New HIV criminalisation data at AIDS 2024

In July 2024, six members of the HIV Justice Network team travelled to Munich to take part in AIDS 2024, the 25th International AIDS Conference, which brought together more than 11,000 participants from across the world.

The daily poster exhibitions provided an opportunity to learn of the incredible work undertaken by researchers, advocates, and people living with HIV to challenge discriminatory, criminalising laws and policies that single out people living with HIV.

HJN presented five posters at the conference (click on the link to download the pdf of the poster):
• Global Trends in HIV Criminalisation
• The Relevance of Gender to Potential or Perceived HIV ‘Exposure’ Charges in HIV Criminalisation Cases
• The ABCs of HIV Law Reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: Case Studies on HIV (De)criminalisation in Argentina, Belize, and Colombia
• Challenging Coercion and Misplaced Punishment: HIV and Infant Feeding Choices; and
• Prepared for Action: Lessons Learned from the First Year of the HIV Justice Academy.

HJN’s Global Trends poster was featured during Michaela Clayton’s Wednesday morning plenary on HIV criminalisation and again during the rapporteur session prior to Friday’s closing ceremony.

There were also a number of other interesting and important poster presentations by others working on ending or limiting HIV criminalisation.

In The who and how of HIV criminalization in the United States, Nathan Cisneros from the Williams Institute – an organisation whose rigorous research has substantially advanced the understanding of the enforcement of HIV criminal laws in the US – delivered a poster drawing together several patterns identified from this groundbreaking research and highlighting the pressing need to address unjust prosecution practices. The findings demonstrate that criminalisation has occurred at a much deeper rate than previous estimates suggested that marginalised communities, notably black people, women, and sex workers, are disproportionately targeted under these laws, and that enforcement does not correlate to ‘risk’, meaning that many people are criminalised carrying no risk of transmission.

Advocates from Aotearoa (New Zealand) including the Burnett Foundation Aotearoa, presented a poster, No U-turns allowed: a roadmap to challenge criminalisation of HIV in Aotearoa New Zealand highlighting the difficulties of challenging HIV criminalisation where it occurs under general criminal laws. Given that general laws do not specifically target HIV, they do not account for HIV transmission risks and ignore modern HIV science, meaning they may be applied in cases where HIV has not, or cannot, be transmitted, as occurs in New Zealand. This poster underlined the importance of HIV-specific prosecutorial guidance to limit prosecutions, as well as other interventions including education, lobbying, and advocacy of the police, judiciary, and media.

Similarly, in Preventing overly broad criminalisation of HIV exposure, non-disclosure and transmission through multi-sector collaboration on education initiatives advocates from Queensland, Australia, highlighted the importance of working within existing legal frameworks to limit unjust prosecutions where reform of HIV criminal laws is politically challenging. This poster outlined work done by HIV organisations in Queensland to educate law enforcement on public health and human rights alternatives to HIV criminalisation, which was received positively and helps to reduce the overly broad use of criminal laws.

Several posters also examined the impacts of broader punitive legal environments on people living with HIV who are additionally criminalised due to other identities of behaviours. In the wake of anti-LGBTQ legislation in Ghana and Uganda, the latter which originally made alleged HIV transmission by gay men punishable with death, a number of posters presented at AIDS 2024 demonstrated the chilling effect of these laws, along with laws criminalising sex work, on HIV service provision for people living with HIV in Ghana and Uganda (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) with centres shutting down and individuals limiting their health-seeking behaviour due to fear of criminalisation.

This vital research demonstrates that both HIV criminalisation and broader criminalisation of key populations must end in order to achieve health, dignity and rights for all people living with HIV.

Senegal: HIV advocates push to update country’s HIV law to reflect scientific advances

HIV/AIDS campaigners call for revision of HIV law

Translated via Deepl.com. Scroll down for article in French.

More than 10 years after the law on HIV was passed, those involved in the fight against the disease are calling for it to be revised. They believe that the law is obsolete and needs to be updated to take account of new issues. According to Massogui Thiandoum, Executive Director of the National Alliance of Communities for Health (ANCS), the law on HIV needs updating. ‘It is over 10 years old. There have been many advances in the fight against HIV, as well as scientific developments that show that certain aspects of the law need to be updated, or that new issues have emerged that need to be taken into account’, he explains.

A request has been made to this effect. Mr Thiandoum said: ‘We have already contacted the National Assembly to organise a training session to present the limitations of the law and the new scientific advances that it has not taken into account. We will be proposing amendments to MPs to update the law on HIV in Senegal.

He also advocates the decentralisation of HIV care services, saying: ‘We have trained community players, with the support of the health districts, so that they can help the health system to distribute antiretrovirals (ARVs) at community level. In some very remote areas, or depending on the context and particular situations, certain categories of people do not go to health facilities. The mediators we have trained, under the supervision of the health districts, have the responsibility and the opportunity to bring the treatment to these people and provide them with the medicines under the supervision of qualified health professionals’.

Les acteurs de la lutte contre le VIH/Sida demandent une révision de la loi sur le VIH

Plus de 10 ans après le vote de la loi sur le VIH, les acteurs de la lutte contre cette maladie réclament sa révision. Ils estiment que le texte est obsolète et nécessiterait une mise à jour pour prendre en compte les nouvelles problématiques. Selon Massogui Thiandoum, directeur exécutif de l’Alliance nationale des communautés pour la santé (ANCS), la loi sur le VIH nécessite d’être actualisée. “Elle date de plus de 10 ans. Il y a eu beaucoup d’avancées dans la lutte contre le VIH, ainsi que des évolutions scientifiques qui montrent que certains aspects de la loi doivent être mis à jour, ou que de nouvelles problématiques ont émergé et nécessitent d’être prises en compte”, explique-t-il.

Une demande a été formulée en ce sens. M. Thiandoum a déclaré : “Nous avons déjà pris contact avec l’Assemblée nationale pour organiser une session de formation afin de présenter les limites de la loi et les nouvelles avancées scientifiques qu’elle n’a pas prises en compte. Nous proposerons aux députés des modifications pour mettre à jour la loi sur le VIH au Sénégal.

Il plaide également pour la décentralisation des services de prise en charge du VIH, en déclarant : “Nous avons formé des acteurs communautaires, avec l’encadrement des districts sanitaires, pour qu’ils puissent aider le système de santé dans la distribution des antirétroviraux (ARV) au niveau communautaire. Dans certaines zones très éloignées ou en fonction des contextes et des situations particulières, certaines catégories de personnes ne se rendent pas dans les structures de santé. Les médiateurs que nous avons formés, sous l’encadrement des districts sanitaires, ont la responsabilité et la possibilité d’amener le traitement à ces personnes et de leur fournir les médicaments sous la supervision de professionnels de santé qualifiés”.

Tajikistan: Rising HIV cases among migrants highlight urgent need for testing and repeal of HIV criminalisation law

Every third person with HIV in Tajikistan is a labour migrant

Translated with Deepl.com. For article in Russian, please scroll down.

There are more and more people living with HIV among migrants

In Tajikistan, every third person with HIV is a labour migrant. Over the past five years, 5,463 cases of HIV infection have been detected, according to data from the Republican Centre for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control. Of these, migrants account for 22 per cent of those infected. While in 2019 migrants accounted for only 17 per cent of those infected, by 2023 that figure had risen to 32.5 per cent.
Balajon Davlatov, a specialist of the dispensary department of the Republican HIV Centre, strongly recommends to take a free test at one of the HIV prevention and control centres in Tajikistan immediately after arrival.

“Every migrant, after returning home, should be tested for HIV infection if they have doubts about it,” Davlatov said.
More than 300 migrants are already on the Republican HIV Centre’s dispensary register, he said. Their identities and test results are not disclosed to third parties.
“Any information about each person should be confidential. It is possible to get express tests, which within 15 minutes by analysing saliva report the patient’s HIV status – completely anonymously,” he says.
Such tests are available free of charge at one of the 67 government HIV prevention and control centres in all regions of Tajikistan.
In addition to testing through blood at AIDS centres, self-testing using near-blood fluid is now available. Self-test kits are available in Dushanbe, Rudaki, Khujand and B.Gafurov through online ordering at hivtest.tj.

The ordering process involves filling out a simple form with a few questions. This platform helps people confidentially find out their HIV status and provides up-to-date information on protection and prevention methods.
Those who test positive for HIV can learn more about their result and get a follow-up confirmatory test at the AIDS Centre.

We had a case with a woman who tested positive for HIV,” says Balajon Davlatov, “after treatment with antiretrovirals, she gave birth to two HIV-negative children. Now she lives in Russia, and we send her the necessary medication and counselling.
This proves that HIV-infected people can give birth to healthy children and live a full life.

It is an offence to infect another person with HIV

However, a positive HIV status can carry certain risks, which are not only related to the state of health. If a person knows that he or she is HIV-positive but hides it from his or her sexual partner, he or she can be fined from 720 to 1440 somoni under Article 120 of the Code of Administrative Offences (CAO).

Evasion of treatment for HIV or other infectious diseases is also punishable by a fine of 1,440 to 2,160 somoni. This liability is stipulated in Article 119 of the Code of Administrative Offences.

If a person deliberately infects another person with HIV, he or she may be punished with restriction of freedom for up to 3 years or imprisonment for up to 2 years. If, knowing his/her HIV status, he/she infects another person, he/she may face 2 to 5 years in prison. The term of imprisonment can be longer, from 5 to 10 years, if more than one person was infected or if the victim was a minor. This punishment is already stipulated in article 125 of the Criminal Code, which characterises these actions not as an offence but as a criminal offence.

Therefore, it is very important to periodically take tests and check your status, especially if you are in a risk group.

Среди мигрантов всё больше людей, живущих с ВИЧ

В Таджикистане каждый третий человек с ВИЧ – это трудовой мигрант. За последние 5 лет выявлено 5463 случая заражения ВИЧ инфекцией, говорят данные Республиканского центра по профилактике и борьбе с ВИЧ/СПИД. Из них 22% инфицированных приходится на мигрантов. Если в 2019 году мигранты составляли всего 17% зараженных, то к 2023 году эта цифра увеличилась до 32,5%.
Баладжон Давлатов, специалист диспансерного отделения Республиканского центра ВИЧ, настоятельно рекомендует сразу после прибытия пройти бесплатный тест в одном из центров по профилактике и борьбе с ВИЧ-инфекцией в Таджикистане.

«Каждый мигрант после возвращения на родину должен пройти обследования на факт заражения ВИЧ, если у него есть сомнения по этому поводу», – говорит Давлатов.
По его словам, уже более 300 мигрантов находятся на диспансерном учете республиканского центра ВИЧ. Их личность и результаты теста не разглашаются третьим лицам.
«Любая информация о каждом лице должна быть конфиденциальной. Можно получить экспресс-тесты, которые в течение 15 минут путем анализа слюны сообщают о ВИЧ-статусе пациента – полностью анонимно», – говорит он.
Такие тесты можно получить бесплатно в одном из 67 государственных центров по профилактике и борьбе со ВИЧ во всех регионах Таджикистана.
В дополнение к тестированию через кровь в Центрах СПИД, сегодня доступно самотестирование с использованием околодесновой жидкости. Наборы для самотестирования можно получить в городах Душанбе, Рудаки, Худжанд и Б.Гафуров через онлайн-заказ на сайте hivtest.tj.
Процесс заказа включает заполнение простой формы с несколькими вопросами. Эта платформа помогает людям на конфиденциальной основе узнать свой ВИЧ-статус и предоставляет актуальную информацию о методах защиты и профилактики.
Те, у кого тест на ВИЧ оказался положительным, могут узнать о своем результате подробнее и пройти повторное подтверждающее тестирование в Центре СПИД.

«У нас был случай с женщиной с положительным ВИЧ статусом, – рассказывает Баладжон Давлатов, – после лечение антиретровирусными препаратами она родила двоих детей с отрицательным ВИЧ-статусом. Сейчас она живёт в России, и мы отправляем ей нужные медикаменты и даём консультации».
Это доказывает, что ВИЧ инфицированные люди могут рожать здоровых детей и полноценно жить.

Заражение ВИЧ другого человека – это преступление

Однако положительный ВИЧ-статус может нести определенные риски, которые связаны не только с состоянием здоровья. Если человек знает, что у него положительный ВИЧ-статус, но скрывает это от своего сексуального партнера, то в рамках статьи 120 Кодекса об административных правонарушениях (КоАП) РТ ему могут выписать штраф от 720 до 1440 сомони.

За уклонение от лечения от ВИЧ или других инфекционных заболеваний тоже выписывается штраф от 1440 до 2160 сомони. Эта ответственность предусмотрена статьей 119 КоАП.
Если человек умышленно заражает другого ВИЧ, он может быть наказан ограничением свободы до 3 лет или лишением свободы до 2 лет. Если, зная о своем ВИЧ-статусе, он заразил другого человека, ему может грозить от 2 до 5 лет тюрьмы. Срок лишения свободы может быть больше – от 5 до 10 лет, если было заражено более одного человека или жертвой стало несовершеннолетнее лицо. Это наказание предусматривается уже в статье 125 Уголовного кодекса РТ, что характеризует эти действия не как правонарушение, а как уголовное преступление.
Поэтому очень важно периодически сдавать анализы и проверять свой статус, особенно, если человек находится в группе риска.

UK: Court weighs privacy and fair trial rights in disclosure of HIV status in family care case

Disclosure of HIV status in public law care proceedings

Disclosure of HIV status in public law care proceedings: the court’s approach to the inextricable link between one party’s right to privacy and another party’s right to fair trial

Summary:

In this law report, Darnell Lawrence, intern at Wilson Solicitors LLP and Alexandra Wilks, Senior Associate in Family Department, review the case of London Borough of Barking & Dagenham and (1) RM (2) LS (3() The Children (via Guardian), which was a case which, on appeal, came before the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew Macfarlane, in March 2023.

During the course of care proceedings, the court had to grapple with a thought-provoking and finely balanced analysis of a mother’s article 8 rights to privacy and the fathers right to information in proceedings relating to the welfare of their children.

The need for care proceedings initially arose due to concerns about the mother’s alcohol use whilst the children were in her care.

During the care proceedings, an issue emerged as to whether the mother’s HIV positive status should be disclosed to the father. The mother had been HIV positive since birth, having inherited the condition from her own mother. Her condition had been treated positively for some time and was managed well by her use of anti-viral medication and regular testing. The children, who were not HIV positive, had from time to time, been tested, albeit the father was not aware. However, in October 2022 during the proceedings, it was considered the mother’s HIV status should be disclosed to the father. This issue was then considered on appeal before the President.

The starting point arose from the mothers right to her private life under Art.8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The court noted the highly personal nature of the mother’s medical information, and that this should attract substantial weight. There was also recognition of the mother’s justifiable fears of the consequences of the father learning of her HIV positive status and how he would respond to this, and in particular her fears as to how this information may be perceived and treated in her wider community.

The court noted the approach to be taken before the enactment of Human Rights Act, in Re D (Minors) (Adoption Reports: Confidentiality) [1996] AC 593 in which Lord Mustill stated;

‘Non-disclosure should be the exception and not the rule. The court should be rigorous in its examination of the risk and gravity of the feared harm to the child and should order non-disclosure only when the case for doing so is compelling.’

At that stage, the focus was on the interests of the children, however In Re B (Disclosure to Other Parties) [2001] 2 FLR, Munby J enumerated principles to be considered in balancing the interests of all parties, but essentially noted:

“Non-disclosure can be justified only when the case for doing so is….’compelling’ or where it is…’strictly necessary’ “.

In this case, the court took a pragmatic approach and concluded that the information relating to the Mother’s HIV status had to be disclosed to all parties, including the Father. The court’s reasoning on this matter goes to the children’s welfare and whether the information was ‘relevant’ and material to the care proceedings.

On balance it was considered this was relevant information which needed to be shared with the father, who held parental responsibility for the children. He would therefore have to be involved in monitoring the HIV status of his children, in case they were to be HIV positive. The court also noted the need for the mother’s health to be protected by way of regular monitoring and regular taking of her medication. The judgment does however highlight that had this information not been considered as ‘relevant’ then the mother’s right to privacy would have taken precedence.

Global experts converge in Munich to share strategies on HIV criminalisation at AIDS 2024 pre-conference

AIDS 2024: Activists and experts debate tactics to combat HIV criminalisation

Translated with DEEPL. For article in Portuguese, please scroll down.

On Sunday (21), during the AIDS 2024 Pre-Conference in Munich, Germany, a group of experts from the United Kingdom, Mexico and the United States met for a crucial dialogue on the criminalisation of HIV. The panel, entitled “Everything you ever wanted to know about challenging the criminalisation of HIV: HIV Justice Network”, was moderated by Julian Hows, from the HIV Justice Network, an organisation that works to build a coordinated global response against punitive laws and policies that affect people living with HIV.

HIV criminalisation refers to the inappropriate use of criminal law to punish individuals on the basis of their HIV-positive status. This includes a range of acts, such as not disclosing one’s HIV status, potential exposure to the virus, soliciting sex while HIV positive, as well as practices such as spitting, biting, donating blood or breastfeeding.

This criminalisation not only intensifies the stigma associated with the virus, but can also limit people’s access to health services, damaging the relationship between them and the health professionals who treat them. It also creates a false sense of security, leading many to believe that laws offer protection, which is not actually the case.

The global movement to combat this criminalisation, led by HIV Justice Worldwide, aims to transform the discourse on HIV, share information and resources, and strengthen advocacy. The fight is fundamental to guaranteeing justice and human rights for everyone living with the virus.

Edwin Bernard, executive director of HIV Justice Network, highlighted a serious concern: “The US repealed its HIV-specific law at the end of the 20th century, but is now using a number of problematic laws”. He mentioned a shocking case of a homeless man with HIV sentenced to 35 years in prison for spitting at a police officer, a situation in which his saliva was considered a deadly weapon. Bernard stressed the need to understand the applicable laws for an effective defence.

Robert Suttle, from The Elizabeth Taylor AidsFoundation, shared his personal experience of criminalisation. “As a black, gay man living with HIV, I was registered as a sex offender for 15 years in Louisiana,” said Suttle. He pointed out that many newly diagnosed people are unaware of the risk of criminalisation because the focus of advocacy is mainly on prevention and biomedical treatment.

Sofía Varguez, from the HIV Justice Network in Mexico, gave an overview of the situation in Latin America and the Caribbean. “In our region, 26 countries have laws that criminalise HIV. We have registered 157 cases of criminalisation in 23 of the 32 countries in the region, including Brazil,” said Varguez. She also mentioned successes in repealing these laws, such as in Colombia, where a law student succeeded in having the law ruled unconstitutional.

Ricardo Hung, director of Alianza Lambda de Venezuela, brought a worrying perspective from his country with the rise of neo-Pentecostalism in public organisations. “In Venezuela, the government is trying to informally change the law to criminalise people with HIV, with the support of the Ministry of Health,” Hung revealed. He asked for materials to help educate and raise awareness about the criminalisation of HIV in his nation.

The event also covered tools and strategies developed by the HIV Justice Network and partners in the HIV Justice Worldwide coalition, offering valuable resources for initiating and sustaining HIV decriminalisation campaigns. The hope is that participants will feel motivated to use and share these tools and engage in the quest for justice for all people living with the virus.

To close, Julian Hows invited everyone to explore the HIV Justice Academy portal, a free global hub of learning and resources, available to beginners and experts alike. The portal, accessible in English, Spanish, Russian and French, is designed to help everyone join the movement to end the criminalisation of HIV. To access it, click here.

Aids 2024: Ativistas e especialistas debatem leis discriminatórias e táticas para combater a criminalização do HIV

Nesse domingo (21), durante a pré-Conferência da Aids 2024 em Munique, Alemanha, um grupo de especialistas do Reino Unido, México e Estados Unidos se encontrou para um diálogo crucial sobre a criminalização do HIV. O painel, intitulado “Tudo o que você sempre quis saber sobre desafiar a criminalização do HIV: HIV Justice Network”, foi moderado por Julian Hows, diretor da HIV Justice Network, uma organização que trabalha para construir uma resposta global coordenada contra leis e políticas punitivas que afetam pessoas vivendo com HIV.

A criminalização do HIV refere-se ao uso inadequado da lei penal para punir indivíduos com base no seu status HIV positivo. Isso inclui uma série de atos, como não revelar o status sorológico, potencial exposição ao vírus, solicitar sexo sendo positivo para HIV, além de práticas como cuspir, morder, doar sangue ou amamentar.

Essa criminalização não só intensifica o estigma associado ao vírus, mas também pode limitar o acesso das pessoas a serviços de saúde, prejudicando a relação entre elas e os profissionais de saúde que as atendem. Além disso, gera uma falsa sensação de segurança, fazendo com que muitos acreditem que as leis oferecem proteção, o que na verdade não é o caso.

O movimento global para combater essa criminalização, liderado pela HIV Justice Worldwide, visa transformar o discurso sobre o HIV, compartilhar informações e recursos, e fortalecer a advocacy. A luta é fundamental para garantir justiça e direitos humanos para todos que vivem com o vírus.

Edwin Bernard, diretor executivo da HIV Justice Network, destacou uma preocupação grave: “Os EUA revogaram sua lei específica para o HIV no final do século XX, mas agora estão usando diversas leis problemáticas”. Ele mencionou um caso chocante de um homem sem-teto com HIV condenado a 35 anos de prisão por cuspir em um policial, uma situação em que sua saliva foi considerada uma arma mortal. Bernard ressaltou a necessidade de compreender as leis aplicáveis para uma defesa eficaz.

Robert Suttle, da The Elizabeth Taylor AidsFoundation, compartilhou sua experiência pessoal com a criminalização. “Como homem negro, gay e vivendo com HIV, fui registrado como agressor sexual por 15 anos na Louisiana”, contou Suttle. Ele destacou que muitas pessoas recém-diagnosticadas desconhecem o risco de criminalização, pois o foco da advocacia está principalmente na prevenção e no tratamento biomédico.

Sofía Varguez, da HIV Justice Network no México, apresentou um panorama da situação na América Latina e no Caribe. “Na nossa região, 26 países têm leis que criminalizam o HIV. Registramos 157 casos de criminalização em 23 dos 32 países da região, entre eles o Brasil”, disse Varguez. Ela também mencionou sucessos na revogação dessas leis, como na Colômbia, onde um estudante de direito conseguiu que a lei fosse considerada inconstitucional.

Ricardo Hung, diretor da Alianza Lambda de Venezuela, trouxe uma perspectiva preocupante de seu país com a ascensão do neopentecostalismo nos órgãos públicos. “Na Venezuela, o governo está tentando mudar informalmente a lei para criminalizar as pessoas com HIV, com o apoio do Ministério da Saúde”, revelou Hung. Ele pediu materiais para ajudar na educação e na sensibilização sobre a criminalização do HIV em sua nação.

O evento também abordou ferramentas e estratégias desenvolvidas pela HIV Justice Network e parceiros da coalizão HIV Justice Worldwide, oferecendo recursos valiosos para iniciar e sustentar campanhas de descriminalização do HIV. A esperança é que os participantes se sintam motivados a utilizar e compartilhar essas ferramentas e se engajar na busca por justiça para todas as pessoas que vivem com o vírus.

Para encerrar, Julian Hows convidou todos a explorar o portal HIV Justice Academy, um hub global gratuito de aprendizado e recursos, disponível para iniciantes e especialistas. O portal, acessível em inglês, espanhol, russo e francês, foi desenvolvido para ajudar a todos a se unirem ao movimento para acabar com a criminalização do HIV. Para acessar, clique aqui.

Marina Vergueiro (marina@agenciaaids.com.br)

Meet HJN at AIDS 2024

Starting this coming weekend, and continuing until Friday 26th, seven HJN team members will join an estimated 15,000 participants at the 25th International AIDS Conference in Munich to advocate for the rights and health equity of people living with HIV globally.

We are grateful to our scholarship providers and funders for making it possible for so many of us to attend AIDS 2024. We are mindful of the many individuals who have been unjustly denied visas to enter Germany and know we are privileged to be able to attend in person.

We’ll do our very best to make sure that everyone’s voices are heard, both at our sessions and at others’.

If you are also fortunate enough to be in Munich, please come and say hello, and tell us about your work and how we might support each other in the global struggle for HIV justice.

Sunday 21st July

11:30am-12:30pm. LIVING Pre-Conference Workshop: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Challenging HIV Criminalisation: The HIV Justice Academy. Room 13b/Channel 7. This interactive session, featuring most of the HJN team, HJN’s Global Advisory Panel (GAP) member, Robert Suttle, and Sero’s Andy Tapia, covers the realities of HIV criminalisation and strategies to challenge unjust laws.

Monday 22nd July

1:00pm-2:30pm. Global Village Workshop: Denied, Discriminated Against, and Deported: The Global Realities of Migration, Mobility, and Health Equity for People Living with HIV. Global Village Session Room 2. This workshop, co-hosted by HJN, Queensland Positive People, NAPWHA and hivtravel.org addresses HIV-related travel restrictions and advocates for global change, featuring the latest status on HIV migration worldwide from HJN GAP member, David Haerry.

Tuesday 23rd July

12:00pm-1:00pm. Poster Presentation, Prepared for Action: Lessons Learned from the First Year of the HIV Justice Academy presented by HJN’s Sofia Varguez.

3:00pm-4:00pm. Symposium: Equity in Focus: Tackling Inequalities, Room 13a/Channel 6. This session highlights the role of community-led organisations in challenging criminalisation, discrimination and inequalities. HJN’s Edwin Bernard will speak on “Legal Landscapes: The Influence of Legislation on the Lives and Rights of the HIV Community”.

Wednesday 24th July

8:30am-10:00am. Plenary session: Addressing structural barriers: How can we do better? Hall C1/Channel 1. This morning plenary session includes HJN GAP member, Michaela Clayton, presenting “Breaking Barriers: Challenging HIV Criminalization to Counter Inequalities”.

[Rescheduled from Tuesday] 12:00pm-12:30pm. Discussion: U=U in HIV Decriminalisation Advocacy, U=University Networking Zone, Global Village, Featuring a conversation between HJN’s Edwin Bernard, and Kamaria Laffrey and Andy Tapia of the Sero Project.

2:30pm-4:30pm. Workshop: Getting Decriminalisation Right: What do good laws look like? Room 14a/Channel 9. This workshop from UNAIDS, UNDP and GNP+ will facilitate knowledge exchange on good practices in decriminalisation in relation to HIV outcomes and includes HJN’s Edwin Bernard and HJN GAP member, Alexander McClelland.

Thursday 25th July

12.00pm-1.00pm. Poster presentations. HJN team members Sylvie Beaumont, Elliot Hatt and Sofia Varguez will present four posters: Global Trends in HIV Criminalisation; The Relevance of Gender to Potential or Perceived HIV ‘Exposure’ Charges in HIV Criminalisation Cases; The ABCs of HIV Law Reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: Case Studies on HIV (De)criminalisation in Argentina, Belize, and Colombia; and Challenging Coercion and Misplaced Punishment: HIV and Infant Feeding Choices.

3:00pm-4:00pm: Workshop: Doing HIV Justice in Europe. Global Village 555 Zone. This workshop, led by HJN’s Julian Hows and featuring most of the HJN team, will focus on HIV decriminalisation advocacy across the WHO Europe region.

All Week (Sunday-Thursday)

Global HIV Migration, Global Village Exhibition Booth ADO4

This booth has been designed to capture a short video in a safe and secure space for anyone to tell us their story about travelling or relocating with HIV with a highly experienced film maker, HJN’s video and visuals consultant, Nicholas Feustel. Co-hosted by HJN, Queensland Positive People, NAPWHA and hivtravel.org.

US: CHLP and Oklahoma advocates successfully oppose sweeping STI criminalisation Bill

STI Criminalization Bill stopped in Oklahoma

CHLP collaborates with advocates in Oklahoma to oppose a bill that would have criminalized thousands of Oklahomans living with sexually transmitted infections.

The recent adjournment of the legislative session for the 59th Oklahoma Legislature marked the end of House Bill 3098 (HB 3098), which would have dramatically increased the number of health conditions criminalized under Oklahoma law.

The existing statute, Oklahoma Statutes Title 21 Section 1192 (Section 1192), imposes felony punishment, including a two-to-five-year prison sentence, on people living with smallpox, syphilis, or gonorrhea who intentionally or recklessly “spread or cause to be spread to any other persons . . . such infectious disease.” HB3098 would have added Hepatitis B virus, genital herpes, Human Papillomavirus (HPV), and Trichomoniasis to the list of criminalized conditions, potentially opening up more than 85% of the population to criminalization.

CHLP’s Positive Justice Project, including Staff Attorneys Jada Hicks and Sean McCormick and National Community Outreach Coordinator Kytara Epps, worked collaboratively with local and national advocates to oppose the legislation. Local efforts were led by Nicole McAfee, Executive Director of Freedom Oklahoma.

In testimony with the House Judiciary – Criminal Committee, CHLP emphasized that the bill would criminalize nearly all Oklahomans and worsen criminal legal system disparities for Black, Latine, Indigenous, and 2SLGBTQ+ Oklahomans.

CHLP also met with the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) to broaden national awareness of the issue. In a state policy notice, NCSD noted the bill would potentially worsen barriers to STI testing and treatment and undermine efforts to expand expedited partner therapy. Oklahoma already has some of the highest diagnosis rates for sexually transmitted infections, including the fourth-highest rate of primary and secondary syphilis and the fifth-highest rate of congenital syphilis.

Hicks and McCormick also provided a virtual briefing to the members of the Oklahoma Senate Minority Caucus, offering talking points and countering the argument made by the bill’s sponsor Rep. Toni Hasenbeck that the legislation would reduce intimate partner violence.

“Laws that criminalize people living with STIs likely worsen the threat of intimate partner violence by providing another tool for abusers to force people to stay in abusive relationships,” observed McCormick. “We continue to hear stories from people living with STIs whose partners threaten to file a police report alleging a violation of an STI criminalization statute. The possibility of criminal prosecution and public disclosure of their status causes many survivors to stay in abusive relationships.”

Hicks addressed misinformation about the statute criminalizing only intentional transmission. “Under Section 1192 people who ‘recklessly [are] responsible’ for transmitting these conditions could face prosecution, but the term ‘recklessness’ is not defined in the statute, which poses significant risks of broad and subjective interpretations,” she explained. “Rather than promoting public health, it instills fear and discourages people from getting tested or disclosing their health status. We believe in education and support, not punishment, as the path to managing communicable diseases effectively.”

In addition to opposing HB 3098, the Oklahoma coalition worked with Rep. Mauree Turner to introduce House Bill 4139, which would have repealed four statutes that criminalize people living with certain medical conditions, including Section 1192. The bill would have also allowed individuals convicted of these offenses to apply for resentencing and records expungement.

“While the repeal legislation was unsuccessful, the defeat of HB 3098 prevented a more hostile environment for people living with or affected by stigmatized conditions,” said Epps. “The collaborative HB 3098 efforts are also a shining example of how local and national advocates come together to disrupt criminalization. We look forward to continuing to work with Oklahoma advocates and fighting against the ongoing criminalization of people living with stigmatized conditions.”

HJN’s Executive Director’s remarks at the UNAIDS Board Meeting on the sustainability of the HIV response

UNAIDS Programme Coordination Board (PCB) Thematic Meeting on the Sustainability of HIV Response

Round Table 1: The context and urgency of sustainability planning and response

Remarks from Edwin J Bernard, Executive Director, HIV Justice Network, Netherlands on community leadership to address human rights barriers

I am a gay man who acquired HIV 41 years ago in 1983. It was a significant year in other ways too:

HIV was first identified as the cause of AIDS
WHO held its first global AIDS meeting
Richard Berkowitz and Michael Callen published ‘how to have sex in an epidemic’ inventing condom-based safer sex
And a small group of people living with AIDS became the first community leaders in the HIV response, creating the Denver Principles, the blueprint for GIPA and MIPA principles now embedded in UNAIDS’ approach to community leadership to address human rights barriers.

Communities involve many different groups, working locally, nationally, regionally and globally. We are communities of women, men and youth living with HIV in all our diversities, as well as communities of gay men and other men who have sex with men, communities of sex workers, communities of transgender people, communities of people who use drugs. We are the key populations

And then there are communities of allies – human rights defenders who understand that public health is human rights and vice versa.

Despite member states committing to removing these human rights barriers in the 2021 Political Declaration – the 10-10-10 targets – we are far from getting anywhere close to achieving these targets because there are still far too many human rights barriers.

These are far too numerous to list, but they include gender inequality and gender-based violence; discrimination when receiving healthcare, in the workplace, in education, and in humanitarian settings; not being able to enter or migrate to a country of which you are not a citizen because of your HIV status; and the growing number of countries with so called ‘foreign agent’ laws that are closing civic space and stifling community leadership.

On top of these, every single member state criminalises one or more of the key populations, fully or partially, and 79 countries have HIV-specific criminal laws that unjustly criminalise HIV non-disclosure, exposure or unintentional transmission.

Ending HIV criminalisation is the focus of my organisation, the HIV Justice Network, and the global HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE coalition that we co-ordinate.

We can do this work thanks primarily to the Robert Carr Fund, which recognises the importance of community-led regional and global networks and our key role in addressing human rights barriers impacting the HIV response.

Dismantling discriminatory systems that have been built over decades and that oppress people living with and affected by HIV takes time and money – and needs community leadership.

So, if sustainability means a move to country-led integrated health systems, this will also mean that all the criminalised and marginalised people I’ve just mentioned will be even more left behind than they currently are.

But there’s a cheap and simple solution: decriminalisation!

A 2022 study from the Alliance for Public Health found that cost savings from decriminalisation of drug use could greatly reduce HIV transmission through increased coverage of opioid agonist therapy and antiretroviral therapy among people who use drugs in eastern Europe and central Asia.

Another 2022 study, from the Williams Institute, on the enforcement of HIV criminalisation laws in Tennessee of so called ‘aggravated prostitution’ – when a sex worker arrested for soliciting is found to be living with HIV – and criminal HIV ‘exposure’ – when a person living with HIV is prosecuted for allegedly not disclosing their HIV status before sex that may or may not risk transmission – estimated that the total cost of incarceration in prison for these unjust HIV-related crimes was $3.8 million.

And a 2021 study found that decriminalising sex work in Washington DC would generate over USD 5000 paid in income taxes by each sex worker – because sex work is work, after all! – plus more than USD20,000 in criminal legal system savings per sex worker a year.

If you decriminalise you not only save money you also ensure that every single person living with, or affected by HIV, gets the HIV services they need.

Following the science and basing laws and policies on public health and not morality or stigma saves money.

So, member states, if you just stop wasting money on ineffective, counterproductive criminalisation and invest in proven treatment and prevention programmes, sustainability of the HIV response is within sight.

To get to 2030, and beyond, to end AIDS as a public health threat, we need to ensure that we don’t forget the dignity and rights of people living with and affected by HIV – easy to cut funding for, and hard to measure – and make sure that we include ending all of forms of HIV-related stigma, discrimination and criminalisation and strive for all forms of equality and empowerment.

In the drafting room on Tuesday, the NGO Delegation added criminalisation to the list that included stigma and discrimination, but the final draft you will vote on later today no longer includes mention of criminalisation as a barrier to testing. I implore you commit to ensure that my recommendation to decriminalise to sustain the HIV response is included in any and all decision points that will come out of this meeting.

Key messages summary

Human rights, gender justice and all the other10-10-10 societal enabler targets are essential, non-negotiable aspects of sustainability.
Community leadership is essential to reach 2030 and to sustain the HIV response beyond that date.
Don’t underestimate – or create more barriers for – communities. We are the experts in understanding what is needed to successfully achieve the end of AIDS.
Support communities by funding us, including replenishing the Robert Carr Fund.
The single most cost-effective intervention for every member state is to decriminalise, decriminalise, decriminalise!

Powerful and important new book, ‘Criminalized Lives’ published this week

This week sees the publication of a powerful and important new book, Criminalized Lives.

Based on 24 interviews conducted across Canada over two years with 16 people who were criminally accused of not disclosing their HIV-positive status, author Alexander McClelland, details the many complexities of disclosure, and the violence that results from being criminalised.

McClelland, who is living with HIV, works as a criminologist at Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada. He is also a member of HJN’s Global Advisory Panel (GAP) and the Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization.

Canada has long been a hot spot for HIV criminalisation where the act of not disclosing one’s HIV-positive status to sex partners has historically been regarded as a serious criminal offence. The book describes how this approach has disproportionately harmed Black and Indigenous people, women, gay men, and the poor.

While the book focuses on Canada, it presents lessons for those of us working around the world to end HIV criminalisation, especially in contexts where general criminal laws – like bodily harm, sexual assault and even attempted murder – are being applied to instances of alleged HIV non-disclosure.

Accompanied by a foreword by fellow HJN GAP member, US-based leading HIV criminalisation activist Robert Suttle, and portraits from queer comic artist Eric Kostiuk Williams, the book’s moving interviews illustrate that criminal legal systems are unprepared to handle the nuances and ethical dilemmas faced everyday by people living with HIV.

By offering personal stories of people who have faced criminalisation first-hand, McClelland questions common assumptions about HIV, the role of punishment, and the violence that results from the criminal legal system’s legacy of categorising people as either victims or perpetrators, and the complicity of public health systems in processes of criminalisation.

The book is distributed internationally via Rutgers University Press where you can purchase paperback, hardback, and ebook versions.

Five things you can do to amplify Criminalized Lives:

Ask your local library to carry the book.
Host a conversation on the book in your community to help mobilise for change.
Share your thoughts about the book on social media to generate conversations about the harms of HIV criminalisation.
Review the book in a publication or online.
Include the book in a course syllabus.

Civil society statement on the proposed re-criminalisation of HIV in Zimbabwe

Download this statement as a pdf

In 2022, the Government of Zimbabwe was celebrated nationally and internationally for repealing the country’s HIV-specific criminal law, Section 79 of the Criminal Code.

When announcing the repeal in Parliament, Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs noted: “…the global thinking now is that that law stigmatises people living with HIV and studies have shown that it does not produce the intended results. What the ministry is going to do is to repeal that section of the law and ensure that we keep up to speed with modern trends in the world.”

HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE is shocked, saddened and extremely disappointed that only two years later, the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs is now proposing to re-criminalise HIV by adding HIV to the list of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) currently criminalised in Section 78 of the Criminal Code.

That they are proposing to do so as part of the Criminal Laws Amendment (Protection of Children and Young Persons) Bill is both cynical and unwarranted. Amendments to the Criminal Code are meant to codify the Supreme Court decision on the age of consent to sex. Amending Section 78 of the Criminal Code to re-criminalise HIV is out-of-step with the 2021 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS agreed on by UN Member States, including Zimbabwe. Of note, Section 80 of the Criminal Code already provides for aggravated sentencing in cases of exposure to HIV during “sexual intercourse or performing an indecent act with a young person.”

Section 78, like the repealed Section 79, criminalises anyone who “does anything or causes or permits anything to be done with the intention or realising that there is a real risk or possibility of infecting any other person with” syphilis, gonorrhoea, herpes and “all other forms of sexually transmitted diseases”. It is overly broad and extremely vague.

Adding HIV to this already problematic provision would be a retrograde and harmful step backwards for the following reasons:

Criminalisation does not prevent HIV or STI transmission. Communicable diseases – including those that are sexually transmitted – are public health issues, not criminal issues and criminalisation is not an evidence-based response to public health issues. As UNAIDS noted in its 2022 press release congratulating Zimbabwe for repealing the HIV criminalisation law: “The criminalisation of HIV transmission is ineffective, discriminatory and undermines efforts to reduce new HIV infections. Such laws actively discourage people from getting tested for HIV and from being referred to the appropriate treatment and prevention services.”
The criminalisation of HIV and other STIs can violate human rights. Such laws and prosecutions threaten the rights of people living with HIV, and other STIs, to equality, freedom from discrimination, privacy, human dignity, health, liberty, and the right to a fair trial, amongst others. Based on the HIV Justice Network’s monitoring of how people living with HIV were prosecuted previously under Section 79, we believe that the criminal justice system is not well equipped to understand the science of exposure and transmission of HIV or other STIs and would therefore be unable to uphold principles of legal and judicial fairness, including the key criminal law principles of legality, foreseeability, intent, causality, proportionality and proof. Overly broad criminalisation of HIV and STIs means people with HIV or STIs risk being prosecuted and sent to prison instead of receiving care for their medical condition.
The criminalisation of HIV and other STIs can increase stigma and harm public health. This is particularly so because prosecutions are often accompanied by highly stigmatising and inaccurate media reporting. By increasing stigma and driving people away from testing and healthcare services, criminalisation may therefore also prevent or delay people from accessing testing and treatment. Effective HIV and/or STI treatment not only allows people living with HIV or other STIs to lead longer, healthier lives, but also prevents HIV and STI transmission.
Criminalisation harms women. In Zimbabwe, as in many African countries, HIV criminal laws have been disproportionately applied against women living with HIV. Women are usually the first to know of their HIV status, often due to accessing testing during antenatal care. Being the first to test positive, women may be vulnerable to being falsely blamed for bringing HIV into the relationship. Women living with HIV are also vulnerable to violence and abuse in intimate relationships and the threat of prosecution only increases that vulnerability.

Rather than adding HIV to Section 78, this provision should be repealed. This would contribute to enhancing Zimbabwe’s HIV and STI response in line with a human rights-affirming approach to health that is mandated by the Constitution and recommended by public health and human rights experts internationally and regionally.

The Health Law and Policy Consortium agrees with the HJWW coalition:

Reintroducing the punitive criminalisation of HIV transmission is counterproductive as it undermines national health objectives and the global target of ending HIV and AIDS by 2030. It will be tantamount to reenacting state endorsed stigma that will inevitably flow from the criminalisation. This amendment not only jeopardises the progress made through the successful repeal of Section 79 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act, it threatens current efforts underway to prevent the spread of HIV as it reintroduces a driver for new infections of HIV. The proposed amendment creates a formidable legal barrier that will severely undermine full access to essential healthcare services. It will deter individuals from seeking regular HIV testing, adhering to HIV treatment and medication, and disclosing their HIV status to enable their sexual partners to take preventive measures such as PrEP.

Sonke Gender Justice also agrees with the above and adds the following:

It is Sonke’s considered view that the reintroduction of the impugned provisions providing for the criminalisation of HIV in Zimbabwe will harm rights of women. The amendment of Section 78 of the Criminal Code on sexually transmitted diseases to include HIV will bring back the narrative of unjust arrests and prosecutions. Under this new provision, women tested as HIV-positive will face prosecution and eventual violence. Criminalisation of HIV reinforces gender barriers to accessing treatment, care and support for women who test HIV-positive, driving them underground, unable to disclose their status to the detriment of family health resulting in infant HIV acquisition, ART non-adherence for both the mother and infant. Criminalisation of HIV impairs public health goals that seek to promote health rights of women leading to poor health outcomes and HIV related health disparities.

HJWW, HLPC and Sonke conclude that re-criminalising HIV, as well the existing criminalisation of STIs, is a threat to Zimbabwe’s HIV and SRHR response and to the rights, security and dignity of people living with HIV, particularly women living with HIV.

Section 78 is vague and overly broad and risks being applied in a way that is unjust and discriminatory. It will not prevent HIV or STI transmission, instead perpetuating stigma and misinformation, risking driving people away from HIV and STI testing and treatment and filling prisons.

About the authors of this statement

HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE is a coalition of 16 global and regional civil society networks and human rights defenders working to end HIV criminalisation.

Health Law and Policy Consortium (HLPC) is a health policy advocacy organisation leveraging a network of experts across various disciplines. HLPC aims to facilitate rights-based policy formulation, implementation, and monitoring within Zimbabwe’s public health system.

Sonke Gender Justice is a South African-based non-profit organisation working throughout Africa. Sonke believes women and men, girls and boys can work together to resist patriarchy, advocate for gender justice and achieve gender transformation.

Download this statement as a pdf