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Criminal Code 1974, Section 210 Unnatural Offences

(1) A person who– (a) sexually penetrates any person against the order of nature; or (b) sexually penetrates an animal; or (c) permits a male person to sexually penetrates him or her against the order of nature, is guilty of a crime. At the UNAIDS-AFPPD forum at the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Minister Malabag stated: “I will bring in the legislation.

Gil has written a new general undergraduate textbook, Human Sexuality: Society, Self and Culture (2013), which McGraw-Hill will publish in December. He has advised NIH, WHO, and the Ford Foundation, and was the founder and first president of the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Society, and Culture, and editor and founder of the journal, Sexual Research and Social Policy.

In 2021, the capital city of Port Moresby hosted its first Pride parade, a significant milestone for LGBTIQ communities. There have been some reports of discrimination and violence being committed against LGBT people in recent years, including murder, assault, harassment, and extortion, though social stigma likely results in underreporting of incidents.

Law and Legal Developments

2023

In June, Prime Minister Marape stated that Parliament was unlikely to pass any law legitimising LGBT rights in the foreseeable future, adding that “as far both our Melanesian and Christian worldviews are concerned, these unnatural practices are not allowed”.

2014

In July, Health Minister Michael Malabag committed to introducing legislation to decriminalise sex work as a key reform to tackling HIV/AIDS in the country.

Penalty: Imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years.” Full text. (2) A person who attempts to commit an offence against Subsection (1) is guilty of a crime. Not only does Papua New Guinea criminalise same-sex sexual activity, it also fails to properly protect other vulnerable groups, such as women and children, from sexual offences.

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Enforcement

2022

In November 2022, two men were arrested and charged with committing an unnatural offence following reports that they were having sex inside a health centre at night.

2021

The Australian NGO, Kaleidoscope Human Rights Foundation, reported that there had been no known prosecutions since 2015 (see below)

2020

The US Department of State report found that there were no reports of prosecutions against LGBT people during the year.

gay papua new guinea

Sexual Offence Law Assessment

We’ve also assessed Papua New Guinea’s sexual offence laws against international human rights standards. If you believe that any information on our website is inaccurate, you may bring this to our attention by e-mailing [email protected].

Information on this website is provided for general use only and should not be relied on as a definitive position on the law as it applies at any given time.

He has received research as well as center grants from the NIH, NEH, Spencer Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation, Ford Foundation, Haas Foundation, and others. Only men are criminalised under this law.

The law was inherited from Australia during the colonial period, in which the Australian criminal law, itself based upon the Queensland Criminal Code drafted during British colonisation, was imposed upon Papua New Guinea.

The gender expression of trans people is criminalised under the federal law. Same-sex marriage is not recognised leaving LGBTIQ+ people with no ability to adopt.

Intersex infant surgery in Papua New Guinea

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Intersex infant surgery in Papua New Guinea is not banned.

Serving openly in military in Papua New Guinea

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Serving openly in military in Papua New Guinea is don't ask, don't tell.

Although there are no explicit prohibitions on LGBTIQ+ people serving in the military of Papua New Guinea, homosexuality is illegal hindering their ability in practice.

Blood donations by MSMs in Papua New Guinea

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Blood donations by MSMs in Papua New Guinea is legal.

There are no known bans or restrictions on blood donations from men who have sex with men in Papua New Guinea, in spite of the illegality of homosexuality.

Conversion therapy in Papua New Guinea

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Conversion therapy in Papua New Guinea is not banned.

Dr Gilbert Herdt is a cultural and clinical anthropologist, and an international expert on sexuality and culture, sexual and gender identity development, adolescent sexual orientation, and the emergence of sexual, gender and reproductive rights in US and global policy.

In other areas of Papua New Guinea, such as in Port Moresby, gay men are reportedly often targeted by local men, particularly those who hail from the highland provinces, and have been raped, beaten and even murdered.

In November, it was reported that gay asylum seekers arriving in Australia were being sent to be detained and processed at detention centres on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, despite the criminalisation of same-sex sexual conduct in the country at the time.

View our Privacy Statement for more details. The same results had been found in recent iterations of this report.

2015

Kaleidoscope Human Rights Foundation reported that in 2015 a man was convicted for ‘indecent acts between males’ and given a two year suspended sentence. Herdt’s fieldwork on the Sambia of Papua New Guinea over a period of 37 years and 14 field trips culminated in several foundational books, notably, Guardians of the Flutes (1981), Ritualized Homosexuality in Melanesia, The Religious Imagination in New Guinea (1989), Intimate Communications (1990), Third Sex, Third Gender (1994), and The Sambia (2006) and in the US, he is best known for his path-breaking community based study in Chicago of self-identified gay, lesbian, and bisexual adolescents and their families, published as The Time of AIDS (1991), Gay Culture in America (1993), Children of Horizons, 1993, and Something to Tell You, 2000, and recently, Sex Panic/Moral Panics, (NYU Press, 2009).

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This report examines the status of sexual offences legislation in the Commonwealth Pacific, assessing good practice and identifying where there are gaps in protection, with a particular focus on women, children, LGBT+ people and people with disability.

This case study provides an in depth analysis of the significant leap forward taken by Palau in protecting the rights of its citizens, through the updating of its sexual offences laws and Criminal Code.

Attorney General of Palau confirms that the country's new penal code has decriminalised homosexuality.

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History

Homosexual activity in Papua New Guinea

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Homosexual activity in Papua New Guinea is male illegal, female legal.

Same-sex marriage in Papua New Guinea

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Same-sex marriage in Papua New Guinea is unrecognized.

Censorship of LGBT issues in Papua New Guinea

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Censorship of LGBT issues in Papua New Guinea is no censorship.

Gender-affirming care in Papua New Guinea

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Gender-affirming care in Papua New Guinea is legal.

Legal recognition of non-binary gender in Papua New Guinea

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Legal recognition of non-binary gender in Papua New Guinea is not legally recognized.

LGBT discrimination in Papua New Guinea

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LGBT discrimination in Papua New Guinea is illegal in some contexts.

Current status
There are some protections based on sexual orientation issued by the government:

-National Public Service Gender Equity and Social Inclusion Policy (2013).
-Gender Mainstreaming Guidelines for Project Implementers (2020) issued by the Climate Change and Development Authority.
-Gender Equity and Social Inclusion Policy (2023) issued by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
-Gender Equity and Social Inclusion Policy (2024) issued by the Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture.
-The Data Governance and Data Protection Policy (2024) issued by the DICT.

LGBT employment discrimination in Papua New Guinea

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LGBT employment discrimination in Papua New Guinea is no protections.

LGBT housing discrimination in Papua New Guinea

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LGBT housing discrimination in Papua New Guinea is no protections.

Same-sex adoption in Papua New Guinea

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Same-sex adoption in Papua New Guinea is illegal.

Only married couples can adopt in Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea recognizes gender diversity in the palopa, which may describe those who are gay, transgender, and/or of a cultural third gender.

*Outright research indicates that the bodily autonomy of intersex people is not respected and protected in this country.

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Criminal Code 1974, Section 212 Indecent Practices Between Males

Section 212 prohibits acts of ‘gross indecency’ between men, or the procurement or attempted procurement thereof, with a penalty of up to three years’ imprisonment. These provisions carry a maximum penalty of fourteen years’ imprisonment.

Although the Australian states began a two-decade process of decriminalisation in 1975, Papua New Guinea gained its independence that same year and so retained the provision and continues to criminalise same-sex sexual activity today.

There is limited evidence of the law being enforced in recent years, with the only known prosecution occurring in 2015 and 2022.