Sex slaves spark Aids scare

Captive prostitution turns deadly. A married Aucklander counts the cost of sex in parlours where women are denied basic rights finds finds TONY WALL.


A Thai woman with HIV has been sent home from New Zealand amid fears that immigrant workers held in virtual sex slavery are contributing to the spread of Aids.

An Auckland man has told health authorities he contracted HIV from a Thai prostitute in a city brothel.

It is not known how many other men were exposed to the virus before the woman was sent back to Thailand.

An estimated 500 Thai women work in the Auckland sex industry. Some were enticed here thinking they were coming to legitimate jobs, and have been bonded to pay off travel debts to their employers.

The customer infected with HIV was married and lived on the North Shore.

The Aids Epidemiology Group in Dunedin confirmed it was notified of a man who said he contracted HIV while having sex with an Asian prostitute in Auckland in late 1997.

Since then, an Auckland Thai sex worker had also been notified as HIV-positive, said group spokesman Dr Nigel Dickson.

But because his group received only limited, anonymous information, it was impossible to know whether the man or woman had infected anyone else or had developed full-blown Aids, Dr Dickson said.

The group was alerted to the case by the Auckland clinician who did the married man's HIV test.

Dr Dickson said New Zealand sex workers as a group did not have a high HIV infection rate, but his group had been notified of at least two HIV-positive Asian prostitutes from Auckland since it began keeping records in 1996.

Auckland Healthcare's medical officer of health, Dr Lester Calder, said HIV was not a notifiable disease and his office had not been told of the sex worker case.

"If a public health threat is notified to us, we will undertake appropriate investigations," he said.

Sources have told the New Zealand Herald the sex worker was sent straight back to Thailand when her bosses discovered she had HIV.

The woman is thought to have been one of those tricked into coming to Auckland with promises of legitimate work in restaurants.

Auckland Healthcare's sexual health service refused to comment because it fears that publicity will force women who attend its weekly Thai clinics underground.

But the Aids Foundation says it is concerned that women who are tricked or forced into prostitution are made to take part in unsafe sexual practices.

"Our concern about sex workers who are not working through their own choice is that they are people who are particularly powerless," director Kevin Hague said.

"That would lead us to believe there is a very strong chance that they may be required to have unsafe sex."

Prostitutes Collective regional coordinator Michelle McGill confirmed that some men paid extra not to use a condom.

But she said prostitutes were generally better educated than most people on safe sex practices.