Russia: Gay propaganda law especially impacting men with HIV who are being blackmailed for not disclosing their HIV status by anti-gay gangs

Russian crime gangs find gays easy targets for blackmail

By VERONIKA SILCHENKO and IRINA TITOVA

Originally published by the Associated Press on Jun. 5 2016

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In this Wednesday, May 25, 2016 photo, Alexander Loza, a legal adviser at Positive Dialogue, an organization that provides consulting services for gays, speaks to the Associated Press in St. Petersburg, Russia. Russian crime gangs find gays easy targets for blackmail. In the past two years, an increasing number of gays has fallen victim to criminal gangs operating through gay dating sites, rights groups say. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

“Many gay people in Russia lead a double life, unwilling to disclose their sexual orientation to their family or at work,” Loza said. “In the case of such setup dates, they are afraid to disclose their [HIV] status, to be accused of pedophilia, and therefore they are afraid to appeal to the police.”

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Criminal gangs in Russia, operating through gay dating sites, have found a lucrative new blackmail target: homosexual men.

A St. Petersburg economist, one of their latest victims, said several men burst into the apartment where he was meeting his date. Claiming that his date was under age, they threatened to call the police and to release a video they had secretly filmed unless he paid up.

The gay rights group Vykhod, or Coming Out, said they registered 12 such attacks in St. Petersburg in 2015 and at least six more gay men have come to them so far this year. LGBT activists believe the real number is far higher and say the attacks have increased in the past two years.

Since homosexuality finds little acceptance in Russian society, many gays keep their sexual orientation hidden from their families, friends and co-workers. This makes them easy extortion targets for criminals.

Vykhod spokeswoman Nika Yuryeva said most of the recent attacks have followed the same pattern as the one seen by the St. Petersburg economist.

Alexander Loza, a legal adviser at Positive Dialogue, an organization that provides consulting services for gays, particularly those living with the HIV virus, has heard similar stories.

“Many gay people in Russia lead a double life, unwilling to disclose their sexual orientation to their family or at work,” Loza said. “In the case of such setup dates, they are afraid to disclose their status, to be accused of pedophilia, and therefore they are afraid to appeal to the police.”

The activists said Russian criminals have been emboldened by a 2013 law that made it a crime to expose children to gay “propaganda,” part of a Kremlin-backed effort to defend traditional family values and counter the influence of what it considers a decadent West.

Alexander Zhelezkin, who manages outreach programs at Positive Dialogue, said the law was what made him decide to become a gay activist.

“Now, my coming out is my defense,” he said.

For prominent television journalist Anton Krasovsky, however, that move ended his career in Russia. He was fired after he came out on the air in 2013 and hasn’t been able to find a job in television since.

Krasovsky said it will be a long time before gays in Russia feel protected enough to speak publicly about their sexual orientation.

“To stop being afraid, they need to begin to trust the state where they live, but they don’t trust the state where they live now,” he said.

The St. Petersburg economist, however, did go to the police. He spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity out of fear that his attackers, who know where he lives, would seek retribution if they learned that he had reported them.

The economist, who gave his age as “about 30,” said he thought they were lying about his date being a minor. But he said the attackers beat and threatened him — and suggested they had friends in the police force who they said would lock him up on fabricated charges.

He said they demanded more than 100,000 rubles ($1,500). One of them took his bank card and cleaned out his account, and they released him only after he agreed to transfer the balance the next day, he said.

The crime gangs who carry out such attacks are not necessarily anti-gay, but have identified a profitable niche where they feel they can operate with impunity, Loza and Yuryeva said.

The economist agreed.

“They commit these crimes not because they are homophobes — they are simply taking advantage of the situation,” knowing that few people would go to the police after such an experience, he said. “I think they are just common criminals who chose this kind of method.”

St. Petersburg police spokesman Vyacheslav Stepchenko said he had not heard about these blackmail cases and said he wasn’t aware of any anti-gay attacks being registered in the city in recent years.

He offered to check with the specific police station that the economist reported the crime to, but the economist didn’t want to draw public attention to his case by disclosing which station it was.

Timur Bulatov, an anti-gay activist who claims to have helped get a number of teachers fired after outing them as homosexuals, said he sees no need to resort to the blackmail used by criminal gangs.

“Why attack a sick person? Such a person needs treatment,” he said. “I have a bunch of legal methods to use to influence such a person, to put pressure on him.”

Bulatov, who wears camouflage outfits and carries a handgun in a hip holster, said gays are the “enemies” of Russian society and its children, but should be opposed only through legal means.

He said the law banning gay propaganda among minors was intentionally made vague so it can be applied in a wide range of circumstances. The law, for instance, has made it easy to target gay and lesbian teachers in Russia because they work directly with children.

The federal law was modeled on a 2012 St. Petersburg law authored by Vitaly Milonov, a city lawmaker and outspoken opponent of LGBT rights.

“This law is a preventive measure. It was introduced not to punish anyone, but to prevent such public actions as gay parades, because parents in Russia don’t want their children to see these things,” Milonov told the AP.

Milonov, who has a large portrait of the Russian Orthodox Church patriarch on his office wall, said his mission was to promote “normal” families with many children.

“There is no oppression of homosexual people in Russia,” he said. “When gay organizations complain of such harassment, they do it in order to get more money from soft-hearted Europeans.”

US/Canada: Elton John AIDS Foundation on why they support civil society organisations working to end HIV criminalisation

Zimbabwe: The persecution and prosecution of Harare model highlights reasons why HIV should not be criminalised

For the past few weeks, social and conventional media have been awash with the most heinous of headlines — “Harare model injects lover’s son with HIV.”

BY BELLINDA CHINOWAWA & ELIZABETH MANGENJE

An outraged public bayed for her blood, denouncing the model and calling for her immediate incarceration. After an invasive HIV test, it emerged that the allegations against the model were false, and that she is just another victim of the poorly crafted section 79 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, which in part reads as follows;

“ Any person who

(a) Knowing that he or she is infected with HIV; or

(b) Realising that there is a real risk or possibility that he or she is infected with HIV

Intentionally does anything or permits the doing of anything which he or she knows will infect, or does anything which he or she realises involves a real risk or possibility of infecting another person with HIV, be guilty of deliberate transmission of HIV, whether or not he or she is married to that other person, and shall be liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding twenty years.”

The wording of this provision is objectionable because:

It criminalises sexual intercourse

Under this section, any person who has had sexual intercourse can be arrested and prosecuted, as with every sexual encounter, there is a risk or possibility of infection with HIV. Scientific research shows that no one method is 100% effective in protecting against the risk of infections. Having safe sexual intercourse is, strictly speaking, irrelevant for the purposes of this provision. A dangerously wide offence has been created.

It creates conditions for false incrimination

It is currently not possible in this country to tell who was infected first. Thus, the story which carries the day is that of the person who reports to the police first. This disadvantages women, who by reason of their reproductive health needs invariably get to know their status first as antenatal care services make HIV-testing compulsory for women. The only option for women to avoid prosecution under section 79 is to avoid antenatal care services or to opt out of HIV-testing, notwithstanding the danger that these decisions present for their own health, the health of their unborn babies and the community at large.

It does not reduce the spread of HIV

There is no evidence that applying criminal law to HIV risk behaviour incapacitates, rehabilitates, or deters offenders.

It promotes fear and stigma

Prosecution under section 79 is typically accompanied by inflammatory and ill-informed media coverage and this only serves to reinforce stigma against people living with HIV.

It penalises a conjectural likelihood

In terms of section 79, one does not actually have to have infected someone with HIV for a court to find that there has been “deliberate transmission of HIV”. Where a person facing charges under this section is tested and found positive, then a court must convict them, whether or not any transmission took place!

It disproportionately affects the already marginalised

Due to the persistence of deep-rooted prejudice against groups such as commercial sex workers, there is a real possibility that criminal prosecution will disproportionately affect them, as they are easy targets for such a witch hunt.

Data and evidence collected in 15 years (1986-2001) on prosecution for HIV transmission or exposure in the United States as well as several studies conducted around Europe revealed that most of the individuals convicted for HIV transmission or exposure were in vulnerable social and economic positions, including, commercial sex workers and prisoners.

Thus, it is arguable that section 79 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) violates section 56 of the Constitution which guarantees non-discrimination and equal protection of the law. A law that puts people at risk of prosecution and 20 years imprisonment for a crime whose elements are not sufficiently clear for them to regulate their conduct cannot be said to be in line with the protection guarantee under the Constitution. As Edwin Cameron, a Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa, has noted, “prosecutions for HIV transmission and exposure, and the chilling content of the enactments themselves, reinforce the idea of HIV as a shameful, disgraceful, unworthy condition.”

The persecution and prosecution of the Harare model is proof of all the reasons why HIV should not be criminalised. The general criminal law is sufficient to deal with instances where a person maliciously and deliberately infects others with HIV, and in other jurisdictions, such persons are charged with assault, or attempted murder. There is no proof that criminalising HIV transmission will achieve either criminal justice or prevents HIV transmission.

The sentiment behind section 79 is understandable — it is grounded in the belief that, given the deleterious nature of HIV, any person living with it, has a moral duty to avoid infecting others. In this instance, however, the criminal law is a blunt instrument, imprecise and heavy-handed, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The criminalisation of HIV transmission threatens a human rights response to HIV that empowers people to avoid infection or live successfully with HIV. As UNAIDS has noted, instead of applying criminal law to HIV transmission, governments should expand programmes which have been proven to reduce HIV transmission and strengthen and enforce laws against rape and other forms of sexual violence against women and children.

The events of the past few weeks have shown that Section 79 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act is overly-broad, and open to abuse. It only serves to entrench stigma and discrimination, and has no place in a society ostensibly founded on recognition of the inherent dignity and worth of each human being.

l Bellinda Chinowawa and Elizabeth Mangenje are project lawyers with Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights

Originally published in The Standard

US: American Psychological Association adopts resolution opposing HIV criminalisation

The American Psychological Association (APA) has adopted an evidence-informed resolution on HIV criminalisation in the United States.

It was developed with feedback from the APA Committee on Legal Issues and the HIV Medicine Association – who themselves issued a Policy Statement on HIV Criminalization in 2015 – along with the Sero Project and The Center for HIV Law and Policy.

According to the background document:

We believe an APA resolution will strongly encourage states with HIV criminalization laws to repeal such laws and provide psychologists practicing in relevant states with guidance on the impact that HIV-specific laws may have on their patients, clients, and the general public’s health.

The resolution, adopted by the Council of Representatives in February 2016 and published on March 15th, can be read in full on the APA website.

It includes the following key messages:

THEREFORE be it resolved that APA opposes HIV criminalization and recommends the repeal or reform of these laws to eliminate HIV-specific criminal penalties with the exceptions of 1) a person with known HIV committing a sex crime where there is risk of transmission, and 2) a person with known HIV who has the intent to transmit the virus and is engaged in a behavior with a high risk of transmission;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that laws that are not in alignment with the current scientific evidence on HIV transmission should be repealed;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that laws that criminalize behaviors posing low or negligible risk for HIV transmission should be repealed or reformed and better aligned with contemporary scientific evidence regarding HIV transmission probabilities for specific behaviors and the efficacy of risk-reduction activities (e.g., consistent condom use);

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that laws that target PLHIV and engender harsher sentencing should be repealed;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that laws that increase likelihood of incarceration for PLHIV should be repealed;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that laws that undermine national HIV prevention efforts should be repealed;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that criminalization laws that increase the risk of and intimate partner violence to, and control of women and other vulnerable people with HIV should be repealed;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that laws that specifically target and criminalize PLHIV should be repealed;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that laws that discriminate and stigmatize against PLHIV should be repealed;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that psychologists practicing in states with HIV-specific criminalization laws are encouraged to better understand the impact of these laws on their patients who have HIV or who may be at elevated risk for HIV infection.

Canada: Latest unjust HIV non-disclosure conviction highlights everything that’s wrong with Canada’s approach

Analysis: Canada’s newest sex offenders

On March 1, a 29-year-old indigenous woman in Manitoba was sentenced to prison for the crime of aggravated sexual assault. More than four years ago, Marjorie Schenkels had sex without a condom with a friend on three occasions. Schenkels did not disclose the fact that she is HIV-positive. Schenkels, a survivor of sexual violence in both her family and relationships, is now registered as a sex offender and will spend the next two years in jail.

This is where the Supreme Court of Canada, and prosecutors, have brought us with their overly broad use of criminal law when it comes to HIV. Because of a series of much-criticized decisions that equate HIV non-disclosure before sex with sexual assault, indigenous women living with HIV are now a new face of sexual offender in this country.

Schenkels’ case is a window into this miscarriage of justice. As in many other cases of HIV non-disclosure, the sentencing judge found that there was no lie, manipulation or exploitation by Schenkels. Rather, her silence was the result of fear and denial. Nor was there any evidence that she actually transmitted the virus to the complainant who has since tested positive for HIV. But because the Supreme Court ruled that HIV non-disclosure before sex can amount to fraud invalidating consent to sex, people living with HIV can be convicted of aggravated sexual assault — an offence usually reserved for the most violent cases of sexual assault — even if the sex was neither forced nor coerced, there was no intention to harm and HIV was not transmitted.

Criminalizing HIV non-disclosure is often perceived as a means of protecting women. This perception is reinforced by the fact that the charge used to prosecute people for not disclosing the fact they have HIV is sexual assault. But criminalizing HIV non-disclosure does not protect women from HIV, nor from gender-based violence nor the inequality in which it is rooted. What it does do is put women living with HIV — especially those in abusive relationships — at increased risk of violence, abuse and prosecution. For many indigenous women, particularly those surviving a legacy of colonization and the intergenerational effects of residential schools, the overly broad criminalization of HIV non-disclosure has only institutionalized another form of violence against them.

As of today, at least 17 women living with HIV have been prosecuted for HIV non-disclosure in Canada. Most of them were already living on the margins, already facing a greater risk of acquiring HIV and making it even more challenging to disclose their status. Some of those women, like Schenkels, are indigenous; also like her, some are survivors of sexual or other violence. Many were and are living in poverty or with little income security. Some had precarious immigration status. Add to this marginalization the dilemma of revealing a heavily stigmatized status such as being HIV-positive or facing criminal charges for one of the most serious offences in the Criminal Code. This bind does not help or protect women.

When a person does not disclose they have HIV, it is usually not about asserting force over another person in order to gain sexual gratification, but rather the result of fear of violence or other harm, rejection or denial. By associating HIV non-disclosure with sexual assault, we are both harming people living with HIV and seriously undermining the law of sexual assault. These concerns are not limited to the HIV community. Feminist scholars and advocates are also questioning the value of such use of the law, as captured in a new documentary film, Consent: HIV non-disclosure and the law of sexual assault. (see below; the image above is a still from the film).

As one of the film’s experts asks, “What does it do to our understanding of sexual assault law as a vehicle to promote women’s equality if the new faces of sex offenders are young, racialized, aboriginal or street-involved women?” It is a bitter irony that Consent was publicly screened in Winnipeg the day of Schenkels’ sentencing hearing.

Schenkels’ case brings Canadians, once again, face to face with the cruelty of a justice system that not only fails to protect women from sexual violence, but also ensnares the most vulnerable, despite their efforts to overcome their struggles. Schenkels is taking responsibility for her life and her former actions. She is married and a caregiver to her partner’s child, and she is accessing HIV care. Even the sentencing judge acknowledged she was considered “a viable candidate for community supervision” rather than imprisonment. Nevertheless, she will spend the next two years in an institution notorious for its limited resources for addressing the health needs of its population, especially those living with HIV. It’s a tragic illustration of how equating HIV non-disclosure with sexual assault makes women less safe and simply multiplies the forms of systemic violence that women living with HIV suffer.

Cécile Kazatchkine is a senior policy analyst and Vajdon Sohaili is director of communications for the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. Laverne Gervais is the project co-ordinator of Sisters of Fire at Ka Ni Kanichihk.

This piece was originally published in the Winnipeg Free Press.

Consent: HIV non-disclosure and sexual assault law from AIDSLAW on Vimeo.

US: Powerful new report on impact of criminal justice system on LGBT people highlights unjust HIV-related prosecutions; lawmaker calls for repeal of Michigan's 'outdated' HIV-specific criminal law

A new report from the independent Movement Advancement Project in Washington DC is shining a light on the plight of LGBT people caught up in the nation’s criminal justice system — and it is not pretty.

“It used to be a crime to be LGBT in the United States, and while police are no longer raiding gay bars, LGBT people, especially LGBT people of color, are still disproportionately pushed into the criminal justice system. They are treated unfairly within the system and in correctional settings, and face extraordinary challenges in rebuilding their lives,” said Ineke Mushovic, Executive Director of MAP.

The report finds that twice as many people incarcerated identify as LGBT or gender non-conforming than Americans who identify as such. The numbers are even more skewed in relation to juveniles, the report found.

“I’m glad that MAP is bringing to light the critical issue of LGBT people in the criminal justice system,” State Rep. Jon Hoadley, D-Kalamazoo, said in an interview with BTL. Hoadley is one of two openly gay state lawmakers working in Lansing. “This report shows that our work is not done.”

He noted that Michigan continues to have laws which are used to discriminate against members of the LGBT and HIV affected communities. He noted the child welfare system in the state continues to foster discrimination and noted Michigan’s HIV-specific criminal laws. Michigan adopted a new law last year which allows private, religious adoption agencies to refuse to help otherwise qualified adoptive parents based on “sincerely held religious beliefs.”

State Sen. Steve Bieda, D-Warren, said the report was important. He’s been working with the GOP majority to address criminal justice reform in the state as the only Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“We need to make sure that justice is blind,” Bieda said in a phone interview. “We need to make sure that justice is actually just.”

He called for a repeal of Michigan’s HIV-specific criminal law, which he called “outdated,” and also said the state needs to remove obsolete laws that are no longer enforceable because they have been declared unconstitutional.

“When we’re talking about reforming a complexing system, like this, you need a yes and strategy,” said Hoadley. He called on lawmakers to repeal obsolete laws as well as laws — such as the gross indecency laws — which criminalize otherwise consensual sexual activity between adults.

Bieda said he would like to have representatives of MAP come to a Senate Judiciary Committee to brief state lawmakers on the findings of the report and possible solutions. Hoadley applauded that idea.

“This would be a great opportunity to have a joint committee meeting,” between House and Senate Judiciary Committees, he said. “We could also have policy meetings on this.”

The chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, State Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, said the Senate cannot solve all the issues with the criminal justice system but did call for more training by law enforcement related to LGBT related issues. He’s a former county sheriff.

“I also support clean slate legislation,” Jones said. Those laws would allow those convicted of non-violent crimes to wipe their records clean after a set amount of time.

Hoadley said Jones’ idea was certainly on track to addressing reintegration of those convicted of crimes and sentenced to prison into society.

“We have to really think about how we integrate people into society after their rehabilitation,” he said. He discussed working with a person living with HIV who was convicted under Michigan’s HIV-specific law. That person was being forced to disclose their HIV status as a result of having to disclose the felony conviction to potential employers. It significantly limited that person’s job prospects.

MAP officials were pleased to hear Michigan lawmakers were taking the report seriously.

“A goal of this report is to lift up the ways in which LGBT people interact with the criminal justice system to ensure comprehensive reforms,” said Naomi Goldberg, Policy Analyst for the Movement Advancement Project. “Legislative efforts to reduce recidivism rates, such as clean slate legislation combined with vital protections against discrimination, would greatly improve the lives of formerly incarcerated LGBT people. And training, ongoing education and improved procedures for law enforcement, court staff, prison and staff, and probation and parole officers would greatly improve the safety of LGBT people.”

Mexico: Human Rights Commission files motion before Supreme Court arguing Veracruz law criminalising 'wilful transmission' of HIV and STIs is unconstitutional

Because the amendment to Article 158 of the Criminal Code of Veracruz, called “contagion” criminalizes the transmission of sexually transmitted infections, and establishes a sentence ranging from 6 months to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to 50 days’ pay for those who “willfully” infecting another person sexually transmitted disease, a contravention of Article 1 of the Constitution of the United States Mexicans, at 24 of the American Convention on Human Rights and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) filed a motion before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.

That article, which provides between these infections to HIV and human papillomavirus, he was published in the Official Journal of Veracruz on 1 December and, according to the CNDH, is discriminatory because it “generates a differentiation unnecessary and unjustified that becomes discriminatory. ”

This, because, argues the CNDH, the new content of the article “generates a discriminatory treatment in Subject to the people, and that criminalize putting willful in danger of disease transmission, generates two assumptions: that it is sexually transmitted infections and cases of serious disease. ”

According to the document, this situation leads to “different treatment for sexually transmitted infections with respect any other illness, by the than is rock specifically the condition health perpetrator when he suffers STDs, generating so a distinction legal between Who suffer a disease acquired by sexually transmitted Y those with any other disease acquired through diverse. ”

In addition, it is emphasized that the amendment does not meet the objective of preventing argued transmission of STIs against women and girls, finding themselves in vulnerable situations, but caused a differentiation based on the condition of true kind from infections, in East case from sexually transmitted, and describe them as serious, a fact that is not real, because not all infections of this court are serious.

Thus, the declaration of unconstitutionality of the article is requested and all those rules than are related.

Thus, the CNDH responded to the request of the Multisectoral Group on HIV / AIDS and STIs of Veracruz and other civil society organizations, which have stated that “the international guidelines on HIV and Human Rights based on evidence scientific point to legislate and punish not prevent new infections or reduce women’s vulnerability and what we do accomplish is a negative impact on public health and human rights. ”

It is expected that in the coming weeks the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation attracts unconstitutionality for discussion and analysis.

Stop the Prague Public Health Authority’s persecution and intimidation of people living with HIV [Press release]

Pan-European Networks of communities of people living with and affected by HIV, doctors and scientists call upon the Government of the Czech Republic to immediately stop the Prague Public Health Authority’s persecution and intimidation of people living with HIV, and to return to evidence-based and proven practices in HIV prevention, testing and care in the Czech Republic.

Brussels, 19 February 2016 – The signatories of this open letter, representing communities of people living with, and affected by HIV, doctors and scientists addressing HIV and co-infections in Europe, are extremely concerned that the Prague Public Health Authority has initiated a police investigation into the sex lives of 30 men living with HIV on the sole grounds that these men have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (STI).

We understand that the Czech police are currently conducting investigations and are considering pressing charges against these men claiming that they have violated the provisions of Sections 152 and 153 of the Czech Criminal Code.

There is no evidence that punitive approaches to regulating the consensual sexual behaviour of people with living HIV are an effective HIV prevention or public health tool, but there is evidence that such approaches can be counterproductive by further stigmatising people with HIV, sending those in need of testing and treatment underground, harming individual and public health.

In addition, the release of medical information to the police appears to be a grave violation of personal freedoms of individuals living in the Czech Republic. The initiation of criminal prosecution against people living with HIV for alleged intentional gross bodily harm – despite the lack of a single complainant – raises grave concerns regarding the inappropriate application of criminal law to people living with HIV.

We also understand that a number of non-governmental organizations have recently spoken out against the acts of the Prague Public Health Authority and subsequent police investigation and they will approach the Czech liaison at the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Please also note that the responsible UNAIDS representative has already been informed and will receive further briefing from us.

With this letter we express our outrage at these human rights violations, and support the groups within the Czech Republic who initially raised objections and are working to support both people with HIV and the public health of all those living in the country.

Our main objections to the recent development are based on several arguments:

It violates the fundamental human right to personal integrity and privacy (Art 7 Sec. 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms), and breaches the Czech Republic’s international obligations under the existing National HIV/AIDS Strategy;
It is counterproductive to public health, ignoring well established WHO and UNAIDS recommendations on appropriate use of public health and criminal law as it relates to HIV. Evidence shows that criminalisation of HIV non-disclosure, potential or perceived exposure or non-intentional transmission deter people from getting tested and force them to hide their HIV status and/or sexual orientation, thus reducing opportunities for treatment which greatly reduces infectiousness.
There is a substantial body of evidence to show that the overly broad HIV criminalisation, in any form, is harmful for both individuals and society as it leads to increased latency of the epidemic, deters people from getting tested and treated, and thus ultimately contributes to a growing epidemic. We recognize that there has been a constant and alarming increase in the rate of new HIV infections in Europe in the last ten years. However, the active discrimination and violation of the human rights of any group of society will not contribute to the curbing of the epidemic.
The proposed prosecution of people living with HIV for alleged intentional spread of infectious diseases, or in fact the transfer of any health-related data of individual from the health care system to law enforcement organisations is potentially a violation of the European Union’s Data Protection Directive.

We demand that the Government of the Czech Republic adheres to the international principles and treaties, and scientific evidence universally accepted in the practice of HIV prevention, and we also demand that the current level of HIV care in the country is maintained and improved to assure at-risk groups feel that getting tested for HIV is and should be a reasonable decision for them. Nothing is as effective in linking to and retention in care than disseminating the right information, and fighting stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV, or any other groups such as men having sex with men. The active discrimination and legal persecution of people with HIV is in diametrical opposition to this evidence.

The signatories will continue to support local non-governmental organisations and other actors in their efforts to prevent HIV criminalization becoming a public health policy. We call on the Government of Czech Republic to ensure that the Prague Public Health Authority reverses this policy and ends police investigations of people with HIV simply for being diagnosed with an STI and instead relies on good public health practice as the most effective strategy to deal with HIV/AIDS.

Speaking on behalf of millions of people living with and affected by HIV across Europe, as well as experts in HIV science, public health and human rights, the signatories are ready to provide advice, guidance and the collection of good practices relating to HIV prevention to the government.

Contact:

HIV Justice Network: Edwin J Bernard, edwin@hivjustice.net

European AIDS Treatment Group: Tamás Bereczky on tamas.bereczky@eatg.org

Download and share the letter (with references). Also available on the EATG website

Open Letter to Prague Public Health Authority

Footnote: At the request of Czech AIDS Society a number of organisations representing European networks of communities of people living with and affected by HIV, doctors and scientists wrote today to head of Prague’s Public Health Authority to raise our concern about the initiation of a police investigation into the sex lives of 30 men living with HIV on the sole grounds that these men have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (STI).

We hereby would like to stress that disseminating the right information, and fighting stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV, or any other groups such as men having sex with men has proved have proved to be effective in responding to the epidemic, to link to and retain persons in care. The active discrimination and legal persecution of people with HIV is in diametrical opposition to this evidence.

Letter to Dr. Zdeňka Jágrová, Hygienicka, Head of the Prague Public Health Authority

Czech Officials Launch Criminal Investigation Into 30 Gay Men Over HIV Exposure

Kenya: KELIN to challenge President Kenyatta's plan to keep a list of every child and breastfeeding/expectant mothers living with HIV