Inside Daulatdia: A Bangladeshi Brothel Village

When I first heard about Daulatdia, I thought it was just another grim statistic—one of the largest legal brothel villages in the world, hidden away in rural Bangladesh. Home to an estimated 1,300–2,000 sex workers and over 1,000 children—it sounds like a parallel universe. Though prostitution is legal in Bangladesh, the average age of newly arriving women is just 14, with some as young as 7. Take it from me, nothing can prepare you for this.

So, I made the trip to Rajbari District, a few hours outside Dhaka, and entered Daulatdia—a dense, sun-soaked maze of shacks and narrow alleys where life plays out in the open. I met women in their sixties and girls who looked like they were not long out of school. Many of them were born into Daulatdia or brought here by traffickers, tricked away from their families.

The stories are crazy, too much for this website. The sense of entrapment—through debt, stigma, and lack of options—was palpable, much like the situations described by Human Rights Watch. The atmosphere was heavy. There was laughter in moments, sure—but always with an undertone of survival.

But I also saw resistance. At the heart of Daulatdia is PIACT, a small grassroots organisation trying to break the cycle. They run a women’s shelter nearby, offering safe housing, vocational training, and trauma counselling.

Perhaps most importantly, they run a small school for the children born into this environment—kids who otherwise would be left vulnerable to the same fate as their mothers. Here the kids are given somewhere safe to sleep, and the chance to become educated and learn new skills to escape this perpetual cycle of exploitation.

Through Simpson Developments, we managed to raise over £2,500 for the shelter and could see exactly how the money is used—into beds, food, school supplies, and vocational training.

Visiting Daulatdia changed my perspective. These aren’t just victims—they’re parents and kids born with no hope. Their stories are about dignity. And even a few hundred pounds, wisely directed, can ripple through a community in search of redemption.