Underage, invisible to health authorities and BEATEN for wanting to use a condom: The hidden shame of prostitution in Papua New Guinea, where TWO THIRDS of young women sell sex for money

• Prostitution and brothels are illegal in Papua New Guinea, however the country has a high number of sex workers 
• Sex workers, known as 'pamuk meri', attempt to make a living without any regulation around the sex industry 
• The women and men who participate in the industry often face high levels of discrimination stigma and hate crime 
• Although many hide their sex work from their families, more than a third reported being shunned by their loved ones
• There is a substantial risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, with 13 per cent of people in the sex industry testing positive     
• The United Nations suggest the number of girls from PNG between the age of 15 and 24 exchanging sex for money, food, shelter, or other things such as school fees, is as high as two in three

By Brian Cassey For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 22:15 EST, 24 October 2015 | Updated: 03:18 EST, 25 October 2015

To teenaged girls selling sex on the streets of Papua New Guinea's capital, Port Moresby, Bertha* is both a mother figure and a pimp.

Bertha, aged in her 40s, is matter-of-fact about the role she plays in the young girls' lives as she negotiates the prices customers will pay for sex with them and dispenses condoms and 'safe sex' advice.

'They are like my daughters and I like to hang around with them,' she explains. 'But on the other hand I am their pimp.

'Someone calls me and I have to go and look for them and make deals for them and then they go together. I introduce the girls to the customers.'

A Papua New Guinean sex worker meets with a client who has booked a room in the 'hotel' in Port Morseby where prostitution is still illegal

While the exact number of sex workers in PNG is not known, the United Nations has estimated that as many as two in three girls aged between 15 and 24 in Papua New Guinea have exchanged sex for money, food, shelter - or even payment school fees.

Despite those extraordinary statistics, the government is apparently in denial. 

Prostitution, brothels and homosexuality are all illegal in PNG, and women and men who choose to sell sex do so at their own risk and outside the health, security and other controls that regulate sex industries in other countries.

They also face high levels of discrimination, stigma and hate crimes.

It has left many of the countless numbers involved as paraiahs in their own society, vulnerable to abuse, violence and rampant diseases such as HIV infections.

It is late at night in Boroko, Port Moresby's once-thriving business district now fallen into disrepair, and Bertha points out working standing in the shadows around the area's clubs and bars.

Bertha, a bright energetic and seemingly kindly woman in her 40s, is matter-of-fact about her role, and equally comfortable negotiating prices for girls with customers as she is dispensing condoms and 'safe sex' advice to her young stable of teenagers

A USAID 2010 survey on this sector of the PNG community revealed that although many hide their sex work from their families and the community, more than a third reported being shunned by their loved ones, and the same proportion were denied medical treatment when a nurse or doctor learned what they did for a living.

The same survey showed almost 80 per cent of sex workers had been sexually abused in the previous year, 70 per cent had been raped in the few months leading up to the survey and about half had been raped multiple times in that period.

The rapes were mainly by customers (63 per cent), but the girls' regular boyfriends or husbands were almost as often the culprits (61 per cent), followed by members of the country's notorious street gangs, known as Rascals (31 per cent).

The workers also suffered physical beatings in high numbers: Almost 70 per cent reported being bashed in the past year, most often from relatives (43 per cent), but also their husbands (27 per cent) and others they knew.

It is late at night in Boroko Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea's capital, and we are driving around this popular hub of clubs and bars while Bertha points out working girls in the shadows

One woman, known as a 'pamuk meri' which translates to 'loose woman', approached the car as she waited for a client to show interest 

In a country where prostitution, brothels and homosexuality are all illegal, women and men who choose to sell sex face high levels of discrimination, stigma and hate crimes

Bertha, who volunteers at a children's charity when she is not pimping for 'her' girls, says they would be on their own without her. 

'I'm like a mother to them. The girls here, I know about them – and I am counselling them and I talk to them to check themselves up, otherwise they might kill themselves.

'I tell them, 'always use condoms, don't drink alcohol with the men, don't get in cars and go far away'. If any of the girls get in trouble they know they can phone Bertha for help.

'What they do isn't really important but their life is really important,' she says.

'I try my best to save their lives.'

With the ever-present threat of HIV/AIDS - the most recent reports suggest rates are increasing at almost 30 per cent year in parts of PNG - Bertha's safe sex advice could be the difference between life and death for vulnerable girls whose own families and loved ones have turned their backs on them.

While the rate of HIV/AIDS in the general PNG population is 0.5 per cent, among sex workers the rate is 13 per cent.

Among gay or transgender men who have sex with other men, whether for money or not, the rate is 18 per cent or higher.

While the rate of HIV/AIDS in the general PNG population is .5%, among sex workers it soars to 13%, while among gay or transgender men the rate is 18% or higher

There are believed to be more than 20 'guesthouses', which are basically small rooms off a central bar area, scattered around the city, at places like Boroko, Koki, Konedobu and Ela

Barnabas, a young gay man now ‘back in the market’ attends a nightclub where gay men congregate in suburban Port Moresby

Despite the ever-present threat of HIV/AIDS, with the most recent reports suggest rates are increasing at almost 30% a year in parts of PNG, grinning potential customers wait to take the young sex workers to a private room 

Despite the risks, many clients will pay much more if the girl is prepared to have sex without using a condom, a practice known locally as 'skin-on-skin' .

'If a girl goes skin-on-skin she is not thinking about her life,' says Bertha. But she also points out that many girls who insist on using condoms will simply be raped without one anyway, and often beaten up as well.

Dorothy and Angela are two of Bertha's girls who work around Ela Beach, a regular pick-up spot in Port Moresby.

Just 16, Dorothy has been selling sex for the past four months. She still lives at home with her parents who, she says, know what she is doing and ' don't mind'.

Dorothy insists she follows strict rules for her own safety that include only working during daylight hours. Also, 'I only sleep with one man a day,' she says, 'and I charge K100 (A$47).'

She is saving as much as she can from her earnings and plans to start her own business selling sweets, betel nut or cigarettes. In the meantime, she has regular blood tests and counselling at the children's charity where Bertha volunteers.

Angela, now 18, has been selling sex since she was 15 and left school ' long years ago' .

She was introduced to the work by a cousin sister who took her down to the beach and showed her how to do it. Unlike Dorothy, Angela works 'plenty time' and charges between K50-K100 (A$23 - A$47) to go with a customer to a nearby brothel or 'guesthouse', where rooms are charged out by the hour for K60 (A$28), condoms inclusive.

The customer pays the room fee to the guesthouse owner and the girl's fee directly to her.

In the guesthouse, rooms are just large enough for a single bed. Greying, ill-fitting sheets barely cover the bed in one room, where a small bedside cabinet was empty except for eight condoms placed on top.

Despite the risks, many clients will pay much more if the girl is prepared to have sex without using a condom, a practice known locally as 'skin-on-skin'

Condoms are provided in most guesthouses however, many girls who insist on condom use will simply be raped without one anyway, and often beaten up as well

Visitors at the local brothel, known as a 'guesthouse, are charged out by the hour for K60 (A$28), condoms inclusive, while the girl's collect between K50-K100 (A$23 - A$47) for their services 

Susan, a slender girl in her mid-20s originally from the Sepik River in northern PNG has been involved in the sex trade for several years

Angela says she spends all her earnings as soon as she gets them. She gives none to her parents whom she says she 'visits sometimes' . 'They don't care what I do,' she says.

For girls working the streets like Dorothy and Angela, Bertha's health advice may be their ticket to survival. 

'Some girls have died from some kind of sickness,' she says. ' They have been dying from worry or something like that. The girls were 14, 15, 18, 20.'

Susan, a slender girl in her mid-20s originally from the Sepik River in northern PNG, has been selling sex at another guesthouse near Boroko.

Although safer inside such an establishment than out on the streets alone or patrolling the beach, the guesthouse are at high risk of police raids.

One such raid of the notorious Three Mile Guesthouse on a busy Friday night in 2004 hit international headlines due to the brutality of the police, who forced about 80 people on the premises to march for an hour through the streets to the Boroko police station.

Before the forced march the police trashed the guesthouse and bar, helped themselves to anything of value including computers, beer, whiskey and cash, and beat, spat on and forced those they took into custody to swallow condoms. 

As they marched the group through the streets, the police reportedly jeered at them and egged on the crowd to ' come and look at the sex workers! These are the people who are spreading AIDS!'

The United Nations suggest that in the 15-24 years age group, the number of girls exchanging sex for money, food, shelter, or some other thing such as school fees, is as high as two in three

At the station the men were all released without charge while all 40 of the women were thrown into the cells on charges of 'living off the earnings of prostitution'. 

Some of these women alleged they were raped repeatedly by drunken police in uniform during the next three days before community workers managed to raise bail of about K2000 (A$950) and secure their release. 

All the charges were later dropped due to lack of evidence that the women had actually been performing paid sex.

There are believed to be more than 20 such ' guesthouses', which are basically small rooms off a central bar area, scattered around the city, at places like Boroko, Koki, Konedobu and Ela.

At one such 'club' where I am talking to Susan, it is lunch-time midweek and men are beginning to mill around drinking beer bought from a small barred window and playing pool with the girls on several tables. 

Music, mostly Papuan reggae style, blares out of the speakers. Girls gather round tables to play cards – some for money but mostly just for fun and to pass the time between ' jobs' .

The smell of 'lamb-flaps' cooking on a hot plate wafts around the tin buildings. Christmas tinsel hangs from the ceiling despite it being midyear. Single cigarettes at K1 (A$0.50) each are snapped up. 

Off-white bed sheets flap on the clothes line outside the few small ' work rooms' . Chewing of betel nut is banned inside the premises and there's a regular to and fro of patrons through the large front gate as they take to the outside street to partake of the natural and traditional carcinogenic.

At one such 'club', it is lunch-time midweek and music, mostly Papuan reggae style, blares out of the speakers. as girls gather round tables to play cards – some for money but mostly just for fun and to pass the time between ' jobs' 

Although it is much safer inside such an establishment than out on the streets alone or patrolling the beach, the gated brothel is still at risk of being raided by police

The excitement in the building is growing. Says Susan, 'It's Wednesday – a lot of ladies will come and f**k in the rooms and enjoy themselves.'

If there is competition among the girls it's not evident. 'We're all sisters here,' Susan says. 'If I've had six guys already and I'm not feeling good, I'll say to another girl, 'Can you take him?'

Susan explains the circumstances that led up to her current life. After both her parents died in the mid 2000s, she moved in with an uncle at Murray Barracks, but house life was 'very (financially) hard,' she says, 'so from there I started doing this (in 2011)'. 

'I came in here and I started drinking beer and going with the men. Sometimes I regret it, sometimes I enjoy myself with my friends. I see plenty of guys. I can't count them. Some are ugly, some are handsome. I go with sometimes three or four men a day, sometimes five or six.'

Susan explains that she does not intend to be doing this sort of work forever. She wants to get married.

'I don't know my future,' she says, 'What will I do with my future? I'm still drinking beer like this but I'm trying my best to change myself and not be like this. The only thing is I must go and get married. I have no husband and that's why I'm f***ing around. 

'I don't want to stay like this. It's hard for me to save money. It's not good money, you know – it's sin. I'm selling myself, it comes in and goes out, it's dirty money. That's how I feel.'

Teenage sex workers Dorothy, left, and Angela, right, work their ' patch' at Ela Beach, a regular pick-up spot in Port Moresby

Just 16 years old, Dorothy has only been selling sex for the past four months. She still lives at home with her parents who, she says, know what she is doing and ' don't mind' 

Angela, pictured right,now 18, has been selling sex since she was 15 and left school ' long years ago' 

Unlike Dorothy, Angela works 'plenty time' and charges between K50-K100 (A$23 - A$47) to go with a customer to a nearby brothel called a ' guesthouse'

She said she was introduced to sex work by a cousin sister who took her down to the beach and showed her how to do it

A survey revealed that although many hide their sex work from their families and the community, more than a third reported being shunned by their loved ones

Many sex workers are also denied medical treatment when a nurse or doctor learned what they do for a living

One of the catalysts for Susan's choice of work dates back to early in her 'career' . She went home with a German man she met at a local nightclub who gave her K600 (A$285) after spending an hour and a half having sex with her. He wanted to see her again and gave her his phone number but she misplaced it. 'He said I did everything right,' she says wistfully. 

He has been her only white man and she has not forgotten him. She's still waiting for a 'special' man like that to come into her life again, take her away and marry her.

Getting a man and getting married is a recurring theme among the girls at the guesthouse. 

At 20, Port Moresby born Ruth* lives with her parents and several brothers and sisters, and admits that her family struggles to meet school fees, bus fares and other family expenses. 

Ruth has been visiting the guesthouse near her home for about three months and describes herself as 'not really a working girl' , although she readily admits to selling sex.

'I take money from guys but not here,' she says, 'I look for a fellow here, one who is going to help me. I'm trying to look for a good fellow to get married... but I don't think it is going to happen.' Her voice trails away. 'I don't think these are good men.'

More than 100 women of varying ages use this guesthouse's rooms for sex work (priced at K50/hour (A$23) or K150/overnight (A$71), according to the establishments owner, who spoke openly on the condition his name was not published. 

'We get schoolgirls who are maybe 15 in here, they come still in their school uniforms,' he says.

'Also widows, married women, old women, but no transgender or male sex workers. PNG is a Christian country so we only allow men versus women here.'

Although free condoms are provided in the rooms and the bed sheets washed after each use, he says it is up to the parties involved to protect themselves from disease. He has no doubt several of his sex worker regulars are HIV-positive and ' some look very sick,' he adds.

Later, at a nightclub in the Port Moresby suburb of Gordons I am introduced to statuesque Felicity*, a proud 'lady' in her late 20s. 

Felicity came into the world as a man and is one of a number of transgender participants in weekly 'drag shows' that are widely advertised at a range of suburban clubs. 

Felicity has a long-time boyfriend and is well aware that homosexuality in PNG is a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison, although actual prosecutions are not common. 

She confides that she sometimes sleeps with other men, 'perhaps once or twice a month – sometimes for money' , but her boyfriend does not know.

She has often faced violence from both men and women. As a transgender, she says she and others like her are frequently targeted by police for harassment.

Felicity came into the world as a man and is one of a number of transgender participants in weekly 'drag shows' that are widely advertised at a range of suburban clubs 

She confides that she sometimes sleeps with other men, 'perhaps once or twice a month – sometimes for money' , but her boyfriend does not know

'The police say what we do is illegal and it's sodomy. One time they stopped our car and belted us with a fan belt,' she says, 'and I have been jailed and abused by police in the cell too'.

Straight women see her and other transgenders as a threat and regularly physically abuse their supposed rivals. 'They think I am attracted to their boyfriends and husbands,' Felicity says. 'They bash me up for who I am. People still don't understand our lives.'

Felicity is adamant that she always practises safe sex. ' The transgender community here are very sensible and use condoms. I'm a strong advocator for the use of condoms and safe sex because of the threat of HIV and AIDS.'

Felicity said she had aspirations to become the first transgender member of parliament, but unfortunately her dreams will never come true. 

Since visiting the vivacious drag queen, Daily Mail Australia has learned that Felicity contracted AIDs related pneumonia and died a short time later.

Later on at another nearby popular nightclub I meet Barnabas, a shy handsome 21 year old (not his real name).

Barnabas came to the realisation that he was gay at the age of 15. His parents and siblings now know and understand, he says. He recently split from a 'long time' gay boyfriend and admits to being unattached and 'in the market' again.

He estimates that more than half of men in many Moresby clubs are gay and active sexually. ' We talk and negotiate and sometimes money changes hands – K150 to K200 sometimes (A$71 - A$95).

'Paying for sex is just a normal part of the process ' he says, 'It's just like a one night stand but money changes hands'. 

 * Names have been changed to protect the participant's privacy

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