A range of powerful Papua New Guinea health and community service groups are preparing a case for the decriminalisation of homosexuality and sex work in the country. Homosexuality and sex work is still a crime under current PNG law, drafted from a conservative judicial period in Australia's north-eastern state of Queensland.

A reference group, including the National AIDS Council, has been meeting for a year to discuss winding-back the laws - which also bans acts practiced during initiation ceremonies in some parts of the country.

The acting director of PNG's National AIDS Council, Wep Kanawi, says the laws are stigmatising whole sections of society and are putting peoples' lives at risk.

Presenter: John Papik, Tok Pisin service
Speaker: Wep Kanawi, acting director of PNG's National AIDS Council

Listen to the radio show on www.abc.net.au. [WARNING: self-opening .asx file]

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