Central African Republic

In October 2022 the Central African Republic adopted a new HIV-specific omnibus law outlining the state response to HIV/AIDS, the rights and protections of people living with HIV, and criminalisation of certain conduct. When the final law was published in November 2022, it replaced the Law on the Rights and Obligations of PLWHA (Act No. 06.030 of 12 September 2006), which previously governed the rights and criminalisation of people living with HIV.

Article 72 of the 2022 law makes ‘voluntary transmission of HIV’ an offence. This firstly criminalises intentional transmission of HIV through unprotected sex without disclosing status. Article 72 also makes it an offence to knowingly share objects or substances ‘contaminated with HIV’. It also criminalises people who perform blood transfusions or tissues or organ transplantation with knowledge that HIV is present in the donated blood, tissues, or organs. This part of the offence appears to criminalise medical professionals, rather than HIV-positive donors, which is a change from the 2006 law as that explicitly criminalised donors (see our report, Bad Blood, for a global analysis of the criminalisation of blood donations).

Importantly, the law now outlines explicit defences to criminalisation under Article 76, which states that no prosecution shall occur: for mother-to-child transmission either before birth, during delivery, or through breastfeeding, where the person living with HIV was not aware of their status, if they disclosed their status to their partner, if they practiced safe sex, or for any acts which carry no significant risk of transmission.

The maximum penalty ascribed for this offence is unchanged, as Article 73 states those convicted are liable to the penalty under Article 249 of the Penal Code, which criminalises ‘knowing contamination’, which stands at hard labour for life.

Title VI of the 2022 law also establishes prohibitions on discrimination against people living, or suspected of living, with HIV, including in access to healthcare, employment, education, travel, public office, financial loans, insurance, and in detention. Violation of these protections can result in prosecution and a penalty of three months to two years’ imprisonment and/or a fine (or doubled in the case of healthcare discrimination) under Article 71.

The 2022 law is a significant improvement on the 2006 law, which contained a number of restrictive requirements on people living with HIV, such as the requirement to always wear condoms during sex, an obligation to disclose status, a prohibition of blood donations, and a general ban on any conduct that could theoretically lead to HIV transmission, even if transmission did not occur. The requirement in the 2022 law for intent and transmission for unprotected sex without disclosure to constitute an offence is a significant narrowing of the scope of criminalisation compared with the 2006 law. The articulation of explicit defences to criminalisation are also hugely welcome, as these prohibit criminalisation of people who wear condoms or disclose their status, and could prevent prosecution of those with a suppressed viral load.

However, the ambiguous drafting of the prohibitions against sharing objects or substances, and administering transfusions or transplantations, leaves open the possibility of criminalisation where transmission does not take place. Additionally, notwithstanding the 2022 reform, Article 249 of the Penal Code continues to criminalise ‘attempts’ to transmit, meaning that HIV ‘exposure’ may still be prosecuted.

Although several court referrals have been received under the various versions of the law, they have ended in amicable settlements rather than prosecutions.