SEX WORK AND THE LAW - HIV/AIDS Data Hub

the Maldives society at risk…Until today no comprehensive package for women (and
men) engaging in commercial sex has been launched at the Maldives. At the end of
2009 NGOs have been able [to] identify 3-4 hotspots for street work but not much has
been done to serve this vulnerable population with appropriate skills and services
(condoms and treatment of STIs). One NGO has been training women involved in sex
work and escort work at resorts and hotels.
Maldives / Nepal
The National AIDS Programme Country Progress Report 2010-2011 states:
The Operational Plan for HIV in the Maldives 2010-11 acknowledges that the biggest
gap in the current response to HIV in the country is the lack of strategic focus on
the behaviors most likely to kick-start a potential epidemic: injecting drug use, male
to male sex and transactional sex/sex work. Part of the reason for the absence of
interventions for those most at risk is the current legal framework, which outlaws these
behaviors and drives people who are involved in them underground. This contradicts
with the public health need to reach out to people engaging in these behaviors
(including those in prisons). The Maldives outlaws male-to-male sex, following the
British colonial penal code as well as interpretations under Sharia law. The Maldives
also outlaws premarital and extramarital sex (including sex work). Although married
people have access to condoms via birth control services, the provision of condoms
to unmarried people is not allowed, despite the fact that unmarried people, from an
HIV prevention perspective, need condoms most…
Efforts on sensitization of law enforcement officers has proven to be effective;
currently syringes or condoms are not used as evidence of crime, and there are no
reports of people who carry a condom or a syringe are subjected to harassment and
intimidation. 227
4.6 Nepal 228
Legal
SEX WORK IN
PRIVATE
Illegal
SOLICITING
Not Illegal
BROTHELS
227 National AIDS Programme (2012) Maldives Country Progress Report 2010-2011, Ministry of Health and
Family, pp.23, 25.
228 This Chapter was informed by a consultation process with the (male, female, transgender) sex worker
community in Kathmandu on the draft Chapter. In August 2011 the national network of sex workers (Jagriti
Mahila Maha Sang - JMMS), Blue Diamond Society (BDS), UNDP, UNAIDS, the International Development Law
Organization (Consultation Team) met to review the chapter and consult with the sex worker community.
JMMS and BDS led a consultation and survey process utilizing a short questionnaire among 75 female sex
workers and 75 male and transgender sex workers (25 male sex workers and 50 transgender sex workers)
in Kathmandu Valley in September-October 2011. Thanks are given to Ms. Sumi Devkota, Consultant, who
prepared the report of the consultation process: Devkota S. (2011) Validation of the Nepal Chapter from the
Regional UNDP-UNFPA-UNAIDS-APNSW Draft Report on Legal Environments, Human Rights and HIV responses
among Sex Workers in Asia and the Pacific (unpub.).
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