Daulatdia ( bn, দৌলতদিয়া) is the name of a village in

Rajbari District Rajbari ( bn, রাজবাড়ী) is a district in central Bangladesh, located in the Dhaka Division. It is a part of the Greater Faridpur subregion of Bengal due to the historical, linguistic and cultural identities of its inhabitants. His ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

which is the largest

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...

in Bangladesh, and has been called one of the largest brothels in the world. It is one of 20 officially sanctioned brothels in the country opening around 1988, although it was unofficially in existence for decades prior. Estimates of the number of sex workers in the village range from 1,300 to 2,000. Daulatdia services more than 3,000 men daily; these men can pay for sex, take drugs and gamble. It is located less than 40 km from two official Indian border crossings at

Darshana In Indian religions, ''Darshana'', also spelt ''Darshan'', (Sanskrit: दर्शन, , ) or ''Darshanam'' (darśanam) is the auspicious sight of a deity or a holy person. The term also refers to six traditional schools of Hindu philosophy ...

/ Gede (south) as well as Kutubpur/Teinpur (north).

Controversies

Though prostitution is only

legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

in Bangladesh for women aged 18 or older, the average age of newly arriving sex workers is 14, and some sex workers in Daulatdia are as young as 10. Many of them are sold into sex work for the equivalent of about $250 (in 2014), which they are then obligated to pay to pimps who are mostly older women, known as "madams". The sex workers are often tricked by their madams into taking drugs such as Ventolin or Oradexon, which are designed to fatten cattle.

2020 temporary closure

On March 20, 2020, it was ordered closed down in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh The COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have spread to Bangladesh in March 2020. The first ...

. On March 23, 2020,

sex workers A sex worker is a person who provides sex work, either on a regular or occasional basis. The term is used in reference to those who work in all areas of the sex industry.Oxford English Dictionary, "sex worker" According to one view, sex work is d ...

from Daulatdia appealed to the

Bangladesh government The Cabinet of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশের মন্ত্রিসভা) is the chief executive body of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. The cabinet is the collective decision-making body of the entire government under ...

for

emergency fund An emergency fund, also known as contingency fund, is a personal budget set aside as a financial safety net for future mishaps or unexpected expenses. A critical part of financial planning, it is supposed to ensure one's personal finances are prepa ...

ing. This ultimately led to the brothels being reopened soon after.

References

External links

The children trapped in Bangladesh's brothel village
– video (the Guardian)
KCET Bangladesh Inoculates Older Sex Workers at Biggest Brothel
Brothels in Bangladesh Forced prostitution Female prostitution Populated places in Dhaka Division Red-light districts in Bangladesh {{Dhaka-geo-stub

Controversies

2020 temporary closure

See also

References

External links