“It’s a very bad world,” a Bangladeshi woman said with her head down. “I wish I wasn’t alive.” The young woman is one of many women imprisoned within the walls of Daulatdia, Bangladesh’s largest brothel. The victims of these sexual slavery number in the thousands. The vast majority of them were minors, sold into slavery while local authorities turned a blind eye.
Others find themselves drawn into the lives of prostitutes because they have little choice in a country where opportunities are few. With thousands of male customers visiting brothels every day, girls are denied a voice, free will, or any power or help in shaping their own destiny. “Men just come here, give me money, have fun and leave,” said another Bangladeshi woman. “Nobody here loves me.”
A new documentary, “Sex Slaves in Bangladesh,” produced by VICE News, goes inside the walls of Dauradia to reveal an environment rife with emotional and sexual abuse, human trafficking, rampant drug use and unsanitary housing. The girls were injected with steroids to make them fatter and, in many cases, to hide their underage appearance. Most of their pimps are women or ladies and they take most of the income.
Bangladesh is a Muslim country that prohibits gambling, drug and alcohol abuse, and acts such as premarital sex are also severely opposed. The country’s laws provide for severe penalties for human trafficking and the exploitation of underage prostitutes. Still, Daulatdia can operate with impunity. This is partly a consequence of tradition. Owned by one of the region’s most powerful families, Dautatdia has been operating since British colonial times. But perhaps the bigger reason is money; Bangladesh’s sex industry is lucrative, feeding the pockets of many of the region’s most influential residents.
Sex slavery in Bangladesh offers a harrowing glimpse into a world where girls as young as 12 are denied the most basic human rights and where a corrupt system does nothing to humiliate and torture them.
