The village/commune safety policy and HIV prevention efforts among key affected populations in Cambodia: finding a balance

On the 16th of August 2010, the Co-minister of the Ministry of Interior announced the Village/Commune Safety Policy as a priority policy for the Kingdom of Cambodia. The policy urged authorities at the commune level to ensure that there was no stealing, drug production or dealing, prostitution, child trafficking, domestic violence, gangsters, illegal gaming, use of illegal weapons or crime occurring at any commune in Cambodia [1].With regards illicit drugs the policy stated that authorities were to specifically:“Take action to cut off and eliminate production, dealing and use of illegal drugs at the village commune/Sangkat by following the guideline No 052 National Department of the Police dated 21st 2006 on the implementation of a warlike approach to fighting any drug crime and to especially focus the law on drug control[1].”The policy has had negative implications for HIV prevention among risk groups including harm reduction programs; a fact not lost on the Government of Cambodia who have acknowledged that the policy has made it much more difficult to access people who use drugs and has made “service provision for their benefit very difficult due to the misunderstanding of the law enforcement officers, especially at the commune level [2]”.Although the Village/Commune Safety policy has further highlighted the direct impact that law enforcement policy and practices can have on HIV prevention, many agencies have actively been trying to find a balance between law enforcement and HIV prevention efforts among most-at-risk populations (MARPs) in Cambodia over the last several years. Recognising that law enforcement practices were negatively affecting HIV prevention among sex workers, men who have sex with men and drug users, UNAIDS began working with the National AIDS Authority on a MARPs Community Partnership Initiative (MCPI). The MCPI was being designed as a standard operating protocol that could be implemented to decrease the impacts of law enforcement practices in H