He made a phone call to one of the madams (the women who run the brothels), and she agreed to meet me and my colleague, also a journalist. According to him, the brothel I was visiting was home to several Rohingya sex workers who were new arrivals. He told me the only way I could get in was if I pretended to be a sex worker. According to locals, he had been running the sex trade business inside of Cox’s Bazar for years. Our journey began by meeting with the godfather of all the local pimps at a tea stall nearby the brothels. Unless you know the right people, it is impossible to navigate.
It is not easy to get inside these places. These rows of hotels are packed with young Rohingya girls often sold for sex to local tourists. Inside the neighborhoods, local Bangladeshi tourists can be seen with cigarettes in hand, lurking outside of small hotels with fluorescent lights blinking, a sex worker in bright colors popping out every now and then. As evening fell, We drove past the tourist areas of Cox’s Bazar. We decided to find out where these brothels were. Those men raised her suspicion, as she has seen Rohingya girls being trafficked from the camps into the main city center. She usually sees Rohingya men as clients, but on occasion Bangladeshi men appear. I feel bad doing it but I have to survive somehow.” She sees two men per day for 20 minutes who give her $2-6. “The food handout is not enough, when my kids cry for rice where will I get it from? I’m only doing this to support my family. Sumaiya told me she got into sex work out of desperation after her abusive husband left her. I met with a girl whose name I can not mention for security reasons I’ll call her Sumaiya to protect her identity. The huts made of bamboo and plastic sheets had four sex workers inside per day, serving both Bangladeshi and Rohingya men. One of the brothels we visited was run by a Rohingya woman who married a Bangladeshi man. “The food handout is not enough, when my kids cry for rice where will I get it from?” This is an uncommon sight among the Rohingya: most refugees come from insular, conservative Muslim families. I saw first-hand women sitting outside of their huts smoking cigarettes, and female pimps draped in gold. Inside of Kutupalong camp, a camp leader led me into some of the biggest brothels that use many vulnerable women scattered throughout the camps. It’s visible inside of the Rohingya camps at night when there is less security and fewer aid groups present. Since late last year over 700,000 refugees - mostly women and children - have fled a brutal crackdown in their home of Rakhine State by Myanmar government forces.īut despite the assistance and support of aid groups, a black market underbelly thrives, where prostitution of Rohingya girls has become a common. International Aid groups have been pouring into the neighboring refugee camps to help with the Rohingya refugee crisis. It’s late at night in Cox’s Bazar, and the normal slow pace of business in this beach town has picked up recently. It is disturbing and not suitable for children. Warning: This article contains graphic content.
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