Sex workers demand address in NID card changed

Over a thousand sex workers in the district's Daulatdia brothel have urged the government to let them change their address in the national identification (NID) card.

Although there is no village named 'Daulatdia brothel' in reality, the address of these sex workers on their NID card mentions so.

As a result, they face awful experiences while trying to avail different services.

Daulatdia is one of the country's 11 brothels. Local sources said there are 3,046 voters registered at the Daulatdia Ghat Government Primary School. Among them, 2,137 are female voters, including 1,135 sex workers. There are a few who could use a separate address, which means there are around 1,500 voters who are sex workers.

A sex worker seeking anonymity said she has a child with disability who got a special allowance from the government. As the guardian, she was to get the money, but the bank refused to let her open an account seeing her NID card.

"We have to show our NID card when we go to the school or when we go to the hospital. But everywhere people look at us with contempt because of the address," lamented another sex worker.

Even when someone wants to change her profession, the NID card becomes a problem.

"I went to many garment factories in search of a job, but everywhere they turned me down when they saw the NID card. In the end, I had to produce a forged document to get a job," said a woman who was once at the brothel.

Marzina Begum, executive director of Mukti Mahila Samity, a platform working with sex workers and their children, said, "Such a mention in the NID card is very humiliating for them. No one has the right to belittle them this way. They are no different than the others. We expect the authorities to take the matter seriously."

Upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) Rubayet Hayat told Prothom Alo, "The National Human Rights Commission has been notified. The election commission (EC) holds the authority regarding change of address and steps are being taken to send them an official letter to consider the issue."