Condoms on sale in Phnom Penh on Wednesday
evening. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)
Three
years after a regulation took effect that prohibited police from using condoms
as evidence of commercial sex, authorities openly admit to continuing the
practice, which health experts say undermines the fight against HIV and AIDS.
The rule
prevents police from using condoms as evidence of an illegal sexual transaction
because it could discourage their use and fuel the spread of sexually
transmitted diseases, including HIV.
Keo Thea,
chief of Phnom Penh’s anti-trafficking police, who usually investigate sex
crimes, admitted that his officers continued to use condoms to prove guilt.
“This is
evidence,” he said. “We need to think about what the condoms are used for.”
“For
example, this place has been thoroughly investigated and found to be providing
massages and sex services…and for the used and unused condoms we just confirmed
condoms were placed there to offer sex,” he said. “That’s when they consider it
as evidence.”
Yet such
law enforcement techniques are explicitly banned by Prakas 66, which is meant
to ensure that safe sex is prioritized above investigative expediency, allowing
sex workers and their clients to carry and use condoms without worrying that it
might make them more vulnerable to arrest or prosecution.
Still,
Mr. Thea said condoms were essential evidence when used for illegal activities.
“A knife
in our house, it is a tool for cutting fish and vegetables,” he said. “But if a
person holds that knife and stabs a person…this knife becomes a weapon. It
becomes evidence to confirm the crime.”
The
enduring issue was among various topics raised on Wednesday at a meeting of
government and NGO representatives as an example of one of the obstacles
hindering efforts to combat HIV and AIDS and promote the use of condoms.
Pea
Phauly, a program officer for health services NGO Family Health International
360, said police were regularly using condoms as evidence throughout the
country.
“It is
quite common in Phnom Penh and Battambang, Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey,” Dr.
Phauly said, noting a case in Phnom Penh earlier this month and another in
Pursat province a couple of months ago.
“There is
some level of negative impact because people…fear having condoms in their
place, especially in a house or a karaoke place,” he said.
Ieng
Mouly, head of the government’s National AIDS Authority, said it had received
repeated complaints about police flouting the proclamation, but that officials
had always denied it.
“They
said that there was a problem with police using condoms as evidence to charge
the people, the owners, but when we talk to the police they explained that they
may find condoms, but they never use them as evidence,” he said.
Sex
workers, along with gay men and intravenous drug users, are among three groups
that the government and health organizations have identified as being the most
vulnerable to HIV and AIDS, and therefore are priority targets in efforts to
prevent the virus from spreading.
The
country’s fight against HIV has been heralded as an international success, with
the rate of infection among people aged 15 to 49 dropping from a peak of 1.7
percent in 1998 to just 0.6 percent last year, according to the government.
Reaching
and protecting the most vulnerable groups has become a priority in the latest
strategy, developed largely by health NGOs and implemented by the government’s
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STD.
Ly Penh
Sun, the center’s director, said police tactics were not the most pressing
concern, complaining that a drop in external funding in the fight against HIV
and AIDS was leaving the country without the resources needed to reach its
target of eliminating new cases.
“Initially
we wanted to eliminate new infections by 2020,” he said. “Now we think that is
not really possible because we are challenged with financial reductions from
outside, because Cambodia is still very poor.”
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