They are raped and roughed up by  thugs and their clients. They are paid  a couple of kilogrammes of maize  or airtime instead of the money as agreed  before the sex service.

But they are afraid to report to police  about the abuses for fear of being abused  also by the men in uniform.

These are some of the findings of a  research on sex work in Malawi, a study  which was conducted in September last  year, commissioned by Family Planning Association of Malawi (FPAM) and  supported by UNFPA.

The research report, published last  week, details among other issues the torture  and the pain sex workers undergo in the  hands of their clients, thugs and from police

authorities in their under-the-cover-of-night  business.

Titled "Counting the uncatchables", it gives accounts of the sex workers themselves  most of who claim they are driven into the  business because of poverty resulting from broken homes and loss of parents to death.

Nearly 70 percent of the 930 sex workers  interviewed in 10 selected districts reported  they had been abused.

Getting beaten was the highest on the list as about 50 percent of the women said  they had been abused physically.

Rape ranked second on the list followed  by emotional abuse, arbitrary arrests by  police authorities and human trafficking, in  that order.

The sex workers reported that top on the  list of their abusers are their very clients.

But the culprits also include thugs, street  kids, bar or entertainment place attendants, owners and DJs.

"On specific forms of abuse respondents  experienced from law enforcers, the  most frequently mentioned form of abuse  was disturbance of sex trade at night,

unwarranted arrests, being raped, being  forced to pay some money in exchange for  not being arrested, being subjected to forced  sex and having cellular phones snatched," says the report.

Section 146 of the Penal Code makes  it an offence for a woman to live on the  earnings of prostitution or influencing others  to engage in prostitution while Section 147

criminalises the keeping of brothels.

Reads the report: "Essentially, the law  criminalises the involvement of third parties in  sex work, and not necessarily sex work or what  is commonly known as prostitution.

"However, in practice, law enforcers usually  carry out night raids and arrest anyone found loitering in entertainment and public places, and prostitutes constitute the majority of those  arrested. Once arrested, the people are charged  with minor infractions such as being found idle  and disorderly and rogue and vagabond."

But who are their clients? Is it the rich or the  poor, black or white?

"We have sex with anybody regardless of  their colour, race or where they are coming from.

Whether he is rich or poor provided he will be  able to pay the money you have agreed.

"Whether he is handsome or not, whether he  has taken a bath or not, we don't choose because  money is money. We don't really care about

who the person is," one Karonga worker told the  researchers.

But it is not always that all of them get  money after offering sex as it is assumed.

Of the 950 interviewed in the research, 137  were at a certain point paid in kind including  clothes, groceries, cell phones, rental payments

and airtime.

Some even reported to have been given  bags of maize as payment.

Gift Trapence is Executive Director  for Centre for the Development of People  (Cedep), one of the organisations that works  on reaching out to sex workers.

He said on Friday that what Malawi needs  now sensitisation of everyone including the  police on the gender-based violence that sex  workers face, besides empowering the sex

workers to know their rights.

Ultimately, he said, Malawi would have to  review the law which authorities have used to  claim sex work is not recognised.

"It is not correct that sex work is not  recognised. The law only prohibits living on  earnings of prostitution. If the problem is the  law then you need to enlighten people on the

problems of the law.

"Again [there is] lack of comprehensive  programmes focusing on sex work because  people are worried with the law. If that is the  case then let us review the law," he said.

National Police spokesperson Davie  Chingwalu said he had not yet seen the report  asaying he could not comment in detail on  allegations against the police.

"But we are here to follow the justice  system and if the sex workers say they are  abused by police officers, they should report  these issues to those in charge of police stations

and action will duly be taken.

"If they are reporting their experiences  anyhow, it's likely that we will not know  anything and we can't take action," he said.

The report suggests other approaches  of reaching out to sex workers with various  services.

"It is critical that public health and human  rights-based approaches are adopted to address  this gap. Clearly, this requires harnessing

capacities in public health and human rights  on the part of implementing institutions," it recommends.

The study estimates that there are about   19, 295 sex workers in Malawi.

It covered Karonga, Kasungu, Lilongwe,Salima, Ntcheu, Mangochi, Blantyre, Thyolo, Chikhwawa and Mwanza and involved visits  to 113 places of entertainment.