Sonagachi

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Sonagachi, translated as Golden Tree, is the largest red-light district in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. It is an area with several hundred multi-story brothels and some 10,000 sex workers. ^[1] Sonagachi is located in North-Kolkata at 22°35′15″N, 88°21′35″E, near the intersection of Chittaranjan Avenue and Beadon Street, just north of the Marble Palace.

The area was used by the Bengali Babus for maintaining concubines and mistresses in the 1700s and 1800s. Several mansions in this district have their roots in history in the early days of Raj. Legends say that even the famous courtesans and patrons of Paris knew of the fame of the Golden district of Kolkata.

Today, several NGOs and government organizations operate here for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS. The book Guilty Without Trial by the founders of the NGO Sanlaap based much of their research into human trafficking in India on this area.

The Sonagachi project is a prostitute's cooperative that operates in the area and empowers sex workers to insist on condom use and to stand up against abuse. It was founded by public health scientist Smarajit Jana in 1992 but is now largely run by the prostitutes themselves. It is credited with keeping the HIV infection rate among the prostitutes at 5 per cent, much lower than in other Indian red-light districts, and has been called a best practices model by the UN AIDS programme. ^[2] The Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) runs the Sonagachi project and several similar projects in West Bengal, organizing some 65,000 prostitutes and their children. The organization lobbies for the recognition of sex workers' rights and full legalization, runs literacy and vocational programs, and provides micro loans.^[3] "Durbar" means unstoppable in Bengali. The DMSC hosted India's first national convention of sex workers on November 14th, 1997 in Kolkata, entitled 'Sex Work is Real Work: We Demand Workers Rights'.^[4]

The documentary Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids won the Oscar for best documentary feature in the year 2005. It depicts the lives of children born to prostitutes in Sonagachi.

[edit] References

1. ^ Girl-trafficking hampers Aids fight BBC news. 30 November, 2004
2. ^ "The Prostitutes' Union", Scientific American, April 1, 2006
3. ^ durbar.org, home page of the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee
4. ^ Sex work is real work: We demand workers rights, announcement of the 1997 sex worker convention

[edit] External links

• Report on Sonagachi, critical of DMSC, by Tom Vater, The Irish Independent, 2004.
• The Red Lights of Sonagachi Positive Nation, Dec 2003/Jan 2004; issue 85/86
• Report on the Dunbar NGO, India Travel Times
• A photo report by Zana Briski, 2002
• The Sex Workers, 2004 PBS Frontline documentary comparing anti-HIV efforts in Mumbai and Kolkata
• Giving AIDS the Red Light, The Village Voice, September 18, 2002
• The Network of Sex Work Projects: Promoting Health and Human Rights

Prostitution in India

PITA • Indian Penal Code • Chukri System • Aadhiya System • Shivdaspur • Kamathipura • Sonagachi • Sanlaap • All Bengal Women's Union • Born into Brothels • Guilty Without Trial • AIDS in India • Tulasa • Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee • Bachara