Sex workers from all over the state will converge here on February 20 and 21 to chalk out their future programmes. Besides sex workers, human rights activists, social workers, lawyers, intellectuals and doctors are expected to participate in a convention organised in this connection.

Social activist Maithreyan, who is championing the cause of sex workers, said here today that though the proposed union would not have the character of a trade union it would help organise the sex workers to fight for their rights. ``An industrial status for flesh trade is not the immediate demand of sex workers in Kerala, but the authorities should at least take effective steps to prevent harassment of them,'' he added.

Unlike their counterparts in Mumbai, Calcutta and Delhi, most of the sex workers in Kerala operate in streets sincethere are no red-light areas or brothels here. There was no survey conducted in the state to find out the actual number of women engaged in the profession, but according to rough estimates, there are more than 1,000 sex workers in four major cities in Kerala.

Maithreyan said sex workers in the state were the most exploited and least organised. The laws made to protect the rights of women seem not to apply if the victim happened to be a sex worker.

Sex workers, at a meeting organised here this week, said custodial torture was a fact of life for most of them and they could not go to the police station even if they had a genuine complaint.

Maithreyan said one of the first demands of the proposed sex workers' union would be scrapping of Section seven and eight of the Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act. Though these sections were meant for protecting their rights, these were indiscriminately used against them.

He said sex workers would meet Chief Minister E K Nayanar immediately after forming the union anddemand, among other things, introduction of a pension scheme for sex workers. Finding out a shelter for them was another major hurdle. They are treated as social outcastes. There have been many instances in the past when sex workers were cruelly beaten up for using bathing ghats near rivers or temple ponds.

Another social activist Jayasree said the society so far, had failed to take notice of the violence against sex workers. The intention of forming a union was not to promote prostitution, but to make their life a little more bearable.

Maithreyan said there had been several instances in the past when sex workers were found dead under suspicious circumstances in the state. But investigation was pending in most of the cases since there was no one to follow up the cases.

Social workers said it was proposed to enumerate the number of sex workers and to keep a profile of them. A majority of sex workers in major cities of Kerala hailed from slums and most of them were in the age group of 18 to 35years.

They said schemes for rehabilitation of sex workers had also failed to benefit them on account of the social ostracism they had been facing. They could be weaned away from the path of prostitution only by addressing their specific problems.

They said the proposed union would also provide psychiatric treatment to sex workers as it was found that most of the sex workers were mental-wrecks.