Register now for ARASA’s Online HIV Criminalisation Course in June-July 2017

Next month, ARASA will host an short online course on HIV criminalisation for civil society, policymakers, religious leaders, healthcare providers and law enforcement officials.

The course is free, takes place in English, willl last six weeks (5 June 2017 – 14 July 2017) and will require four hours a week commitment.

This online course will introduce participants to information about the criminalisation of HIV transmission, exposure and non-disclosure – often referred to as ‘HIV criminalisation’ – and the negative impact it has on the human rights of people living with HIV and key populations and on universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

Human rights experts argue that most countries already have criminal laws, such as the laws against assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, that can be used to deal with intentional transmission of HIV and therefore there is no need to create new laws to deal specifically with HIV.

During the course, participants will:

  • Learn how to identify harmful HIV laws, including cases which have been recorded showing the impact of laws which criminalise people living with HIV.
  • Master the foundational steps and best practices.
  • Implement and support strategies to remove laws which harm people living with HIV.

The focus is on providing knowledge and skills so that participants can identify harmful HIV-specific laws and advocate for the removal of these laws. The online short course will share the current status-quo of laws which criminalise people living with HIV, including other resources that aim to strengthen your advocacy.

This course will strengthen participants’ understanding of:

  • How do HIV-specific laws criminalise those people living with HIV,  further affecting those most vulnerable such as women and key populations
  • How cases are being brought against the most affected populations, thus reversing the current successes made in HIV 
  • How does HIV criminalisation affect YOUR community, and what can you do about it?

How to Apply:

Kindly send ARASA the following:

1. A one page letter of motivation, setting out why you feel that you would benefit from participating in the short  course (Please outline how you will use the skills acquired during the course in your own country advocacy);

2. Your resume / CV;

3. A letter of support from the organisation you are currently working with / affiliated to.

Applications should be submitted by email to Bruce Tushabe at bruce(at)arasa.info  (and copy Lynette Mabote at lynette(at)arasa.info ).

All applications must be received by no later than close of business 22 May 2017. Kindly note that applications received after the closing date will not be considered. Successful applicants will be notified by no later than 1 June 2017. Should you not receive any feedback from us by 3 June 2017 kindly consider your application unsuccessful.

US: Louisiana "AIDS exposure" law is outdated and perpetuates stigma

Is Louisiana’s ‘AIDS exposure’ statute outdated? Advocates say it adds to stigma

Richard Covington was accused earlier this year of breaking into the house of someone who apparently owed him money and then fighting the resident. During the scuffle, Covington allegedly bit the man’s arm.

In addition to a charge of home invasion, the Baton Rouge Police Department booked 48-year-old Covington on the charge of “intentional exposure to AIDS,” a statute added to the books in Louisiana in 1987.

East Baton Rouge Attorney Hillar Moore recently said his office isn’t pursuing the AIDS exposure charge against Covington, mostly because it’s difficult — if not impossible — to prove if a bite would threaten the transmission of HIV.

Mark Alain Dery, an assistant professor of clinical medicine at Tulane University who runs the school’s AIDS clinic in New Orleans, said the chance of a bite exposing someone to the virus that can lead to AIDS is “very, very highly unlikely.” The biter would have to have bloody gums and break the skin to affect blood-to-blood exposure.

Moreover, Dery said, the language in the statute Covington was charged with is “scientifically inaccurate,” and the law perpetuates harmful stigmas against people living with AIDS.

“You can’t transmit AIDS, period,” he said. “What’s transmitted is a virus.”

HIV is the transmittable virus that can spread from person-to-person. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, is a condition resulting from a low count of T-cells, which is caused by untreated HIV. T-cells are white blood cells that fight disease as part of the body’s immune response.

The law was written at a time, Dery said, when the science behind HIV and AIDS was “poorly understood, if understood at all.”

ACLU of Louisiana Executive Director Marjorie Esman said laws involving the “criminalization of HIV and AIDS” are problematic, and movements are afoot across the country to address them. In Louisiana, she said, advocates are in the early stages of looking into the best legislative solution.

Esman noted that with advances in medicine, people with AIDS and people who are HIV-positive can “live very long lives” if the virus is properly treated. Dery said patients who treat their HIV with medication sometimes effectively lower their viral loads so they become undetectable, though there is still some risk of transmission.

“At one time, full-blown AIDs was a death sentence,” Esman said. “It’s not anymore.”

AIDS and HIV laws were adopted in the 1980s and early 1990s amidst a fear of the growing, seemingly lethal condition that had limited remedies at the time, Dery said. Now that AIDS is less deadly than once feared, the existing laws are “far more punitive” than they should be.

Moore, who serves as president of the Louisiana District Attorney’s Association, said there are potential scenarios in which it might be appropriate to apply the statute, including those when prosecutors can prove someone intentionally and successfully transmitted the virus.

He said, however, that the “vast majority” of cases they’ve received from police involving the charge “have been non-prosecutable.”

“Officers and deputies are just not familiar with the science and what is actually considered (when applying) the statute,” Moore said.

Baton Rouge Police Department spokesman Cpl. Don Coppola said in an interview last month that officers will continue to enforce the AIDS exposure law as it’s written. He added, though, that the department’s legal division is diligent about updating officers regarding changes to or constitutional problems with existing laws.

Another case involving Louisiana’s AIDS statute surfaced in August in St. James Parish, where authorities allege 31-year-old Barlon Cammon intentionally exposed a teenage victim to HIV. He was also booked on a charge of carnal knowledge of a juvenile.

In February, A Baton Rouge man was arrested after his girlfriend allegedly told Baton Rouge police her live-in-boyfriend exclaimed during an altercation, “That’s why I gave you AIDS.” Norris Wyatt, then 38, was charged with intentional exposure to AIDS. He was already on probation at the time for the same charge stemming from a previous incident.

The statute has also been used at least seven times over the 10 or so years in East Baton Rouge Parish when the arrestee was accused of spreading HIV by spitting, according to a 2014 report from The Advocate. Even though the statute specifically defines spitting as a “means of contact,” under which the law can apply, Dery — along with the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — note that HIV is not transmitted through saliva.

Dery noted that police sometimes tack the “AIDS exposure” charge onto a list of other charges, which can drive up jail bonds or grabs news media headlines, even if the charge is never prosecuted.

“The gross lack of confidentiality violates all medical ethics and public health practice standards,” he said.

He further noted that criminalizing AIDS and HIV adds to the stigma of shame for those living with the virus or condition. “It drives people from knowing what their status is, from getting HIV tested.”

Perpetuating the AIDS stigma, then, could have dangerous consequences: One in five people who have HIV don’t know they have it, Dery said. And those 20 percent are believed to be responsible for between 60-to-80 percent of HIV transmissions.

Noting that New Orleans and Baton Rouge populations are among those with the highest rates of AIDS in the country, Esman said the state should shift its focus regarding its treatment of people living with HIV or AIDS.

“Arresting people makes no sense,” she said. “What we need to be doing is treating people who are sick.”

Moore said the law could possibly “use some tweaking.” He indicated the district attorney’s association would be open to a proposal amending parts of the statute.

 

Emily Lane is a news reporter based in Baton Rouge. Reach her at elane@nola.com or 504-717-7699. Follow her on Twitter (@emilymlane) or Facebook.
Published on May 17, 2017 in Nola News.

 

US: 2018 HIV Is Not a Crime National Training Academy to be held in Indianapolis, Indiana (Press Release)

SERO Project and Positive Women’s Network-USA Announce 2018 HIV Is Not a Crime National Training Academy in Indianapolis

May 15, 2017: Building on the amazing success of the HIV Is Not a Crime II National Training Academy last year, the SERO Project and Positive Women’s Network-USA are pleased to announce that the planning process is underway for the third HIV Is Not a Crime National Training Academy to support repeal or modernization of laws criminalizing the alleged non- disclosure, perceived or potential exposure or transmission of HIV. The training academy will be held at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) June 3-6, 2018.

As part of the announcement of HIV is Not a Crime III, Tami Haught, Conference Coordinator with the SERO Project says, “Dr. Carrie Foote and the HIV Modernization Movement, in coordination with other state organizations, will provide the conference with great support and leadership as a host committee. We hope that hosting the Training Academy in Indiana will highlight the archaic HIV-specific laws and empower advocates and allies to modernize Indiana’s statues.”

HIV is Not a Crime III will once again unite and train advocates living with HIV and allies from across the country on laws criminalizing people living with HIV and on strategies and best practices for repealing such laws. Skills-building training, with an emphasis on grassroots organizing, advocacy, coalition-building and campaign planning, will leave participants with concrete tools and resources to work on state-level strategies when they return home.

“The HIV Modernization Movement (HMM) is excited to welcome HIV is Not a Crime III to the IUPUI campus! Science has made extraordinary advances since the HIV epidemic began in the 1980s, but one area that hasn’t kept up is the body of laws that criminalize HIV. Lacking in scientific merit, these harmful laws stigmatize people living with HIV and are counterproductive to HIV treatment and prevention efforts. Organized activities like this one, that bring together people living with HIV and their allies to collectively strategize on reforming these draconian laws, are critical to ending the HIV epidemic,” says Dr. Carrie Foote, HMM Chair and Associate Professor at IUPUI.

Get involved in making HIV is Not a Crime a success! Sign up to participate in one of our planning workgroups here (bit.ly/HINAC-workgroup).

Are you interested in providing financial support for this important event?Please contact Sean Strub, SERO Project (sean.strub[at}seroproject.com) or Naina Khanna at Positive Women’s Network – USA (naina.khanna.work[at]gmail.com) for more information.

Questions? Please contact Tami Haught, SERO Organizer and Training Coordinator, at: tami.haught[at]seroproject.com.

US: Indiana Law on HIV non-disclosure criminalises people who have no intention of harming another person

Travis Spoor sits in the Kosciusko County Jail, accused, again, of failing to tell his sexual partner that he is HIV-positive.

The 37-year-old is facing malicious mischief charges in three counties for leaving his partners exposed to the disease without their knowledge. He faces up to two and a half years in prison on each charge.

According to court documents, at least two of his sexual partners found out about Spoor’s HIV status through a news article.

Spoor’s mother, Lisa Holderman, broke down in tears as she said her son isn’t a criminal.

“He’s lost his children. He’s lost his job. He’s lost insurance. He’s lost his home. He’s lost his car,” Holderman told the crowd attending HIV Advocacy Day last month at the Statehouse. “We’re losing everything just to try to get my son out of jail.”

Indiana has several laws that impact the lives of people infected with HIV. In addition to being required to inform sexual partners, they can face penalties for exposing people to any bodily fluid, even those that do not transmit HIV.

Carrie Foote, IUPUI professor and co-chair of HIV Modernization Movement, argues these state laws are outdated and research shows they don’t prevent the spread of the disease. Instead, they can discourage people from getting tested.

In Spoor’s case, Foote doesn’t believe he intended to harm his partners. She compared Spoor’s actions to contraceptive fraud.

“There are things that can cause life changing events in adult sexual decision making that we don’t criminalize in that way,” Foote said.

Foote, along with the HIV Modernization Movement, is working to modernize or repeal a few of the current HIV laws that she argues turns the disease into a crime.

But to describe it as criminalizing is completely inaccurate in the eyes of Terre Haute based Vigo County Prosecutor Rob Roberts.

“It doesn’t do the criminal justice system any service and it certainly doesn’t do HIV people any service to try and scare them to think that they might be prosecuted just for having HIV,” Roberts said.

During his career, Roberts has prosecuted only one HIV case to completion. He said bringing charges against an HIV-positive person for their actions is rare.

Roberts argued the state punishes other behaviors that put people at risk.

“Criminal Recklessness — where you may be reckless in your actions in driving a vehicle or in discharging a firearm and you have put other people at risk in those situations,” Roberts said. “We criminalize those actions because it’s the action that we’re talking about, not the status of someone being behind the wheel of the vehicle or possessing a firearm.”

However, Roberts thinks it’s a possibility that disclosure laws are one of the reasons why people don’t get tested in the first place.

Conquering Stigma

At the Damien Center in Indianapolis, more than 4,000 infected individuals receive care and services from Indiana’s oldest and largest AIDS service organization. For years, Jeremy Turner, director of development and communication at the center, has helped get people tested for HIV.

“Disclosure is the right thing to do, but unfortunately HIV is so heavily stigmatized because of things like duty to warn and because of legislation that might not be fair to them, but also because of the social implications of being HIV positive,” Turner said. “Disclosure is a hard thing to do.”

Stigma is one of the biggest hurdles in ending the HIV epidemic, Turner said, and that’s exactly what the current HIV laws do, according to Foote.

The HIV Modernization Movement’s main goal is to modernize the duty to warn and battery by bodily waste HIV laws. Duty to warn is the law that requires HIV-positive people to reveal their condition to sexual partners and needle-sharing partners. The battery by bodily waste law applies to a range of acts and bodily fluids, including spitting or throwing feces.

For Foote, the main problem with the duty to warn law is that it charges people who have no intention of harming another person. She wants the law revised to require proof that the person had intent to harm.

“The way these laws are worded, if I was sexually assaulted, I would have to disclose to my rapist that I was HIV positive,” Foote said. “There’s nothing in the law that tells that I don’t have to do that.”

The movement is also pushing to repeal the laws that prevent HIV positive people from donating blood or semen altogether. Foote said there’s no risk of transmission if a man with HIV was to seek fertility services. Additionally, the Food and Drug Administration screens blood donations for the disease.

 Understanding the laws

Results of a recent survey of health care providers about HIV disclosure showed that the majority of respondents had little understanding of the law or the consequences. Only 58 percent of the more than 170 respondents said they read the full Indiana duty to warn code and only 43 percent knew the punishment for law breakers.

Those health care providers are the ones to make sure patients sign a form acknowledging that they have a duty to disclose their condition to partners past and present.

John Coberg II, an IUPUI research assistant who worked on the survey along with Foote, said he saw a common theme in the results — that the laws are harmful.

In the survey one anonymous provider wrote, “It often makes the client feel like a criminal, or they’re dirty or wrong when they’re in my office for help. As a care coordination person, you should never want your client to feel any of these things when they walk in your office.”

Changing the laws

When changing a law, Roberts said two questions need to be considered: How is the statute being used, and is it being used in an unfair fashion? In Roberts’ opinion, these laws haven’t been around long enough to answer these questions just yet.

Roberts said it’s the job of the legislature to look at the current laws to see if they need tweaking.

“We can take a look,” Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, said.

Taylor’s focus is the current battery by bodily waste law, since research shows HIV is not transferrable by saliva. He wants to change the law so that HIV positive people aren’t charged differently for having the disease.

“If the chairman of the health committee is willing to go along with it, we can hopefully put some modern legislation in place to protect the public but also not make a criminal out of people because they contracted HIV,” Taylor said

Published in NUVO on May 12, 2017

Canada: New show shines a spotlight on Ontario outdated HIV disclosure laws

It’s All Tru shines a light on Ontario’s outdated HIV disclosure laws

Drama about a couple affected by an HIV-positive man is a good introduction to thorny medical, legal and cultural issues

BY

Sky Gilbert’s latest is a heavy-hitting, hypothetical case study and modern parable showing how outdated HIV disclosure laws can ruin lives for no good reason and reinforce dangerous stigmas.

Gilbert shines a spotlight on Ontario laws, crafted during the AIDS crisis of the 80s and 90s, that still criminalize people with HIV who fail to disclose their status to sexual partners despite the advent of several drugs (including Truvada, referenced in the title) and practices that reduce the risk of transmission to near-zero.

Under the current law, people who fail to disclose can be charged with aggravated sexual assault (resulting in lengthy prison sentences and registry as a sex offender), or even attempted murder. Gilbert argues that these lagging laws produce draconian punishments and have become an instrument for unjustly targeting vulnerable members of the gay community.

To explore this complex medical, legal, historical and cultural tangle, Gilbert offers the story of a well-to-do Burlington gay couple, Kurt (Tim Post), a successful 50-something silver fox, and his younger Millennial fiancé Travis (David Coomber).

The couple have an agreement that when the other is out of town, sleeping around is permitted so long as they both take the preventative drug PrEP and always use a condom. However, Travis procrastinates starting the drug, and during a fling with sketchy-dude Gideon (Caleb Olivieri) is subject to “stealthing,” a disturbing practice recently in the news in which someone removes a condom during sex without the knowledge or consent of the other participant.

Gilbert expertly muddies the water to show how complex the issue can be: Gideon turns out to be HIV positive (but with the virus at “undetectable” levels in his system), and calls Travis’s accusation of stealthing into question. Travis takes a “morning-after style” anti-HIV drug called PEP, and fesses up to Kurt, who goes ballistic and wants to use his powerful connections to put the already marginalized and precariously-living Gideon behind bars.

The generational divide between Kurt and Travis becomes central when Kurt powerfully lectures Travis and Gideon on what being gay was like for him in the 80s and 90s. The class divide between Kurt and Gideon shows how cruel prejudices mimicking anti-gay bigotry operate within the gay community, especially surrounding HIV disclosure laws.

Rendered realistically with well-timed doses of humour, Gilbert’s narrative strategy relies on slowly making Gideon a sympathetic character. Olivieri is fine in the challenging role (Gideon has ADHD and other mental health issues), except for when his racing and scatterbrained way of speaking results in a few keys lines sounding muffled or flubbed.

Regardless, the show is an effective introduction and thorough exploration of this important issue.

IT’S ALL TRU by Sky Gilbert (The Cabaret Company/Buddies in Bad Times, 12 Alexander). Runs to May 14. $29-$39. buddiesinbadtimes.com.

Canada: The 7th symposium on HIV, Law and Human Rights organised by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network will take place on June 15, 2017

Rethinking Justice: Seventh Symposium on HIV, Law and Human Rights

You’re invited to join us for the day symposium on Thursday, June 15, 2017, for rethinking Justice, our 7th symposium on HIV, Law and Human Rights

This year’s Symposium is devoted to a critical look at the unjust criminalization of HIV non-disclosure. Themes to be discussed include:

  • Current state of criminalization: Canada and the world
  • Voices rising: Speaking out about the experience of HIV criminalization
  • Science of HIV transmission: recent applications, emerging issues
  • Advocacy updates and ways forward

The full-day event will take place at the Chelsea Hotel, 33 Gerrard St. W., in Toronto. We will release a list of speakers and topics for this year’s Symposium shortly.

Please save the date for this exciting and informative event on June 15. Keep an eye on our webpage at aidslaw.ca/symposium for more information, including a list of speakers.

You can register to attend the Symposium today. Visit our registration page to confirm your spot.

For more information, please contact  info@aidslaw.ca.

Unable to join us at the Symposium? Consider making a gift to the Legal Network to support our work, including resisting unjust HIV criminalization.

Norway: Activists concerned about latest proposals to change Norway's HIV law

Critical to changes in section 237 of the Criminal Code

Reidar Engesbak, April 26, 2017

(Google translation from http://blikk.no, original post below)

The government last week presented a proposal – Prop. 120 L (2016–2017) – for penalties on transmission of infection and endangered spread of infection.

The Ministry of Justice’s submitted to the Storting a proposal for amendments to section 237 of the Criminal Code, which mainly follows the recommendations of the statutory committee that were appointed on the basis of criticism of the current criminal law regulation.

The law committee resulted in the NOU “About Love and Cooling Tower – Criminal Justice in Major Infectious Diseases.”

“I am pleased that we now propose a regulatory framework that addresses the medical development,” said Per-Willy Amundsen, Deputy Minister of Justice, in a press release.

The proposal entails, among other things, clarification that criminal liability is not imposed when appropriate contingency measures have been observed. This includes, among other things, successful medical treatment of HIV infection. Emphasis has been placed on the fact that the knowledge base on the treatment of HIV infection has changed in recent years and that the infection risk from well-treated HIV-positive individuals must be considered minimal.

The government also proposes a change in the Criminal Procedure Act, which allows the police to routinely investigate the infectious status of persons suspected of rape or other serious sexual assault.

“The proposal means that we can be clarified faster than today if the victims have been exposed to a risk of infection. It is important for the government to strengthen the offender’s position in criminal matters, and this change will contribute to that, “Amundsen said in the press release.

Contrary to UNAIDS ‘recommendations

The user organization New Plus – Hivpositives National Association is not so excited. The proposals, according to New Plus’s view, involve a number of things that will worsen the legal situation of those living with HIV.

“What is positive with the bill is that it is suggested that you can not prosecute people who have been negligent and that it is now necessary to commit gross negligence in order to be prosecuted,” said Kim Fangen, Managing Director of New Plus.

New Plus nevertheless believes that the boundary is still unclear. “It is still not the case that actual transmission of infection will be required in order to be punished. Consequently, the provision will still violate UNAIDS ‘recommendations, which state that punishment can only be used where there is a person who is aware that he or she has HIV or with the knowledge and willingness to infect another and infection is actually transmitted.

A little impractical

The proposition is for people to be treated for successful treatment to be exempted from punishment. It’s a suggestion New Plus applaudes. “However, the proposal implies that one can only be exempted from punishment after successful treatment and has been with his partner for prior infection prevention guidance from healthcare professionals, as well as the consent of the partner after this. This scheme applies today only to persons living in marriage or marriage-like relationships. The Ministry therefore wishes to extend the personal circle that will be covered in principle, it will apply to all,” said Fangen to Blikk Nett.

New Plus believes the scheme is impractical. “We can hardly see for ourselves that you want to bring a man for two weeks to the GP to get such consent. It will soon become most relevant for those who have been together for so long that one will nevertheless be covered by today’s wording about marital-like relationships. In any event, this means that an obligation to inform sexual partners is forced for persons who are nevertheless not infectious. People who are on successful treatment will not be able to transfer infection to others, says Fangen, and refers to statements by Professor Jens Lundgren at Rigshospitalet in Denmark.

“When you know at the same time how little knowledge exists in the society about HIV, this means that you can quickly find yourself in a very vulnerable situation to those you want to have sex with, without even jeopardizing the other.

Increased penalty frame

The Ministry of Justice’s proposal also wishes to raise the penalty frame for gross negligence from 3 to 6 years through a new provision in the Act. “This is very serious because it sends a signal about the severity of these actions and could make it even more stigmatizing to live with HIV,” Kim Fangen points out.

“We know that most infections occur when the person who has the virus does not even know that they are infected. These penalties will continue to hit people who have, in their ignorance, exposed others to infectious persons and people who can not actually infect anyone, but because they have not been open about status and conducted infectious guidance can be punished nevertheless. This is believed to mean that fewer will be open about HIV status and that people living with HIV will feel further stigmatized, “said Kim Fangen to Blikk Nett.

“We therefore see no reason to cheer over this and will continue the fight to completely decriminalize HIV.

Kritisk til endringer i Straffeloven § 237

Regjeringen la forrige uke fram et forslag til straffebestemmelser om smitteoverføring og allmennfarlig smittespredning.

Justisdepartementets proposisjon (Prop.120L) til Stortinget et forslag til endringer i Straffelovens paragraf 237, som i hovedsak følger opp anbefalingene til lovutvalget som ble oppnevnt på bakgrunn av kritikk mot den gjeldende strafferettslige reguleringen.

Lovutvalget resulterte i NOU-en «Om kjærlighet og kjøletårn — Strafferettslige spørsmål ved alvorlige smittsomme sykdommer.»

– Jeg er fornøyd med at vi nå foreslår et regelverk som tar opp i seg den medisinske utviklingen, sa justis- og beredskapsminister Per-Willy Amundsen (FrP) i en pressemelding.

Forslaget innebærer blant annet en klargjøring av at straffeansvar ikke pådras når forsvarlige smitteverntiltak er iakttatt. Dette omfatter blant annet vellykket medisinsk behandling av hivsmitte. Det er lagt vekt på at kunnskapsgrunnlaget om behandling av hivsmitte har endret seg de siste årene, og at smitterisikoen fra velbehandlede hivpositive personer må anses som minimal.

Regjeringen foreslår også en endring i straffeprosessloven som åpner for at politiet rutinemessig kan undersøke smittestatusen til personer som er mistenkt for voldtekt eller andre alvorlige seksuelle overgrep.

– Forslaget innebærer at vi raskere enn i dag kan få avklart om fornærmede har blitt utsatt for smittefare. Det er viktig for regjeringen å styrke fornærmedes stilling i straffesaker, og denne endringen vil bidra til det, sa Amundsen i pressemeldingen.

Strider mot UNAIDS’ anbefalinger

Brukerorganisasjonen Nye Pluss – Hivpositives landsforening er ikke så begeistret. Forslagene innebærer etter Nye Pluss sitt syn en rekke ting som vil forverre den juridiske situasjonen for de som lever med hiv.

– Det som er positivt med proposisjonen, er at det foreslås at man ikke kan straffeforfølge personer som bare har vært uaktsomme, og at det skal nå kreves grov uaktsomhet for å kunne straffeforfølges, sier Kim Fangen, daglig leder i Nye Pluss.

Nye Pluss mener likevel at grensegangen fortsatt er uklar.

– Det er fortsatt ikke slik at faktisk smitteoverføring vil kreves for at man skal kunne straffes. Følgelig vil bestemmelsen fortsatt stride mot UNAIDS’ anbefalinger, som statuerer at straff bare kan brukes der det er snakk om at en person enten er klar over at hen har hiv, eller med viten og vilje går inn for å smitte en annen og smitte faktisk overføres.

Lite praktisk

Proposisjonen går inn for at personer på vellykket behandling skal fritas fra straff. Det er et forslag Nye Pluss applauderer.

– Forslaget innebærer dog at man bare kan fritas fra straff om man er på vellykket behandling og har vært med sin partner til forutgående smittevernveiledning hos helsepersonell, samt fått samtykke fra partneren etter dette. Denne ordningen gjelder i dag bare for personer som lever i ekteskap eller ekteskapslignende forhold. Departementet ønsker dermed å utvide personkretsen som vil omfattes til at den i prinsippet vil gjelde alle, sier Fangen til Blikk Nett.

Nye Pluss mener ordningen er lite praktisk.

– Vi kan vanskelig se for oss at man vil ta med seg en man har datet i to uker til fastlegen for å få et slikt samtykke. Det blir fort mest aktuelt for de som har vært sammen såpass lenge at man uansett vil dekkes av dagens ordlyd om ekteskapslignende forhold. Uansett betyr dette at man tvinger frem en informasjonsplikt overfor seksualpartnere for personer som uansett ikke er smittefarlige. Personer som er på vellykket behandling vil ikke være i stand til å overføre smitte til andre, sier Fangen og viser til uttalelser fra professor Jens Lundgren ved Rigshospitalet i Danmark.

– Når man samtidig vet hvor lite kunnskap som finnes i samfunnet om hiv, gjør dette at man fort setter seg i en veldig sårbar situasjon overfor de man vil ha sex med, uten at man selv utgjør noen fare for den andre.

Økt strafferamme

Justisdepartementets proposisjon ønsker i tillegg å heve strafferammen for grov uaktsomhet fra 3 til 6 år gjennom en ny bestemmelse i loven.

– Dette er svært alvorlig fordi det sender et signal om alvorlighetsgraden av disse handlingene og vil kunne gjøre det ytterligere stigmatiserende å leve med hiv, påpeker Kim Fangen.

– Vi vet at de fleste smitteoverføringer skjer der personen som har viruset ikke selv vet at hen er smittet. Disse straffebestemmelsene vil forsette å ramme personer som i sin uvitenhet har utsatt andre for smittefare og personer som i realiteten ikke kan smitte noen, men som fordi de ikke har vært åpne om status og gjennomført smitteveiledning vil kunne straffeforfølges likevel. Dette tror vi vil medføre at færre vil være åpne om hivstatus og at personer som lever med hiv vil føle seg ytterligere stigmatisert, sier Kim Fangen til Blikk Nett.

– Vi ser dermed ingen grunn til å juble over dette og vil fortsette kampen for å avkriminalisere hiv fullstendig.

US: HIV criminalisation laws are outdated, stigmatising and applied unfairly and it’s time to end the cycle says Erika D. Smith

The AIDS crisis is over. Why are people still going to jail over HIV? 

BY ERIKA D. SMITH

I’m not in the habit of quoting Ronald Reagan. But on Monday, as legislation that would greatly reduce the criminal penalties for transmitting HIV moved one step closer to a vote in the California Senate, I couldn’t help but think of words penned by the former president.

The year was 1990 and my teacher handed out a Washington Post article for the class to read.

“We owe it to Ryan to make sure that the fear and ignorance that chased him from his home and his school will be eliminated,” Reagan wrote. “We owe it to Ryan to open our hearts and our minds to those with AIDS. We owe it to Ryan to be compassionate, caring and tolerant toward those with AIDS, their families and friends.”

He was reacting to the death of Ryan White, a blond-haired boy from the Midwest who had contracted HIV during a blood transfusion for hemophilia and was diagnosed with AIDS. White wasn’t like the then-mysterious gay men in California and New York, or even the IV drug users in inner cities, who had been falling ill and dying by the thousands. He was an “innocent” victim.

At 13 years old, he got thrust into the national spotlight because he wanted to go to school with his friends. But because it was the height of the AIDS epidemic, an era when fear and willful ignorance regularly trumped facts, the school district fought his family at every turn.

As a 13-year-old girl in a Midwestern suburb, I identified with him.

Over time, that vague fear of AIDS that I once had has been replaced with an understanding that HIV is a chronic illness that can be easily managed with medication. It’s no longer a death sentence. What’s more, it’s highly unlikely that someone with an undetectable level of HIV in his or her blood, which is pretty common these days for undergoing treatment, will transmit the virus to anyone else.

Heck, hepatitis C kills three times as many people as HIV does.

But in California and more than 30 other states, dozens of laws remain on the books to punish people who willfully expose others to the virus. To this day, people still get charged with felonies over HIV and go to prison for five, 10 or even 20 years. In some states, those convicted must register as a sex offender for life.

These laws aren’t “compassionate,” “caring” or “tolerant” toward people with HIV or AIDS. They’re fear-based holdovers from the days of the “gay plague,” which in many ways, the Reagan administration callously let happen by ignoring the disease and its victims for far too long. Back in the 1980s, Reagan wasn’t “compassionate,” “caring” or “tolerant.”

San Francisco was ground zero, with three times as many AIDS cases per capita as New York and 10 times as many as Los Angeles. At one point, about half of San Francisco’s gay men were infected and most expected to die within 10 years. I’ve heard horror stories from gay men with gray hair, many of them tearing up just thinking about all the friends and partners they lost.

So it’s telling that it’s a gay man from San Francisco, Sen. Scott Wiener, who is pushing the bill that would greatly reduce the penalties for transmitting HIV.

Where California now has four felony offenses on the books for people who deliberately pass along the virus, Senate Bill 239 would repeal two of them and reduce two others to a misdemeanor, just like the intentional transmission of every other infectious or communicable disease.

The bill advanced out of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday and Wiener hopes to get it to the Senate floor by May or June.

So far, only the California Right to Life Committee has come out in opposition. Meanwhile, the list of groups in support is long, from the California Medical Association to Equality California to the ACLU.

Their reasoning is pretty plain. One is that threatening to punish people for transmitting HIV does absolutely nothing for public health. It only encourages people to hide their status or not get tested at all. You can’t be charged with infecting someone with something you didn’t know you had.

Another reason is that research shows that the laws are applied unfairly. White men, for example, make up 40 percent of the people diagnosed with HIV in California, but only 16 percent of the individuals who’ve had contact with law enforcement over it, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA.

Meanwhile, black women make up only 4 percent of the Californians diagnosed with HIV, but account for 21 percent of people who have gotten in trouble for it. A good number of them are sex workers, turning a potential misdemeanor prostitution charge into a felony.

Only about 1,260 people were accused of an HIV-related crime in California between 1988 and 2014. Of those who were convicted, 85 percent were sent to prison.

So far, only Iowa and Colorado have acted to repeal their laws. If California is next, it could potentially accelerate a fledgling national trend toward decriminalization.

There’s little hope of accomplishing change at the federal level, even though public health officials have been pushing for it for years. In Congress, Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., introduced the Repeal HIV Discrimination Act, but it’s likely to go nowhere. There has been resistance, particularly among Republicans.

Like the Reagan administration, red state lawmakers started paying attention to AIDS because of Ryan White, a boy unfairly marginalized by people who didn’t understand HIV or how it is contracted. Following an early provision in the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act, which provided funding for education and treatment, they passed misguided laws to prosecute people over HIV or AIDS.

California just beat middle America to the punch.

Now the remnants of those laws are being used to marginalize a whole new group of people with HIV, many of them opioid addicts in red states spreading the virus through dirty needles. It’s time to be “compassionate,” “caring” or “tolerant.” It’s time to end the cycle.

Published in the Sacramento Bee on April 24, 2017

US: Fact sheet from the Williams Institute summarises all we know about HIV criminalisation in California

This fact sheet from The Williams Institute highlights significant findings from its research on HIV criminal laws in California. Conduct criminalized includes condomless anal or vaginal sex with intent to transmit HIV and without HIV status disclosure, as well as donation of blood, tissue, semen, or breast milk for people living with HIV (PLHIV) who know their HIV status. It also enhances the criminal penalty for PLHIV convicted of solicitation and for sexual assault crimes.

Particularly notable findings include that:

• 98% of convictions required no proof of intent to transmit HIV;

• 93% of convictions required no proof of conduct that is likely to transmit HIV;

• HIV criminal statutes disproportionately affect women, people of color, and immigrants living with HIV, and they are disparately enforced based on race/ethnicity and gender; and

• felony solicitation enforcement has disproportionate impact on LGBTQ youth and transgender women of color.

HIV Criminalization in CA- What We Know.pdf

 

US: Michigan candidates for the governor's office call for State's HIV felony law to be repealed

Dem Gubernatorial Candidates Call for Reform of State’s HIV-Specific Law

Advocates Applaud Move, Encourage Legislative Action Before New Governor Takes Office in 2019

LANSING – Calling Michigan’s HIV-specific felony law “discriminatory” and “wrong to criminalize sickness,” the two declared candidates for the governor’s office say it’s time to reform the law.

“I’m a strong believer in science, and in the years this law has been on the books, significant strides have been made in HIV treatment and prevention,” said Gretchen Whitmer, the former State Senate Minority Leader and Ingham County Prosecutor. She’s declared her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2018 earlier this year. “Yet prosecutions are often driven by fear and stigma, not science, just as the legislation itself was when it was passed. It’s wrong to criminalize sickness, which is what this law has effectively done. It absolutely should be revisited.”

Last month, Abdul El-Sayed, the former director of the City of Detroit’s Department of Health and Wellness Promotion, told Between The Lines that Michigan’s law “absolutely” should be repealed.

“You should not be criminalized for a disease,” he said. The 32-year-old doctor was a Rhoades Scholar and in his role as the director of Michigan’s most populous city’s health and wellness promotion, he dealt first hand with the ongoing HIV crisis in Detroit. “That is absolutely wrong. It’s hateful. It’s discriminatory, and we can, as a state, do better. You can count on me for that.”

Michigan passed the AIDS-Penetration with Uninformed Partner Law in 1988. Former lawmaker Susan Grimes Gilbert (formerly Grimes Munsell) lead the charge to pass Michigan’s law as well as participated in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) working group on the subject. That group recommended the development of HIV Assault laws in all 50 states

In an interview presented in a report in The Advocate and The American Independent News Network in 2013, she acknowledged that the law was driven by fear.

“At that time people were scared to death of [AIDS],” Grimes Munsell told the news outlets. She acknowledged much had changed since that time.

“I think it is time to repeal the [felony] law,” she said in 2013. “In fact, I don’t do this very often, but I am willing to lobby for that change.”

Her voice added to an already growing chorus calling for reform. Among them, the former staffer from ALEC who wrote the group’s draft legislation and policy recommendations and a member of President Ronald Reagan’s Commission on HIV, commonly called “The Watkins Commission.”

Social scientists and activists have criticized the laws for years as unfairly stigmatizing those living with HIV as people hell bent on transmitting their infection to others. They’ve noted the laws have little impact on behavior and at least one study has found that high profile prosecutions for HIV nondisclosure lead those most at risk of HIV infection to decline HIV testing and sexual health counseling from healthcare providers.

State Rep. Jon Hoadley (D-Kalamazoo) has been floating draft legislation for the last six months to modernize Michigan’s HIV law. Specifically, his proposal would eliminate the current felony law, and create in its stead two misdemeanor laws.

Both misdemeanor laws would require prosecutors prove beyond a reasonable doubt the accused not only had HIV, but intended to transmit the infection and took actions that had a likelihood of transmitting the virus. The lower of the two misdemeanors -which would carry up to 93 days in jail – would be used if there was no transmission. The one-year misdemeanor would be used if there was transmission of the virus.

The legislation garnered a number of co-sponsors last session, but Hoadley did not introduce it.

Activists supporting modernizing Michigan law say they are pleased the two Democratic gubernatorial candidates are raising the issue.

“We are very pleased to see the issues related to the unjust, unscientific law criminalizing HIV being taken up by candidates for the top office in the state,” says Kelly Doyle, the coalition manager for the Michigan Coalition for HIV Health and Safety. “This is about fairness and reducing stigma, and having top candidates talking about this issue helps reduce the stigma and highlight the problems.”

She was joined in that praise by Curtis Lipscomb, executive director of LGBT Detroit. He released a statement to BTL saying his group was “pleased” that the candidates “reject Michigan’s outdated HIV criminalization laws and the notion of criminalizing disease.”

“We must get rid of stigma around HIV/AIDS, testing, prevention and treatment – and listening to science is the only way to do that,” Lipscomb said.

He said his group is eager to continue discussions with the legislature “to move to repeal this dangerous law.”

Doyle echoed that sentiment, “Of course, this legislature could check one item off the beginning of the 2019 gubernatorial term by passing legislation now which brings Michigan in line with common sense public health approaches which ensure of the safety of all Michiganders.”

Published in PrideSource on April 13, 2017