Services provided by humanitarian actors to persons involved in transactional sex fail to respond to the needs of this population.
This was one of the conclusions of the international meeting of the ListenH research project hosted at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in July 2024.
Services provided by humanitarian actors to persons involved in transactional sex fail to respond to the needs of this population, such as the regularization of their migratory status, access to comprehensive health services, education, housing and, most importantly, decent work.
When offered at all, they merely address some of the problems that people experience when practicing transactional sex, like sexual and reproductive health problems and gender-based violence. Hence, they fail to address the root causes of this livelihood strategy, such as the lack of access to employment and decent labour conditions, gendered care responsibilities and the poverty and precarity experienced by persons affected by violent conflict and other humanitarian crises.
This was one of the conclusions of the four-day international meeting of the ListenH research project hosted at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS) in July 2024. Researchers from Colombia, DRC, Pakistan and the Netherlands met at ISS to discuss and compare the findings of the ListenH project on 'Understanding transactional sex in situations of humanitarian crises and reforming institutional responses'.
Livelihood insecurity is the main trigger for taking up transactional sex
The livelihood insecurity that comes with violent conflict and other humanitarian crises affecting the three countries was identified as the main trigger for taking up transactional sex – broadly understood as the exchange of sex for cash, goods, services, or privileges.
It enables border crossing, access to accommodation, as well as the payment for food and the coverage of other living expenses. The participating researchers identified the lack of viable employment alternatives in conflict-affected areas, the experience of exploitation in many formal and informal jobs, but also the xenophobia that displaced populations face and gender stereotypes that narrow options for women and transpersons, in particular, as other shared factors that shape people’s journeys into transactional sex.
Country-specific transactional sex practices
Practices of transactional sex differ across the three conflict-affected contexts.
For instance, in Colombia it is often a central subsistence strategy, whereas in DRC transactional sex may also involve an incidental practice, for instance to complement a market purchase or to pay for transport.
The stigmatization of dissenting sexual practices is common across the three countries. Yet the possible material consequences for persons involved in transactional sex were found to be markedly different, with criminalization and killing as the most severe risks faced by research participants in Pakistan. Protective legislation and services, for instance regarding healthcare, are often not available to practitioners of transactional sex. If they do, then lack of awareness about them, immigration status, the costs involved as well as stigma may pose high barriers to access.
Countering the misrepresentation of experiences
Seeking to counter the misrepresentation of the experiences, needs and demands of persons involved in transactional sex in humanitarian contexts, the project has explored a participatory research approach with people from conflict-affected communities and experience in transactional sex involved as co-researchers.
The four-year project is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The international meeting received co-funding by the Erasmus Trustfonds.
