Vernon Daley

For locals who frequently use the services of prostitutes, the coming of the Cricket World Cup to these shores cannot be a good thing.

Organisers of the event are predicting a huge influx of cricket-loving tourists for the tournament and many of these persons, in between matches, are likely to sample the offerings of the commercial sex trade. With foreign currency in their pockets, they are also likely to drive up prices and leave under-resourced domestic Johns in a bit of a pickle.

But the issue of prices is a problem for the Johns themselves.

The more pressing problem for Jamaica, and the rest of the Caribbean, is how to manage this expected increase in commercial sex activity during the course of the tournament so as to ward against a rise in HIV infections and other forms of sexually-transmitted diseases.

I haven't heard too much about what is being done in Jamaica to address the matter. But perhaps I haven't been listening and reading enough. Or, it could be that the health authorities have decided to follow the Prime Minister's admonition to the security forces, and think it best not to reveal their strategy and tactics.

However, I was heartened to see a report out of St. Lucia on the weekend that the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA) has been meeting with brothel owners and their staff in that country ahead of the Cricket World Cup, which starts in March.

The group, quite sensibly, is seeking to sensitise those in the sex trade about the measures they can take to lower the safety and health risks for both themselves and clients. If this approach is not being employed in Jamaica, it seems to me it should be.

Prostitution business

There is little sense getting too moralistic about this prostitution business. It's been here a long time. It's here now. And it's likely to be here a long time to come.

Last year, Barbados made it clear that any local prostitute or anyone going into that country to trade in prostitution either before, during or after the Cricket World Cup, would be made to feel the sting of the law. Well, that's the kind of unenlightened nonsense that makes it difficult for the region to really get on top of the HIV problem.

The Barbados policy is based on nothing but empty moralising. The police in that country frequently carry out raids in the notorious Nelson Street area in Bridgetown only to waste valuable State resources. They are ever busy but ever worse than useless in dealing with the prostitution that goes on in that den of debauchery.

Luckily, there are a few thinking leaders on this issue in the region. One of them is Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. Denzil Douglas. While making it known that his country is not promoting prostitution, he has taken the view that the old approach (exemplified by Barbados) is hampering the fight against the HIV epidemic by pushing those most at risk underground.

He has been carrying this message to his colleagues in CARICOM for a while. I hope he'll have some success this year in pulling them along a new path.

For right now, the region should take the small step of working with these prostitutes during the course of the cricket tournament to minimise the spread of deadly diseases.

But, at some point, we need to have a genuine discussion about decriminalising prostitution. Morality has its place in the conversation, but it must be prepared to survive reason.