Condoms Possession No Crime - AIDS C'ssion

The Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Professor Sakyi Awuku Amoa, has asked the police to be careful in using condom possession as evidence in prosecution of alleged commercial sex workers.

He said “the promotion of condom use is one of the national responses to the prevention of HIV/AIDS and, therefore, the action by the police in using condoms found on suspected prostitutes as evidence to put them on trial can jeopardize that effort.”

He noted that there are a lot of people, both male and female, who always keep condoms and questioned whether that makes them prostitutes.

Speaking with the Times on the recent exercise embarked upon by the police to clamp down on prostitutes in Accra, Professor Amoa said that although he was not against the police action, he had a problem with their use of condoms as evidence to put them before court.

He noted that if the sex workers and the public at large think the police would use condoms as reason for their arrest, then it is likely they would stop condom use.

The Director General has therefore urged the police to find other forms of evidence than condoms in order not to undermine the positive public response the commission’s campaign against HIV/AIDS has achieved.

He also reiterated the need to decriminalize prostitution in the country which would help reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS, saying that when that is done, activities of prostitutes would be in the open and they would be more amenable to undergo routine medical checks and counselling.

By StephenKwabena Effah
Friday, 16 June 2006 (Page Three)