VIENNA — The criminalisation of sex workers, drug users, and men who have sex with men were highlighted as major sources of concern in the fight against HIV in Asia, at the world AIDS conference here Wednesday.

Twenty-five countries in the Asia-Pacific region still impose the death penalty for offences related to the possession and abuse of drugs, creating a huge stigma that means abusers often avoid treatment for fear of imprisonment, said Anand Grover, a lawyer and special rapporteur for the UN Human Rights Council.

Injected drug use is acknowledged as one of the main causes of the spread of AIDS worldwide, alongside sexual transmission.

In some countries, "drug users still have to go to jail before they actually can access harm reduction services", said Rachel Ong, of the Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV (APN+).

Meanwhile, over 15 countries penalise consensual same-sex behaviour, pushing potential HIV patients further underground, according to Anand.

This trend of criminalisation is not customary for the region but rather an "alien British colonial legacy and we have to get rid of it", he said provocatively.

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