Mexico: First Spanish language ‘HIV is Not A Crime’ meeting leads to new Network and impressive early results

In October 2017 the first Spanish-language ‘HIV Is Not A Crime’ meeting took place in Mexico City, supported by the HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE coalition.

The two-day meeting brought together people living with HIV, activists, lawyers, human rights defenders, and academics from across Mexico – alongside HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE partners CNET+ (Belize), Sero Project (USA), and the HIV Justice Network – to discuss the current state of HIV criminalisation nationally, regionally and globally.

As well as learning about HIV criminalisation around the world; the global movement to end HIV criminalisation; and the importance of the leadership of Networks of People Living with HIV, participants discussed reform initiatives in the three states where specific problematic laws exist (Veracruz) or were recently proposed (and Quintana Roo and San Luis Potosí).

In 2015, the Congress of Veracruz approved a reform of the Penal Code in order to add to the crime “of contagion” the term “sexually transmitted infections” (STI), among which are HIV and HPV, to “try to prevent the transmission of such infections, mainly to (vulnerable) women and girls.” The penalty includes six months to five years in prison and a fine of up to 50 days minimum wage for anyone who “maliciously” infects another person with an STI.

In San Luis Potosí, the governor, Juan Manuel Carreras López, proposed reforms to the Criminal Code, including the creation of article 182 bis, to punish “the person knowing that he is a carrier of a sexually transmitted disease. ..) endangers the health of another person through sexual intercourse “.  Thanks to quick action by local activists, the proposed reforms did not pass.

In Quintana Roo, last year Congresswoman Laura Beristain proposed reforming Article 113 of the Criminal Code to punish anyone who transmits HIV with up to 25 years in prison.  A few weeks ago, following a meeting with activists including those who attend the ‘HIV is not a crime meeting’, she committed to dropping the proposal.

In addition to these HIV-specific laws, the meeting heard that 30 the 32 states that make up the Mexican Republic have a public health law that sanctions exposure to sexually transmitted infections.  Only the states of Aguascalientes and San Luis Potosí do not have this law.

According to data from Letra S, at least 39 people have been prosecuted under this law between 2000 and 2016 on suspicion of having transmitted a sexual infection and / or HIV. The state with the highest number of registered cases is Veracruz, with 15; Sonora follows, with nine; Tamaulipas and State of Mexico, with five; Chihuahua, with three, and Mexico City and Nuevo León with a case.

Last year, the Veracruz Multisectoral Group on HIV / AIDS and STIs and the National Commission on Human Rights challenged the Veracruz law on unconstitutionality grounds at the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. The challenge was supported by HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE in a widely reported press conference last year.  However, the Supreme Court has yet to rule.

As a result of the meeting, the Mexican Network of organisations against the criminalisation of HIV was formed, bringing together 29 organizations from all over the country. During, and immediately following the meeting, the Network drafted an 11-point Declaration addressed to various governmental agencies in charge of responding to the epidemic, as well as to society in general.

Among the key points in the Declaration, they note that the Mexican State is required to assume the commitment to guarantee an integrated response to HIV (prevention, timely diagnosis and comprehensive attention) and stresses that it is not the task of the judicial authorities to develop and implement measures to prevent transmission of HIV.

The declaration also emphasises that the criminalisation of HIV exposure through “risk or danger of HIV infection” and other public health statutes that appear in the laws of individual Mexican states are generating more harm than good in terms of impact on public health, in addition to preventing the guarantee of respect for the human rights of people with HIV.

With two weeks of the meeting, Network representatives met with Congresswoman Laura Beristain, who had proposed the new unjust, overly broad HIV criminal law in Quintana Roo. She listened to their arguments, read the Declaration, and immediately gave a firm commitment to repeal Quintana Roo’s problematic provisions in Article 113.

Watch and share short video below about the meeting and the Network’s immediate advocacy win.

US: New initiative launched by Equality Florida hopes to convince lawmakers to update laws exposing people with HIV to criminal prosecution

HIV Panic in Florida Is Turning Into a Health Catastrophe

The spread of HIV in Florida has outpaced any other state in the union, yet draconian laws turn getting tested into a risky legal gamble. Now a new initiative launched by Equality Florida aims to combat the virus through education, and maybe an update in the state’s legal statutes.

The HIV Advocacy Project hopes to better educate residents about the truth of living with HIV today­ — information Equality Florida hopes will convince lawmakers to update regulations that effectively expose individuals to criminal prosecution once their HIV status is known to them.

Alejandro Acosta is the coordinator for the project. He’s known his poz status for a while now. How long? He won’t say, in part because of the hefty risks that come with such disclosures in Florida. “I hesitate,” Acosta says, “because of how people can use that information.”

People living with HIV in the state can face up to 30 years in prison for failing to disclose their status to a consensual partner prior to any sexual contact, even if transmission is not possible. That means prosecutors can pursue convictions whether a partner contracts the virus or not, and whether or not the HIV-positive person uses a condom or has an undetectable viral load and cannot transmit the virus.

Three years ago a Palm Beach, Fla., prosecutor arrested one man and sought 10 separate charges for his alleged failure to disclose his status to one girlfriend. The prosecutor then went to the press, asking other members of the public to come forward if they’d had sex with the defendant in the previous eight years. Stories like that, Acosta says, do little to encourage people to get tested, since knowing one’s status is an essential element in the statute. That’s particularly troubling as Florida continues to see so many new transmissions, and those could just be the tip of the iceberg.

In 2016 alone, 4,972 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in Florida (more than any other state). Gay and bisexual men in Florida continue to live with a higher risk of transmission, as do trans women of color. Youth under 25, according to the Florida Department of Health, represented 16 percent of all new HIV infections in 2014.  And Equality Florida estimates that over 20,000 people in the state are already HIV-positive but just don’t know it yet.

Hannah Willard, senior policy director for Equality Florida, says it’s important to acknowledge that HIV has “never stopped being an LGBTQ issue,” but it’s also “an issue of racial and economic injustice.” That’s one reason the Florida HIV Justice Coalition involves groups like Equality Florida and The Sero Project in collaboration with the Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU.

Florida’s HIV criminalization laws date back to the 1990 passage of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act (or CARE Act); the federal law required states to criminalize deliberate transmission of disease. This was seven years before antiretroviral drugs turned HIV from a deadly disease to a manageable chronic condition and 17 years before the government officially announced that HIV-positive folks with undetectable viral loads could not transmit HIV. (That federal requirement has since been dropped from Ryan White.)

In 1997, Florida legislators added HIV to a list of diseases that were criminal not to disclose. That list also included other STIs like gonorrhea, herpes, and syphilis. The law provides confidentiality to those reporting a violation — a stipulation that activists say leaves room for misuse or abuse. A California study by the Williams Institute found that prosecutors disproportionately applied a similar law there to sex workers.

“We don’t yet know how these statutes are being used by law enforcement,” in Florida, Willard says, while noting some anecdotal evidence about reports motivated by revenge.

Acosta says poz individuals in the state fear a scorned lover could claim they weren’t told of their partner’s HIV status. Social stigma immediately taints those who are accused once allegations are made public, even if there’s no evidence that they failed to disclose their status. In a 2009 case, a woman faced prosecution based on multiple long-term relationships and was hit with separate charges for each individual sexual encounter.

Now two decades old, the Florida disclosure law hasn’t been updated, and therefore ignores conclusive evidence that those with HIV who are virally suppressed to undetectable levels are no longer at risk of transmitting HIV to sexual partners.

Acosta says there are significant repercussions to the way the law discourages people from finding out if they have HIV. He grew up in Puerto Rico and says two people he knew there died from HIV-related illnesses last year.

“Nobody should be dying of HIV these days,” he says. Proper and timely treatment can prevent HIV from entering the final, often terminal, stage of the disease (also known as AIDS).

But it still happens, particularly when people don’t realize they are HIV-positive until they are physically ill. That’s a failure in testing. Others have known they were HIV-positive but never realized it can be managed as a chronic condition. That’s an issue with education, and Acosta says a big part of his job will be making sure the public knows how to control transmission through proper health care.

“[I] worry about bad policy that makes access to treatment harder, discourages people from learning their status, or creates laws that are outdated and based on fear and stigma, not science,” Acosta says.

Willard is optimistic that policy opinions across the state’s political spectrum are beginning to change through effective lobbying. She notes a bill that would have changed the law to apply only when there was a “substantial risk of transmission” won a unanimous vote in the state Senate’s Criminal Justice Committee, but died before a full Senate vote. Still, it proved strong bipartisan support could be rallied. Willard says, “I’m very optimistic and see forward movement in 2018.”

Stopping HIV transmission in Florida also requires fighting social stigma. In a state with a large Latin immigrant population, that means challenging a number of prejudices: “You have a huge number of Haitians, Jamaicans, Salvadorans with different cultural, religious, and machismo issues,” Acosta says.

The impact hurricanes Irma and Maria will have on HIV prevention and treatment in Florida and Puerto Rico aren’t yet known, but will likely linger for years. Advocates like Acosta know their complex jobs are made more difficult by laws that put people in legal crosshairs for failing to disclose their HIV-positive status — unless they don’t know they are poz.

“It goes against every policy for public health because it incentivizes not getting tested,” Acosta says.

Published in the Advocate on Nov 20, 2017

Africa: Civil society organisations deliver statement condemning HIV criminalisation at African Commission on Human and People's Rights

MEDIA RELEASE: Civil society statement on the criminalisation of HIV at the 61st Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights

6 November 2017

BANJUL, The Gambia—Civil society organisations working on HIV and human rights, delivered a statement at the 61st Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights condemning the disturbing trend of the enactment of repressive HIV specific laws which often contain provisions that criminalise HIV, transmission, non-disclosure and exposure. These laws also often provide for compulsory HIV testing, disclosure of HIV status and involuntary partner notification.

“These provisions are overly broad and disregard the best available scientific evidence. They fail to pass the human rights test of necessity, proportionality and reasonableness; rather, they have the effect of exacerbating stigma, discrimination and prejudice against people living with HIV. These measures undermine both an effective public health response to the HIV epidemic, as well as the human rights of people living with HIV,” said Michaela Clayton, Director of the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA).

In sub-Saharan Africa, while there were no HIV-specific criminal laws at the start of the 21st century, 31 countries have since then enacted overly broad or vague HIV-specific criminal statutes. These laws and policies provide, inter alia, for the criminalisation of HIV transmission, exposure and non-disclosure despite the fact that in all of these countries there are existing penal provisions which can be invoked in those rare cases of intentional HIV transmission. The number of prosecutions continues to rise at an alarming rate in countries where HIV specific criminal laws have been promulgated. To date, prosecutions have been documented in 16 countries.[1]

“We are concerned that the current advancements in the HIV response in Africa are being threatened by the misguided use of criminal sanctions by States, to – as they argue – ‘control the spread of the HIV epidemic’. These laws, policies and practices violate the rights of people living with HIV and of all healthcare users to informed consent, bodily integrity, dignity, freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment, and fair trial rights, amongst others. The protection of these rights is specifically provided for in Article 4 (bodily integrity), Article 5 (dignity), Article 7 (fair trial), and Article 16 (right to health) of the African Charter,” said Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh, Executive Director of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre.

Women living with HIV face surveillance and state control in terms of their reproduction, family planning, childbirth, child feeding, and child raising choices. In many contexts, HIV criminalisation laws, policies, and practices have a disproportionately punitive effect on women, as evidenced by recent cases. For example, in Malawi a woman living with HIV was prosecuted for breastfeeding. In addition, there are numerous examples of prosecutions of people living with HIV in Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Nigeria, particularly women. In our patriarchal societies, it is women who already disproportionately face the burden of the HIV epidemic due to their inability to negotiate protective sexual intercourse in relationships, and are often the first to be tested for HIV.

“We, however, would like to recognise the positive developments made by some African countries due to consistent advocacy on the part of civil society. Two countries have strongly rejected HIV criminalisation: Mauritius in 2007 and Comoros in 2014. Furthermore, Mozambique revised its HIV law in 2014 to remove HIV criminalisation, and in Kenya the High Court has ruled that section 24 of HIV Prevention and Control Act 2006, which forced people with HIV to disclose their status to any ‘sexual contacts’, was found to contravene the Kenyan constitution that guarantees the right to privacy,” said Victor Mhango, Executive Director of the Centre for Human Rights Education, Advice and Assistance (CHREAA).

As HIV and human rights organisations we call on the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights to take leadership in protecting the rights of people living with and affected by HIV, including women living with HIV by:

  • Encouraging and reminding member states about their obligations under the African Charter and the Maputo Protocol, including Resolutions adopted by the Commission;
  • Reminding states of their duties and mandates to protect and promote the rights of people living with and affected by HIV, including women and girls who are vulnerable to HIV, by prioritising the urgent needs for access to justice and the upholding of the rights to bodily integrity, autonomy, and health;
  • Calling on states to repeal laws that unjustly criminalise HIV transmission, exposure, and non-disclosure.

The full statement can be found here: HIV_Criminalisation_statement__African_Commission_SALC_ARASA.pdf

Signed:

AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa http://www.arasa.info

Centre for Human Rights Education, Advice and Assistance http://chreaa.org

Centre for the Development of People http://www.cedepmalawi.org

Coalition of Women Living with HIV in Malawi https://cowlhamalawi.wordpress.com

Southern Africa Litigation Centre https://southernafricalitigationcentre.org

Women Lawyers Association of Malawi https://womenlawyersmalawi.com

Zambia Network of Religious Leaders Living With or Affected by HIV and AIDS http://zanerela.weebly.com

[ENDS]

Malawi: Human right groups condemn new HIV bill as discriminatory, paternalistic and harmful to the HIV response

Malawi rights bodies defy criminalising the transmission of HIV:  Bill deeply flawed

Stakeholders have described the new HIV and AIDS Bill as ‘a bad law’ and a disaster to happen as it is discriminatory and will impede the fight against AIDS.

The bill includes mandatory HIV testing for pregnant women and their partners, and allows medical providers to disclose a patient’s HIV status to others. The bill also criminalizes HIV transmission, attempted transmission, and behavior that might result in transmission by those who know their HIV status.

Human rights groups and activists who converged in Lilongwe recently for the media advocacy meeting on HIV and Aids Bill described the new bill on HIV and AIDS as a debauched law in the offing.

Centre for Human Rights Education, Advice and Assistance (CHREAA) organised the meeting.

Mandatory HIV testing and the disclosure of medical information without consent are contrary to international best practices and violate fundamental human rights, the rights activists said. The criminalization of HIV transmission, attempted transmission, and behavior that might result in transmission by those who know their HIV status is overly broad, and difficult to enforce.

Female Sex workers Association executive member, Zinenani Majawa, speaking on behalf of sex workers in in Malawi said: “This Bill targets us because men will always be saying this sex worker infected me with the disease.”

Majawa vehemently quashed the bill, saying it does not give any hope towards the HIV positive response.

The sex workers representative argued that Section 43 and 44 will also be difficult to apply with due adherence to fair trial rights including the right to be presumed innocent, adding that it is not correlating on the obligation for the state to prove criminal conduct beyond a reasonable doubt.

“This is because in most circumstances, there is no scientific means to prove the direction of HIV transmission beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Majawa.

During the meeting the stakeholders nudged holes on the new bill, saying, for example section 43 that targets deliberate transmission was seen to be similarly overboard.

“Phylogenetic analysis is expensive it requires the use of complex computational tools to estimate how closely related the samples of HIV taken from complainants and defendants are in comparison to other samples,” argued some stakeholders.

‘Vilification of women’

Making a presentation on the new Bill, Women Lawyers Association (WLA) President Sarai Chisala said, in its current format, despite the many admirable aspects of the HIV Bill, the provisions that create criminal measures to enforce various HIV management efforts have the effect of infantilizing, criminalizing, stigmatizing and potentially victimizing women – particularly women who are already living with HIV.

Said Chisala: “Rather than being protective and preventive, the law is paternalistic, positing women as both victims and vectors of HIV. Yet in reality women living with HIV rarely describe themselves as “victims” when relaying how they became infected, and the language of vectors is especially harmful for those most marginalised members of society such as female sex workers.”

Chisala further explained that the HIV Bill both demonizes and infantilizes women, they are painted as carriers of the disease but also as potentially careless and callous mothers; and women of loose morals.

“In a country where more than half of the women are married before the age of 18, and it is within these relationships – and oftentimes violent relationships, a product of harmful cultural practices – that they either become infected or learn of their infection, in this manner, lives that are already filled with violence are suddenly even more fraught with danger, Chisala said.

Sarai added that there are clear public health implications to a pandemic such as HIV and AIDS and the role that the government opts to play in the management of the pandemic has a severe impact on the course of the disease.

According to the WLA president: “legislation can be used to set out the manner in which issues such as voluntary counselling and testing; partner notification; medical care and treatment of AIDS related illnesses; and, epidemiological surveillance, amongst other things, are handled,” adding; “The UNAIDS Handbook for Legislators on HIV/AIDS, Law and Human Rights (the Handbook) suggests that laws should require specific informed consent before HIV testing is done for fear of risking violation of a person’s right to both privacy and personal liberty, the Handbook also goes on to stress that targeting specific groups for compulsory testing is in violation of the non-discrimination principle under international human rights law.”

The WLA leader also noted with consternation that the overly punitive crafting of many of the provisions in the HIV Bill, that were intended to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS, are instead more likely to lead to disproportionate demonization and vilification of women living with HIV.

Some of the organizations which have openly challenged the newly introduced bill includes, female sex workers, Child Rights Information and Documentation Centre, Coalition of Women Living with HIV, AIDS Rights Alliance, Mango Network, Southern Africa Litigation Centre, Centre for Development of People, CHREAA, Youth Watch Society just to mention a few.

Published in the Nyasa Times on Nov 2, 2017

Canada: Endorse the Consensus Statement by the Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization

Endorse the CCRHC Consensus Statement: End Unjust Prosecutions for HIV Non-disclosure

Posted on October 27, 2017

We find ourselves at a crucial moment in our efforts to reform discriminatory and unjust laws and practices that criminalize people living with HIV.

The Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization (CCRHC) has developed a Community Consensus Statement on actions federal, provincial and territorial governments must take to address the overly broad use of the criminal law in cases of alleged HIV non-disclosure.

In developing this statement, the CCRHC consulted with people living with HIV, service providers, communities affected by HIV and over-criminalization, scientific experts and others, through multiple rounds of in-person and electronic consultation throughout Canada.

We are now seeking wide endorsement by organizations in Canada involved in human rights and the response to HIV with the aim of building a common advocacy agenda aimed at limiting unjust and harmful prosecutions.

Please read and sign on to the Community Consensus Statement on behalf of your organization today using this link:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CCRHCstatement.

 

Mexico: 20 NGOS set up the Network against HIV criminalisation in Mexico

A network of organisations fights against HIV criminalisation law in Mexico Google translation (see below for original article in Spanish)

Mexico, Oct 29 (EFE) .- Twenty NGOs have set up the Network against HIV Criminalization after several Mexican sates try to tighten existing but little known laws, that sanction the possibility of spreading the virus or other sexually transmitted infections.

“The objective (of the network) is to stop a witch hunt, because it was surprising that in the last two years three different (state) congresses have been discussing” this law, stated Leonardo Bastida, head of Information of the group Letter S.

In Mexico, 30 of the 32 states contain in their criminal codes the “crime of transmission”, which sanctions those who can transmit a non-curable disease to another person.

“The possibility of transmission is sanctioned, even if it is involuntary, for example, by ignorance, said Bastida, who produced a study that determined that since 2000, 39 criminal proceedings were filed for that cause.

There are 15 reported cases in Veracruz, nine in Sonora, five in Tamaulipas and in the State of Mexico, three in Chihuahua, one in Mexico City and one in Nuevo Leon.

Most of these were resolved with administrative fines, although a person in Sonora is serving a 10-year sentence, despite the fact that “you can not clearly see how the virus is acquired.”

Many state penal codes were born in the first half of the twentieth century with this concept, although at the beginning there was talk of venereal diseases and it was usually circumscribed to syphilis.

The codes were modified to include new terms. And even in states like Coahuila (in the north) a specific chapter on HIV was created.

Currently, only Aguascalientes and San Luis Potosí do not criminalize this crime, although in the second state they tried only a year ago, without success, to legislate in this regard.

In the southeastern state of Quintana Roo, the issue is still hot after a congresswoman proposed tightening legislation, with sentences of up to 15 years.

“For her, this was to benefit and to reduce HIV cases, but we told her that this was not the right way,” Édgar Mora, president of the Círculo Social Igualitario association, told Efe.

Together with other NGOs, the State Human Rights Commission and the National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH), they established discussion groups with a group of legislators and it was agreed, although the vote on the plenary is still pending, to overturn the article 113 of the Criminal Code of Quintana Roo.

For the 26 NGOs that have formed the Network of organizations against HIV Criminalization, there is a fear that, if laws are tightened, prevention and detection will decrease.

“That people stop being tested for HIV for fear of getting positive and, subsequently, having to face justice,” Mora said.

In Veracruz, the Chamber of Deputies approved in 2015, unanimously, to modify the local penal code to add the term “contagion” to the term “sexually transmitted infections”, Patricia Ponce, member of the Multisectoral Group on HIV / AIDS and STI from Veracruz, told Efe.

Even before the law existed, there was no definite sanction. With the reform of article 158, six months to five years of imprisonment were stipulated.

“Any person who in a ‘willful’ way transmits HIV is penalized, which is a very ambiguous word,” said the doctor.

Several state-run NGOs unsuccessfully attempted to repeal the article by the state Congress and, with the support of the CNDH, filed an unconstitutional appeal to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), where it is still under discussion.

Ponce is confident that the resolution of the Supreme will be favorable. “It is important that the Supreme Court declares in favour of health, life, and human rights,” he said.

Otherwise, she fears that other states will bet on criminalizing laws. “The deputies, and congressmen are deeply ignorant” in the matter, he explained.

In Mexico, it is estimated that there are about 220,000 people with HIV, although about 100,000 of them are unaware of it.

The hardening of the laws would also impact on the LGBT community. “We have not understood in 30 years what HIV is, and this results in stigma, discrimination and the replication of speeches against homosexuality,” Bastida said.

On a global scale, 68 countries have laws in force, with Russia accounting for the highest number of defendants in the last two years with 23 cases, according to the HIV Justice Network.

Published in La Vanguardia on Oct 29, 2017

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Una red de ONG lucha contra ley que criminaliza el VIH en México

México, 29 oct (EFE).- Una veintena de ONG se han configurado en la Red contra la Criminalización del VIH, después de que varios estados mexicanos intentan endurecer las leyes, ya existentes aunque poco conocidas, que sancionan la posibilidad de contagiar el virus u otras infecciones de transmisión sexual.

“El objetivo (de la red) es que no empiece una cacería de brujas, porque fue sorprendente que en los últimos dos años se haya discutido en tres congresos (estatales) diferentes” esta ley, explicó a Efe Leonardo Bastida, jefe de Información de la entidad Letra S.

En México, 30 de los 32 estados contienen en sus códigos penales el “delito de peligro de contagio”, que sanciona a quien pueda transmitir una enfermedad no curable a otra persona.

Se sanciona “la posibilidad” de transmisión, aunque sea de forma involuntaria, por ejemplo, por desconocimiento, afirmó Bastida, quien elaboró un estudio que determinó que, desde el 2000, se registraron 39 procesos penales por dicha causa.

Se reportan 15 casos en Veracruz, nueve en Sonora, cinco en Tamaulipas y en el Estado de México, tres en Chihuahua, uno en la Ciudad de México y otro en Nuevo León.

La mayoría de estos se resolvieron con multas administrativas, si bien una persona en Sonora cumple una pena de 10 años, pese a que “no se puede comprobar de forma clara cómo se adquiere el virus”.

Muchos códigos penales estatales nacieron en la primera mitad del siglo XX con esta figura, si bien al principio se hablaba de enfermedades venéreas y se circunscribía habitualmente a la sífilis.

Los códigos fueron modificándose para incluir nuevos términos. E incluso en estados como Coahuila (norte) se creó un capítulo específico sobre VIH.

Actualmente, solo Aguascalientes y San Luis Potosí no tipifican este delito, aunque en el segundo estado hace apenas un año se buscó, sin éxito, que se legislara al respecto.

En el suroriental estado de Quintana Roo, el tema sigue candente después de que una diputada propusiera endurecer la legislación vigente, con penas de hasta 15 años.

“Por parte de ella, esto era para beneficio y para disminuir los casos de VIH. Pero le manifestamos que esta no era la manera adecuada”, contó a Efe el presidente de la asociación Círculo Social Igualitario, Édgar Mora.

Junto a otras ONGs, la Comisión Estatal de DD.HH. y la Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos (CNDH) se establecieron mesas de discusión con un grupo de legisladores y se acordó, si bien aún falta la votación del pleno, la derogación del artículo 113 del Código Penal de Quintana Roo.

Para las 26 ONGs que han conformado la Red de organizaciones contra la Criminalización del VIH, existe el miedo de que, si se endurecen las leyes, disminuya la prevención y la detección.

“Que la gente deje de hacerse la prueba del VIH por temor a salir reactiva y, posteriormente, tener que enfrentar la justicia”, relató Mora.

En Veracruz, la Cámara de Diputados aprobó en 2015, por unanimidad, modificar el código penal local para agregar al delito “del contagio” el término “infecciones de transmisión sexual”, dijo a Efe la integrante del Grupo Multisectorial en VIH/Sida e ITS de Veracruz Patricia Ponce.

Si bien antes existía la ley, no había sanción determinada. Con la reforma del artículo 158, se estipularon de seis meses a cinco años de cárcel.

“Queda penalizada cualquier persona que de manera ‘dolosa’ transmite el VIH, que es una palabra muy ambigua”, indicó la doctora.

Varias ONGs estatales intentaron sin éxito que el Congreso estatal derogara el artículo y, con el apoyo de la CNDH, presentaron un recurso de inconstitucionalidad a la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación (SCJN), donde todavía se está debatiendo.

Ponce se muestra confiada en que la resolución del Supremo será favorable. “Es importante que la Corte Suprema declare a favor de la salud, de la vida, y de los derechos humanos”, indicó.

De lo contrario, teme que otros estados apuesten por leyes criminalizadoras. “Los diputados, diputadas y congresos son profundamente ignorantes” en la materia, explicó.

En México se estima que hay unas 220.000 personas con VIH en México, si bien unos 100.000 de ellos lo desconocen.

El endurecimiento de las leyes impactaría, además, sobre el colectivo LGBT. “No hemos entendido en 30 años qué es el VIH, y ello deriva en estigma, discriminación y la réplica de discursos contra la homosexualidad”, denunció Bastida.

A escala global, 68 países mantienen leyes vigentes en la materia, siendo Rusia el que mayor número de procesados registra por dicha causa en los últimos dos años con 23 casos, según HIV Justice Network.

US: California Governor signs landmark bill reforming outdated HIV criminalisation laws

Governor Signs Bill Modernizing California HIV Laws

October 6, 2017

CONTACT: Naina Khanna, naina.khanna.work@gmail.com, 510.681.1169

or Jennie Smith-Camejo, jsmithcamejo@pwn-usa.org, 347.553.5174

Sacramento, Calif.— Governor Jerry Brown today signed into law landmark legislation to reform outdated laws that unfairly criminalized and stigmatized people living with HIV. Senate Bill (SB) 239 was authored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Asm. Todd Gloria (D-San Diego) and cosponsored by Equality California, the ACLU of California, APLA Health, Black AIDS Institute, Lambda Legal and Positive Women’s Network – USA. These organizations are part of Californians for HIV Criminalization Reform (CHCR), a broad coalition of people living with HIV, HIV and health service providers, civil rights organizations and public health professionals dedicated to ending the criminalization of people living with HIV in California.

“Today California took a major step toward treating HIV as a public health issue, instead of treating people living with HIV as criminals,” said Senator Wiener. “HIV should be treated like all other serious infectious diseases, and that’s what SB 239 does. We are going to end new HIV infections, and we will do so not by threatening people with state prison time, but rather by getting people to test and providing them access to care. I want to thank Governor Brown for his support in helping to put California at the forefront of a national movement to reform these discriminatory laws.”

“State law will no longer discourage Californians from getting tested for HIV,” said Asm. Gloria. “With the Governor’s signature today, we are helping to reduce the stigma that keeps some from learning their HIV status and getting into treatment to improve their health, extend their lives, and prevent additional infections. I want to thank Governor Brown for signing SB 239. This action keeps California at the forefront in the fight to stop the spread of HIV.”

SB 239 updates California criminal law to approach transmission of HIV in the same way as transmission of other serious communicable diseases. It also brings California statutes up to date with the current understanding of HIV prevention, treatment and transmission. The bill fulfills a key goal of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and is consistent with guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice and with California’s “Getting to Zero” HIV transmission reduction strategy.

“The passage of SB239 marks tremendous progress for Californians living with HIV. Laws that criminalize HIV positive status are not based on science–they are based solely on hysteria and fear–and essentially create an underclass of people diagnosed with a disease, placing us at risk for discrimination and even violence,” said Naina Khanna, executive director of Positive Women’s Network, a national membership body of women living with HIV and a proud co-sponsor of SB 239. “Today, California has proved once again that is a national leader on protecting safety, dignity and human rights for all its residents.”

Beginning in the late 1980s and at the height of the HIV epidemic, lawmakers passed several laws criminalizing otherwise legal behaviors of people living with HIV and added HIV-related penalties to existing crimes. These laws were based on fear and the limited medical understanding of the time. When most of these laws were passed, there were no effective treatments for HIV and discrimination against people living with HIV was rampant. Research now demonstrates that people living with HIV on effective treatment cannot transmit the virus to their partners. HIV-negative individuals can now take medication, known as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), to reduce the risk of acquiring HIV by up to 99 percent. SB 239 ensures that these advances inform our laws and the manner in which we address our public health response to HIV.

“With his signature, Governor Brown has moved California’s archaic HIV laws out of the 1980s and into the 21st century,” said Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California. “SB 239 will do much to reduce stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV – it is not only fair, but it’s good public health. When people are no longer penalized for knowing their status, it encourages them to come forward, get tested and get treatment. That’s good for all Californians.”

In addition to the organizations sponsoring the bill, SB 239 was supported by CHCR members including the Los Angeles LGBT Center, the Los Angeles HIV Law and Policy Project, the Transgender Law Center, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), the Free Speech Coalition and the Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP).

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Californians for HIV Criminalization Reform (CHCR) is a coalition of organizations and individuals dedicated to ending the criminalization of HIV in California. Our mission is to mobilize a broad coalition, including individuals and communities who are disproportionately impacted by HIV, to replace fear-based, stigmatizing laws that criminalize HIV-status with evidence-based, nondiscriminatory laws that protect public health.

Azerbaijan: Civil society organisations calling for international action to condemn LGBTI crackdown using HIV as thinly veiled 'excuse'

Alarming stories of physical violence, verbal abuse, forced medical examinations and detentions of LGBTI people have been emerging from Azerbaijan over the past two weeks.

The signatories of this statement are appalled by the situation being described by LGBTI activists and lawyers based in the country:

  • Members of the LGBTI community have reported being assaulted, forcibly medically examined, fined or forced to reveal contact details from their mobile phones.
  • Media reports published over the weekend (1 October) also included references to detainees being electrocuted.
  • The Azerbaijan authorities confirmed that the detentions took place and defended them by claiming that the raids were motivated by public health concerns (implying that it is a coincidence that LGBTI people are being detained).

We welcome the news from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (followed a statement on 2 October) that all detainees have been released. However, this update does not signal the end of the crisis. Intergovernmental bodies and international institutions have an undeniable responsibility to speak out now and support the victims.

The undersigned human rights organisations are calling on international institutions to put their human rights mandates into practice. We urge them to use all possible mechanisms available to strongly condemn the situation in Azerbaijan, such as public statements and bilateral diplomacy.

Given the seriousness of the human rights abuses reported from multiple sources, the reaction from international institutions needs to be stronger, more visible, and more sustained. So far, the public response from international institutions has been slow.

The civil society organisations who have signed this joint statement urge the international community to:

  • Be more vocal in their condemnation of the treatment of LGBTI people in Azerbaijan
  • Push for a thorough, independent investigation into the police raids
  • Keep the victims of these raids at the forefront of their minds and actions

Resources needed to support victims and their communities

The LGBTI community in Azerbaijan (and their allies) now require specific assistance for multiple needs: ranging from immediate financial resources to cover fines and court fees, legal assistance and medical care to more long-term requirements such as relocation, resettlement and psychosocial support. Some victims are reportedly being released into homelessness/precarious housing, in some cases without the support of their family. Local activists and NGOs do not have the capacity or immediate resources to deal with this crisis alone.

This is where the LGBTI movement in Europe can mobilise to support our community members in Azerbaijan. ILGA-Europe have launched an urgent appeal for donations to help organisations to support the victims; these funds will be re-granted to activists working directly with people who have been detained.

Human rights violations are always shocking. While these developments could not have been predicted, we can control how we choose to respond.

Signed:

ILGA-Europe – the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association

Civil Rights Defenders

COC Netherlands

Stonewall

International Partnership for Human Rights

The Equality Network

European AIDS Treatment Group

Human Rights First

TGEU – Transgender Europe

Kaleidoscope Trust

Human Dignity Trust

African Rainbow Family

UK Lesbian & Gay Immigration Group (UKLGIG)

All Out

Sidaction

HIV Justice Network

Apoyo Positivo

The Colorado Story

(15 min, HJN, USA, 2017)

How a group of dedicated advocates in Colorado ‘modernised’ their HIV-related laws to improve the legal environment for people living with HIV. Featuring Barb Cardell and Kari Hartel of the Colorado Mod Squad and Colorado State Senator, Pat Steadman.

Interviews by Mark S King

Written and introduced by Edwin J Bernard • Directed and produced by Nicholas Feustel for the HIV Justice Network

Brazil: Activists celebrate as ‘deliberate HIV transmission’ law amendment is withdrawn

Yesterday, news broke that populist Congressman, Pompeo de Mattos, has withdrawn an amendment originally proposed in 2015 to make ‘deliberate’ HIV transmission a ‘heinous crime’.

The amendment, Bill No. 198, 2015, would have added to the list of heinous crimes – which currently includes murder, extortion, rape, child exploitation and spreading an epidemic that results in death – those who “transmit and infect consciously and deliberately others with the AIDS virus. (sic)”.

According to Brazil’s AIDS News Agency

In Brazil, intentional transmission, that is, with intent, is already considered a crime. Articles 130 and 131 of the Penal Code already provide for imprisonment for those who infect others. Anyone who exposes someone to a venereal disease through sexual intercourse can be jailed for three months to a year or receive a fine. If the person intentionally wants to transmit the disease, the penalty is imprisonment, from one to four years, and fine.

“The initiative to criminalize HIV-positive people does not contribute to the fight against prejudice and discrimination, and it also throws the responsibility of prevention on the infected person,” says a statement released on Thursday by Foaesp Of the State of São Paulo).

In this same document, the Forum thanked Mr Pompeo for his request to withdraw from the PL. “We are now waiting for the House Board to abide by the request and file the bill, and we will also be careful that no other parliamentarian has a similar initiative.”

Activists from all over Brazil have celebrated the Bill’s withdrawal. Any new proposal cannot be considered by the current parliament and now must wait until after elections, scheduled for October 2018.

Since 2015, PLHIV networks, civil society organisations, the Department of STDs, AIDS and Viral Hepatitis of the Ministry of Health, and a number UN agencies – includng UNAIDS and UNFPA – had all pressured Congress to withdraw the bill.

Update (September 4th).  A press release by the Department of STDs, AIDS and Viral Hepatitis of the Ministry of Health notes:

The director of the Department of STDs, AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (DIAHV), Adele Benzaken, called the federal MPs Érica Kokay (PT-DF), member of the Family Social Security Commission (CCSF) and Coordinator of the Joint Parliamentary Front to Combat STDs, HIV , and AIDS – and Laura Carneiro (PMDB-RJ) and Deputy Pompeo de Mattos to thank them for their support against the procedure of PL 198/15. ““The effort of these parliamentarians was essential to educate their colleagues in the House to reassess that Brazil is a reference in the treatment of HIV / AIDS and that this will not help the Brazilian response at all.“ The director of DIAHV also highlighted the mobilisation made by civil society and the support of the Brazilian Office of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV / AIDS (UNAIDS) that she said were key to the outcome achieved with the filing request.

On July 3rd, the United Nations Expanded Thematic Group on HIV / AIDS (WG / UNAIDS) chaired by UNFPA, met to articulate opposition to the Bill.

For the UNFPA representative in Brazil, Jaime Nadal, the bill goes against the ideals and proposals of the United Nations regarding the HIV / AIDS epidemic. Criminalizing HIV transmission, in addition to reinforcing the stigmatization of people living with the virus, may discourage people from undergoing testing and treatment, since they would be under threat of becoming criminals, he said.The bill ignores the scientific advances in HIV / AIDS, which prove that antiretroviral treatments reduce the chances of transmitting the virus in sexual intercourse by up to 96%. “Many countries around the world are reforming their laws criminalising HIV transmission,” said Nadal, adding that the bill goes against the global trend.

UNAIDS Director in Brazil, Georgiana Braga-Orillard, reinforced the speech of the UNFPA representative. According to her, the bill further vulnerabilises populations with a positive serological status, since “it considers the more than 800 thousand people living with HIV in Brazil as potential criminals.”

In a technical note, UNAIDS outlined six counter-arguments to the bill: it penalizes the most vulnerable; it promotes fear and discrimination; it favours the selective application of the law; it disregards the scientific evidence on HIV; it compromises privacy and confidentiality, and it will make Brazil lose its leading role in the response to HIV / AIDS.

A public meeting with the Congressman, scheduled for July 4th, was cancelled at the last minute.  However, the letter of withdrawal, although only publicly released yesterday, was dated May 11th.

I request you, pursuant to art. 104 of the Internal Rules of the Chamber of Deputies, the withdrawal of the Bill of Law No. 198 of 2015, which "makes a heinous crime the deliberate transmission of the AIDS virus."
Translation: I request you, pursuant to art. 104 of the Internal Rules of the Chamber of Deputies, the withdrawal of the Bill of Law No. 198 of 2015, which “makes a heinous crime the deliberate transmission of the AIDS virus.”

Nevertheless, prosecutions under general laws continue.

In July, a newspaper reported that a 43 year-old heterosexual man was charged with serious bodily injury in a Rio de Janeiro court for ‘attempting to infect two women with HIV’ by having sex without a condom. 

In an interview with the Rio newspaper Extra , the man admitted that he was HIV-positive and [allegedly] transmitted HIV to the women, but denied that he had had sex without a condom with the intention of infecting his partners.

The case continues.