Concern over lack of policy to address HIV

 THE United Nations is concerned that the legal and policy environment in PNG is the biggest impediment to HIV/AIDS response.

UN AIDS country director Stewart Watson said PNG had laws which prevented the most affected people from accessing prevention, education, treatment and care.  

“The law can be a powerful tool in addressing HIV if it is used to empower those vulnerable to HIV infection and to guarantee their access to services,” Watson said. 

“At the moment in PNG, there are laws criminalising sex work and sodomy which are designed to punish people for consensual sexual behaviour and therefore create greater vulnerability by driving people further from HIV services.”

He said in other countries, the removal of legal barriers to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support were positive steps for legislators to address the epidemic. 

“The laws are those that prohibit discrimination against people living with HIV, provide redress against any form of violence (including gender-based violence) and which guarantee equal access to HIV services,” he said. Sex work and male-to-male sex in PNG are outlawed under the Summary Offences Act of 1977 and the Criminal Code Act of 1974.

He said retaining criminal offences for sex work had harmful consequences to the health of sex workers and their families. 

This is because present laws did not allow sex workers to access health services easily, making them vulnerable.