The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has condemned the recent arrest of female sex workers and closure of brothels in Umuahia, the Abia capital, on the orders of the state government, describing it as “criminalization of poverty.”

The Commission further described the action as an abuse of the right of the sex workers, adding that the arrested ladies were being punished because they were poor.

According to the Coordinator of NHRC in Abia, Ms Uche Nwokocha, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday, in Umuahia, the state government rather than clamping down on the women ought to have found out why there was a large number of them going into prostitution.

“There are other women elsewhere doing similar things and they are not being arrested.

“If you are looking for criminals go to their families. These are just poor women they are preying on.

“The only difference is that these people are poor and they don’t have the opportunity others have. And because of that, they are being punished. How many of them are being prosecuted? It is wrong.

“If the Government of Abia has discovered that there is still a high influx of prostitutes into the state, I think the government should ask why.

“If some of them are into prostitution because of the situation they found themselves in, the government can assist them by giving them some packages that can help them settle down.

“But if there are still some, who still want to do prostitution, they should be allowed to do whatever they want,” Nwokocha said.

The state government had ordered the immediate shutdown of some brothels in the state capital, alleging that they had become hideouts for criminals.

It also directed security agencies to rid the brothels of suspected hoodlums, a situation which led to the arrest of the female sex workers by the police.

(RS)