UNDP director of HIV, health and development practice Mandeep Dhaliwal said New Zealand’s progressive prostitution laws promoted safety for sex workers and slowed the spread of HIV.
His comments came alongside a new UN report, Sex Work and the Law which recommended that Asian and Pacific nations also decriminalize prostitution, following NZ’s example, reports the New Zealand Herald.
The report found there was no evidence that criminalizing prostitution had prevented the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
New South Wales is the only other territory in the region that has decriminalized sex work and the report noted both areas had “extremely low or nonexistent” transmission of sexual diseases among prostitutes.
Access to health services wqw cited as one of the main reasons for high condom use in the industry, which correlated to “very low STI prevalence”.
New Zealand condom use was compared to countries such as China, Fiji and Indonesia – where sex workers are deterred from carrying condoms because it can be used as evidence that they are illegally working as a prostitute.
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