SEX WORK AND THE LAW - HIV/AIDS Data Hub

Laws, policies and practices that are helpful to HIV
responses
Laws, policies and practices that are helpful to HIV responses and protection of the human
rights of sex workers include:
Court judgments
Decisions of the Supreme Courts of Bangladesh, India and Nepal and the Constitutional
Court of Taiwan have recognized that sex workers enjoy human rights as guaranteed by
national constitutions.
Policy development
i. The National HIV Prevention Strategy of Papua New Guinea recommends
decriminalization of sex work to support the HIV response.
ii.
iii.
The National Strategy on Female Sex Work in Pakistan addresses the need for directives
to prevent confiscation of condoms and to address police violence and harassment.
The Mongolian National Strategic Plan on HIV, AIDS and STIs 2010-2015 commits to a
needs assessment to examine stigma, discrimination and human rights violations
among sex workers, giving special attention to attitudes among health care and law
enforcement staff and law reform to strengthen the human rights position of sex
workers.
iv. An Order of the Government of Myanmar directs police not to confiscate condoms
as evidence of sex work. Enforcement of the Order is supported by the National HIV
Strategy 2011-2015.
v. Rules of the Social Security Fund of Thailand enable sex workers to access state
social security benefits for sickness, disability and death, and a pension, if they make
financial contributions.
vi.
The Ministry of Interior of Cambodia issued a Directive in 2011 that condoms will not
be used as evidence for arrest.
vii. Police instructions in several states of India direct police not to harass or arrest sex
workers.
viii. The HIV/AIDS Curriculum for Senior Level Police in Nepal addresses the need to prevent
police abuses against sex workers.
Legislation
i. Legislation in Fiji and Papua New Guinea makes it unlawful to deny a person access,
without reasonable excuse, to condoms or other means of protection from HIV.
ii.
iii.
Legislation in Viet Nam requires the government to implement harm reduction
interventions including condom programmes with sex workers, and protects peer
educators from prosecution.
Legislation in Lao PDR provides: an obligation to improve advocacy and HIV education
for sex workers; a right to voluntary counselling and testing for HIV, and for test results
to be kept confidential; that citizens, aliens, foreigners and people with no nationality
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