes. Additionally, the apparent shortage of customers and potential clientele are leaving these workers struggling to survive.

As for the number of recorded cases for both murder and assault, the Kenya Sex Workers Alliance (KESWA) revealed that it has documented six killings since the east African nation’s dusk-to-dawn curfew was implemented on March 27.

Philester Abdalla, KESWA’s national coordinator, said that compared to the monthly average of 25 incidents before COVID-19 hit Kenya, the recorded cases of violence against sex workers committed by clients, neighbors and police in the first month of the global outbreak soared to 80.