US: Advocates seek to modernise HIV laws and HIV prevention education

Experts call for modernized HIV education and decriminalization in Oklahoma

Experts said they hope to finally get legislation across the finish line to improve how students are taught about HIV and to decriminalize exposure.

Oklahoma’s current guidelines for HIV education were passed in 1987 and have not been updated since, but previous efforts to modernize them have fallen short amid misinformation and difficulties dispelling outdated stigmas surrounding the virus.

“A lot has happened since 1987 in the field of HIV that our education mandate just doesn’t include,” said Sara Raines, a sexual health educator with the Oklahoma City-County Health Department. “So not only was it written in a way that’s outdated, but it just leaves a lot out. … I think, especially when you look at Oklahoma’s current HIV epidemic, public school education is a great way that we can start making progress in other areas.”

Raines said Oklahoma is one of seven states the federal government has identified as having disproportionately high HIV diagnoses in rural areas. She also said most new HIV diagnoses in Oklahoma in 2022 were for people under the age of 34, which is on par with national trends.

“We tend to think of HIV being something that happens in other places, but it’s here as well,” she said. “Something that is unique about Oklahoma’s epidemic is that we have a pretty disproportionate rural burden of HIV.”

Oklahoma is also one of 34 states that have laws criminalizing HIV exposure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nicole McAfee, executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, said these laws are “not rooted in science.” Freedom Oklahoma is a group advocating for LGBTQ+ Oklahomans.

With modern advancements in medicine, people living with HIV who are receiving treatment can have “an undetectable viral load” which means they cannot transmit HIV sexually. Oklahoma’s state statute does not reflect these advancements.

McAfee, who uses they/them pronouns, said efforts to decriminalize the virus usually come with two parts: repealing criminalization in statute and offering a pathway for those who have been incarcerated through the law, potentially through resentencing.

“I think as we think about how we address the harms of criminalization,” they said. “It’s been really important for us, rooted in work we’re doing with the community, that in addition to repealing and thinking about how the state goes forward, we also think about steps to begin to repair harm done to communities who’ve been disproportionately targeted by criminalization.”

State law requires prevention education on HIV and AIDS, but the language of the statute is outdated, Raines said.

The state Legislature has seen few efforts to update the curriculum standards, but most have been unsuccessful. In 2019, the Legislature sent a bill to the governor’s desk that would have modernized HIV education but Gov. Kevin Stitt vetoed it.

Since then, McAfee said, the state has seen efforts to lower standards for sexual education in general, or to remove it completely. When it comes to HIV education, McAfee said some lawmakers and law enforcement have demonstrated hesitation for change because of misinformation.

“I hope that as we continue to create spaces like this and folks continue to see the harm that we will see more legislators join in introducing bills specifically to address HIV modernization,” they said.

Freedom Oklahoma will be hosting an informational session at the Oklahoma Capitol Wednesday. McAfee said it’s intended to “share information and continue trying to educate folks, both in the Legislature and in the general public, about why HIV modernization is a priority.”

Sens. Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, and Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, are set to attend the session.

US: First hearing imminent on two bills aiming to overhaul HIV criminalisation laws in line with modern science

Sweeping language introduced to modernize Ohio’s HIV laws proposed by an unlikely lawmaker
Decades of efforts to update six unscientific Ohio laws are being (sort of) championed by one conservative Republican lawmaker.

Earlier this year, Ohio Rep. Sara Carruthers (R-Hamilton) surprised many LGBTQ+ advocates when she introduced two bills to protect the rights of people living with HIV.

There are no co-sponsors on either bill, just Carruthers: a conservative Ohio Republican with only seven weeks left in office who is also a primary sponsor of one of the most anti-LGBTQ+ bills currently being considered by the Ohio legislature.

Still, Carruthers’ office sent out a press release on May 10 that LGBTQ+ advocates had been waiting many years to read:

“State Rep. Sara Carruthers will hold a press conference to discuss the recent introduction of House Bill 498. The legislation will remove the criminal offense related to donating blood when the donor has HIV.”

Just a few weeks earlier and after she lost her March primary, Carruthers introduced both HB 498 and HB 513. These two bills aim to overhaul the Ohio Revised Code to bring laws affecting living with HIV more in line with modern science and research.

Then, the day before the press conference was to be held, Carruthers canceled the event with no explanation. She subsequently did not respond to multiple requests – phone calls, emails and website submission forms – to comment on the legislation.

But now, six months later, a first hearing on the two bills appears imminent, and Carruthers is speaking out – a little – on the legislation that so many Ohioans have fought for years to see proposed.

Enforcement without science

Currently Ohio has six laws on the books that either criminalize certain acts for people living with HIV – including sexual acts with zero possibility of HIV transmission – or substantially increase sentences for this population compared to people who do not have the virus.

In February, Equality Ohio and Ohio Health Modernization Movement (OHMM), a coalition of advocacy groups and community leaders, released results of a three-year effort to count prosecutions in Ohio’s 88 counties. Compiling information from court dockets and public records requests to court clerks and prosecutors, the groups tallied 214 cases prosecuted over a six-year period, from 2014 to 2020.

Notable recent cases have included Caymir Weaver, a 23-year-old Mahoning County resident who was sentenced in 2023 to a year in prison for exposing someone to HIV even though he couldn’t transmit the virus.

With Ohioans actively being prosecuted under the six laws, advocates say the sense of urgency to reform the statutes is clear.

“It’s finally time to have the laws match the science,” said Bryan Jones, steering committee member of OHMM.

But the path forward to this much-needed reform?

“That’s definitely less clear,” said Jones.

Updating Ohio’s laws

Ohio’s laws that criminalize living with HIV were first passed in 1989. That year, AIDS-related complications were the second leading cause of death among men between 25 and 44 years.

The original laws did not specifically reference HIV status, instead requiring prosecutors to prove that having sex while living with “the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome” was akin to carrying a deadly weapon.

Several high-profile examples of HIV transmission dominated the country’s attention in the 1990s, notably the New York case of Nushawn Williams, who had sex with over 100 women.

Following the media panic caused by cases like that of Williams, many states updated their HIV laws. In 2000, Ohio’s laws were changed to more specifically add HIV status into the language and criminalize exposure, not transmission.

Carruthers’ two bills would modernize the law and reduce prosecutions:

  • HB 498 (“To remove criminal offense related to donating blood with AIDS virus”): This bill would repeal the following language in the Ohio Revised Code that currently charges individuals living with HIV with a fourth-degree felony if they sell or donate their blood or blood plasma knowing that it is being accepted for possible transfusion to another individual.
  • HB 513 (“To revise criminal and disciplinary provisions relating to HIV, AIDS”): This expansive bill would reform or repeal several state laws currently criminalizing living with HIV, including:
    • Repealing the law that imposes a felony charge on those who engage in sexual conduct before disclosing their HIV status.
    • Repealing the mandatory testing requirements for people accused of committing felonious assault and causing someone to come into contact with bodily fluids.
    • Eliminating several felony enhancements for people living with HIV, including for people engaging in sex work after an HIV diagnosis.
    • Providing an expungement process for those who had previously been convicted of HIV-specific felonious assault and a process by which individuals can be removed from the sex offender registry due to an HIV-specific felonious assault conviction.
    • Removing stigmatizing and inaccurate language.
    • Providing protections against non-consensual HIV testing and HIV information disclosure.

“After over 30 years of HIV research and significant biomedical advancements to treat and prevent HIV transmission, many state laws are now outdated and do not reflect our current understanding of HIV,” Carruthers said in a statement on November 8.

Carruthers said that the current laws increase stigma, exacerbate disparities and may discourage HIV testing: the very opposite of how to approach a public health issue.

“It is crucial for Ohioans to recognize that HIV is not a crime; it is a health condition that requires that supportive network of healthcare professionals across the state dedicated to ending the HIV epidemic,” Carruthers said.

An unlikely sponsor 

Carruthers lost a March primary 53.1% to 46.9% to Pastor Diane Mullins, a pastor at Calvary Church who openly espouses anti-LGBTQ+ views and conspiracy theories in her sermons and who went on to win the Ohio House seat in the general election in November.

Carruthers was one of 22 Republicans who joined all House Democrats in voting to seat Jason Stephens as House Speaker, a move which caused her to be condemned by the Ohio Republican party and made her the subject of funding efforts that successfully defeated her in favor of a more conservative Republican candidate.

Which is not to say that Carruthers isn’t a staunch conservative, including on LGBTQ+ issues.

Carruthers is the primary co-sponsor of HB 8, the Parents Bill of Rights, a bill that would force all teachers and school staff – including school social workers, counselors and psychologists – to out LGBTQ+ students to their parents.

The bill also requires parental notification for any LGBTQ+ content in the curriculum and bans LGBTQ+ content in grades K through 3, which could include same-sex parents or gay penguinsin children’s books.

Despite the provisions of the bill that would forcibly out LGBTQ+ students, Carruthers declared during a House session in June 2023 that the bill was solely about protecting the rights of parents.

“The Parents’ Bill of Rights is not anti-LGBTQ, nor does it have anything to do with the LGBTQ+ community,” she said, contradicting the specific language of the bill regarding LGBTQ+ youth. HB 8 passed the House in 2023 and now sits in the Education Committee of the Senate.

She has spoken out against the sports participation of trans females and voted for HB 68, the ban on trans female athletes and gender-affirming care for Ohio minors.

Thus on paper, her sponsorship of these HIV decriminalization bills may look surprising, but advocates of the bills say she had personal motivation to get involved.

“She was immediately on board because she had her own personal experiences having lost friends because of HIV. She took this up and we’re grateful that she did,” said Maria Bruno, then public policy director of Equality Ohio, in March.

Carruthers’ sudden cancellation of the press conference left advocates scrambling to put together an event with medical experts and community leaders to speak on behalf of the bills, minus the presence of the state representative actually sponsoring the legislation.

“She wanted to have the press conference after a first hearing so that it could be more finite and comprehensive,” Carruthers’ office told The Buckeye Flame.

The path forward

Carruthers’ office has said that HB 498 and 513 will have a first hearing in the Criminal Justice committee during this upcoming lame duck session: the period of time after the November election when legislators execute a mad dash to pass legislation. On January 1, bills that have not yet been passed have to start the legislative process from scratch, minus legislators who lost their elections, which includes Carruthers.

“She is actively looking and hopeful to find a representative who will continue with this legislative journey in the upcoming GA,” said a representative from Carruthers’ office.

Decriminalization advocates say they are committed to HIV law modernization, no matter how long it takes.

“We all know this might take a few years, but we are willing to stick together and do this work,” said Kim Welter of OHMM.

Still, there is hope that HB 498 and 513 will resonate with legislators.

“What we have seen is an appetite for criminal justice reform,” said Bruno. “We have faith that [legislators] will see this for what it is, which is ultimately criminal justice reform.”

In order to be successful, advocates say education for Ohio legislators will be critical.

“Basically we need to do the education and to help our legislators get out of the 80s and into the 2020s to learn about things like [undetectable = untransmittable], PrEP and other things they might not know,” said Welter.

Although they are in it for the long haul, advocates’ appetite for change is not new. Bryan Jones has been working on introducing modernization legislation since 2009. He is pleased with this burst of progress with HB 498 and 513, but noted the finish line is off in the distance.

“This is as close as we have ever gotten to modernizing Ohio’s laws, but we clearly have so much further to go,” said Jones.

IGNITE ACTION

  • Contact the members of the Criminal Justice Committee here to weigh in on HB 498 and 513.
  • Read the OHMM (“Enforcement of HIV Criminalization in Ohio: Analysis of Court Cases from 2014 to 2020”) report here.
  • Read the Williams report (“Enforcement of HIV Criminalization in Ohio HIV-related criminal incidents from 2000 to 2022”) here.
  • Catch up on all of Ohio’s current LGBTQ-related legislation by checking out our Legislative Guide here.

Mexico: Congresswoman presents HIV decriminalisation bill in Tlaxcala Congress

A bill to repeal the crime of the danger of contagion was presented before the Plenary of the Congress.

Translated via Deepl. For the original article in Spanish, scroll down.

Congresswoman Aurora Villeda Temoltzin presented before the Plenary of the State Congress, a bill that seeks to decriminalise patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and other diseases, in line with the recommendations of the State Human Rights Commission of Tlaxcala. In this sense, the legislator stressed that people living with HIV are entitled to the same human rights enshrined in the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States.

In her explanatory statement, the deputy of the Redes Sociales Progresistas party argued that, although the current provision that typifies the crime of danger of contagion in the Criminal Code of the State of Tlaxcala seeks to protect public health, its application may result in violations of the fundamental rights of a group that already faces discrimination because of their health status. She also pointed out that the population in treatment for HIV represents only 0.8% at the national level, which makes the revision of these norms even more urgent.

Following working groups held with the Office of Attention to Sexual Diversity of the Ministry of Culture of Tlaxcala, activists from the LGBTTTI Collective and various NGOs involved, Villeda Temoltzin proposed the repeal of Chapter I of Title Eleven of Book Two, as well as article 302 and section V of article 434 of the Penal Code of the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala.

After its presentation in the Plenary, the bill was passed to the Commission of Constitutional Issues, Governance, Justice and Political Affairs of the LXV Legislature for its study, analysis and corresponding ruling.

Presentan ante el Pleno del Congreso, proyecto para derogar el delito del peligro de contagio

Ante el Pleno del Congreso del Estado, la diputada Aurora Villeda Temoltzin presentó un proyecto de decreto que busca descriminalizar a los pacientes con Virus de Inmunodeficiencia Humana (VIH) y otras enfermedades, alineándose con las recomendaciones de la Comisión Estatal de Derechos Humanos de Tlaxcala. En este sentido, la legisladora subrayó que las personas que viven con VIH son titulares de los mismos derechos humanos consagrados en la Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos.

En su exposición de motivos, la diputada del partido Redes Sociales Progresistas argumentó que, aunque la disposición vigente que tipifica el delito de peligro de contagio en el Código Penal del Estado de Tlaxcala busca proteger la salud pública, su aplicación puede resultar en violaciones a los derechos fundamentales de un grupo que ya enfrenta discriminación por su estado de salud. Señaló además que la población en tratamiento por VIH representa apenas un 0.8% a nivel nacional, lo que hace aún más urgente la revisión de estas normas.

Derivado de mesas de trabajo celebradas con la Oficina de Atención a la Diversidad Sexual de la Secretaría de Cultura de Tlaxcala, activistas del Colectivo LGBTTTI y diversas ONG involucradas, Villeda Temoltzin propuso la derogación de la denominación del Capítulo I del Título Décimo Primero del Libro Segundo, así como el artículo 302 y la fracción V del artículo 434 del Código Penal del Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala.

Tras su presentación en el Pleno, el proyecto de decreto fue turnado a la Comisión de Puntos Constitucionales, Gobernación, Justicia y Asuntos Políticos de la LXV Legislatura para su estudio, análisis y dictaminación correspondiente.

Ukraine: Bill to remove HIV specific article from criminal code to be considered by parliament

A specific article on transmission of HIV or of an other incurable infectious disease will be removed from the Criminal Code

Translated with Deepl. Scroll down for original article in Russian

The Verkhovna Rada will consider a draft law by Oleksandra Ustinova, which proposes to remove a separate article from the Criminal Code for HIV infection, which, according to the authors, threatens the criminal liability of HIV-positive people, as well as people suffering from venereal diseases.

A separate article 130, which criminalises the transmission of HIV or of another incurable infectious disease, is proposed to be removed from the Criminal Code. The corresponding draft law 9398, which was registered by MPs Oleksandra Ustinova, Mykhaylo Radutskyy and others, was recommended for first reading by the VR Committee on Law Enforcement on 7 October.
According to the authors, ‘the Criminal Code of Ukraine, preserving the Soviet tradition of criminalising only sexually transmitted diseases, actually provides for liability for HIV/AIDS (Article 130 of the Criminal Code) and venereal diseases (Article 133 of the Criminal Code)’.

‘Such a situation leads, on the one hand, to the existence of gaps in the criminal-legal health care of a person from guilty actions resulting in the infection of an infectious disease, on the other hand, to the stigmatisation of persons on the basis of their health condition.
This stigmatisation consists in the fact that under the threat of criminal liability are, first of all, HIV-positive people, as well as people suffering from venereal diseases, who are considered as potential criminals’ – the people’s deputies point out.
The proposed changes, according to the authors, will allow HIV-positive people, people with AIDS or venereal diseases to focus their efforts on treatment and the quality of their own lives, rather than fighting fears of being punished.

The bill also seeks to eliminate discrimination based on health status. In addition, the draft law is designed to fulfil Ukraine’s international commitments to bring its national legislation in line with the EU standards.
The MPs also point out that ‘Ukraine is currently facing the challenge of a new wave of HIV epidemic’ and ‘one of the effective mechanisms to reduce the spread of HIV is decriminalisation of contacts and transmission of the disease’.
‘According to estimates by international organisations there were more than 240,000 HIV-infected people in Ukraine at the time of the full-scale invasion, each of whom is already potentially the subject of an offence under Part 1 Article 130 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Given the manifestation of HIV in the temporarily occupied territories, the state and society as a whole should already create conditions to prevent HIV epidemics after their de-occupation. People’s fear of potential criminal liability will lead to reluctance to undergo screening, which will negatively affect the epidemic situation. In addition, the existence of liability for knowingly putting another person at risk of HIV infection makes it possible to interfere in a person’s private life, restrict their right to reproduction and normal coexistence with the world around them.

International and national experience shows that criminalisation of contacts of people with HIV status does not achieve its goal, but only burdens the already difficult life of an HIV-positive person, automatically putting his or her existence on the edge of the law,’ the authors of the bill believe.

Из Уголовного кодекса уберут отдельную статью за заражение ВИЧ или вирусом другой неизлечимой инфекционной болезни

Верховная Рада рассмотрит законопроект Александры Устиновой, которым предлагается исключить из Уголовного кодекса отдельную статью за заражение ВИЧ, которая, по словам авторов, ставит под угрозу уголовной ответственности ВИЧ-положительных людей, а также людей, страдающих венерическими заболеваниями.

Из Уголовного кодекса предлагается исключить отдельную статью 130, которая предусматривает уголовную ответственность за заражение вирусом иммунодефицита человека (ВИЧ) или другой неизлечимой инфекционной болезни. Соответствующий законопроект 9398, который зарегистрировали народные депутаты Александра Устинова, Михаил Радуцкий и другие, 7 октября рекомендовал принять в первом чтении Комитет ВР по вопросам правоохранительной деятельности.
Как отмечают авторы, «Уголовный кодекс Украины, сохраняя советские традиции криминализации заражения только болезнями, передающимися половым путем, фактически предусматривает ответственность за заражение ВИЧ/СПИДом (статья 130 УК) и венерическими заболеваниями (статья 133 УК)».

«Такая ситуация приводит, с одной стороны, к существованию пробелы в уголовно-правовом здравоохранении человека от виновных действий, повлекших заражение инфекционной болезнью, с другой – к стигматизации лиц по состоянию здоровья.
Указанная стигматизация состоит в том, что под угрозой уголовной ответственности находятся, в первую очередь, ВИЧ-положительные люди, а также люди, страдающие венерическими заболеваниями, которые рассматриваются как потенциальные преступники» – указывают народные депутаты.
Предложенные изменения, по мнению авторов, позволят ВИЧ-позитивным людям, людям, страдающим СПИДом, или страдающим венерическими болезнями, сосредоточить свои усилия именно на лечении и качестве собственной жизни, а не борьбе со страхами быть наказанными.

Также законопроект направлен на устранение дискриминации по состоянию здоровья. Кроме того, законопроект призван выполнить взятые Украиной международные обязательства в части приведения национального законодательства в соответствие со стандартами ЕС.
Народные депутаты также указывают, что «в настоящее время Украина стоит перед вызовом новой волны эпидемии ВИЧ», и «одним из действенных механизмов уменьшения распространения ВИЧ является декриминализация контактов и передачи заболевания».
«По оценочным данным международных организаций в Украине на момент полномасштабного вторжения находилось более 240 000 ВИЧ-инфицированных, каждый из которых уже потенциально является субъектом преступления, предусмотренного ч. 1 ст. 130 УК Украины. Учитывая манифестацию ВИЧ на временно оккупированных территориях, государство и общество в целом уже должны создать условия для недопущения эпидемии ВИЧ после их деоккупации. Страх людей перед потенциальной уголовной ответственностью приведет к нежеланию проходить обследование, что негативно повлияет на эпидемическую ситуацию. Кроме того, наличие ответственности за сознательное поставление другого лица в опасность заражения ВИЧ делает возможным вмешательство в частную жизнь человека, ограничение его права на репродукцию и нормальное сосуществование с окружающим миром.

Международный и национальный опыт свидетельствуют, что криминализация контактов людей с ВИЧ-статусом не достигает своей цели, а лишь тяготит и так не легкую жизнь ВИЧ-положительного человека, автоматически ставя его существование на грани закона», – считают авторы законопроекта.

India: Mizoram Legislative Forum on HIV/AIDS discusses possibility of mandatory HIV testing for all citizens

Mizoram legislators bat for mandatory HIV testing amid rising cases

A meeting of the Mizoram Legislative Forum on HIV/AIDS was held on Tuesday, chaired by Health Minister Lalrinpuii at the SAD Conference Hall, MINECO. The session focused on the state’s rising HIV cases and discussed the possibility of introducing a mandatory HIV testing policy for all citizens.

In her address, Lalrinpuii emphasized the importance of addressing the issue head-on, noting that HIV/AIDS, once perceived as a disease affecting certain groups, now impacts a broader section of the population. She urged legislators and MLAs to actively raise awareness in their constituencies and stressed the need for proactive measures to curb the spread of the virus.

The forum reviewed Mizoram’s HIV situation, referencing the 2023 HIV Estimation Report, which revealed the state’s adult HIV prevalence rate at 2.73%—much higher than the national average of 0.2%. Since the first detection of HIV cases in 1990, Mizoram has recorded 31,461 HIV-positive cases, including 2,541 children.

It was noted that 63.93% of HIV transmissions in the state are due to unprotected sexual intercourse, while 30.80% result from sharing needles and syringes. Currently, 16,661 people in Mizoram are receiving Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), with 5,277 deaths recorded due to HIV/AIDS complications.

The state has 39 Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTCs) and 14 ART centers providing treatment to HIV-positive individuals. However, challenges remain as many HIV-positive patients, despite being eligible for ART, stop taking their medication or lose contact with healthcare providers. To address this, the forum proposed linking patients’ treatment records to their Aadhar cards.

The meeting also discussed expanding HIV testing and treatment services. In consultation with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), the forum suggested making HIV testing more accessible and floated the idea of implementing a mandatory testing policy to combat the virus’s spread.

The forum concluded that urgent action is needed to control Mizoram’s HIV epidemic and ensure better health outcomes for those affected.

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”.

US: Legislative study in Oklahoma could lead to repeal of STI and HIV criminalisation laws

Interim study will examine Oklahoma laws that criminalize spreading STIs, HIV

An interim legislative study will evaluate the criminalization of sexually transmitted infections and HIV in Oklahoma.

State Sens. Julia Kirt and Carri Hicks, both Democrats representing Oklahoma City, are co-sponsors of the study with the goal of educating and correcting misinformation on sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV. The study could also lead to renewed legislation to repeal several laws that criminalize intentionally spreading transmitted diseases.

Advocates say a public health response is more appropriate than a criminal sentence. Oklahoma’s laws currently carry a felony charge and two to five years in prison if a person is found to have intentionally or recklessly spread HIV, smallpox, syphilis or gonorrhea.

Kirt said her district covers an area with some of the most active testing facilities for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases (STD), and her constituents are concerned because the laws that criminalize intentional spreading also bring with them several stigmas that tend to stop people from getting tested.

“If adding a crime for those is what helps get people better, we wouldn’t have such problems,” she said.

Freedom Oklahoma Executive Director Nicole McAfee said she agreed with Kirt and said the study has been several years in the making.

Freedom Oklahoma, a local advocacy organization, started the conversation with local and national partners in public health, direct service providers and others involved with public health criminalization to look at Oklahoma’s laws that establish criminal penalties for intentionally tansmitting diseases such as HIV.

McAfee said Oklahoma needs “a sex education one-on-one and some of that real public health discussion so that we can better talk about sexually transmitted infections in ways that are a public health response and not a criminalization or sort of moralistic response.”

Some lawmakers, including Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, R-Elgin, say the reasons for criminalization relate to domestic violence. House Bill 3098, introduced this year, would have added several more diseases that could be criminalized. The bill passed the House to the Senate Public Safety Committee but did not advance further. It was sponsored by Sen. Jessica Garvin, R-Duncan.

In a written statement to The Oklahoman, Hasenbeck said she wants to pursue the legislation in the future and follow the study closely.

“Throughout my years of working on legislation addressing domestic abuse, I’ve heard countless stories from Oklahomans who were deliberately infected with diseases by a sexual partner,” she said. “These diseases sometimes cause severe, long-lasting consequences, like liver disease and infertility. Beyond the physical health implications, there’s the profound emotional distress of discovering that a trusted partner has knowingly and willfully inflicted harm.”

McAfee said that when Hasenbeck’s bill was discussed, it was clear that a stigma against people with STIs and HIV still existed. She said topics like testing status, dirty versus clean language, and intentionality were difficult “to dig into when there’s inadequate sex education and sexual health resources for many people.”

“I think we can all agree that we’ve learned a lot about sexual health since 1910, and maybe the responses that we had and came up with at that point in time should not be the same ones that we utilize today,” she said.

As of 2023, 34 states have laws that criminalize HIV exposure, but 13 states have “modernized” or repealed these laws, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Not the first time decriminalization has been proposed

Last year, Rep. Mauree Turner, D-Oklahoma City, introduced House Bill 2343 that would have repealed two 1910 laws that criminalized public exposure with a contagious disease and intentionally spreading smallpox, syphilis and gonorrhea, as well as a 1988 law that criminalized the intentional spreading of HIV/AIDS. The bill died in the House Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee.

McAfee said the conversation showed how little a lot of legislators know about HIV, especially in the modern sense.

“We heard a lot of misinformation repeated as fact from folks,” she said.

Old stigmas surface in modern politics

McAfee said the highest number of STI and HIV cases are often in rural areas where access to health services can be farther away and that Oklahoma ranks in the top seven states for rural transmission. She said people in smaller communities who receive services from providers at clinics who might be people they encounter on a regular basis might not want to risk having everyone know their health status.

“It’s really disappointing that all of these decades later when we know so much more, when there is a lot more prevention and treatment accessible, that we still have legislators whose knowledge of HIV/AIDS is rooted in sort of mid-’80s stigma and misinformation,” she said, adding that some “are governing from that basic fear or this desire to sort of impose morality on your folks, in particular, instead of realizing that this is a public health conversation.”

Kirt and McAfee said they want people to be more educated on the science and health aspects of STIs and HIV, reduce the stigma attached to the problems and encourage more testing.

Kirt said she would be interested in introducing legislation in the next session to address the laws. No date for holding the interim study has yet been set.

“We have to look at true bipartisan approaches to really solve problems instead of kind of short-term, short-sighted ways of approaching problems,” Kirt said.

US: Sex workers convicted of aggravated prostitution because of their HIV status to be removed from Sex Offender Registry

Tennessee agrees to remove sex workers with HIV from sex offender registry

The Tennessee government has agreed to begin scrubbing its sex offender registry of dozens of people who were convicted of prostitution while having HIV, reversing a practice that federal lawsuits have challenged as draconian and discriminatory.

For more than three decades, Tennessee’s “aggravated prostitution” laws have made prostitution a misdemeanor for most sex workers but a felony for those who are HIV-positive. Tennessee toughened penalties in 2010 by reclassifying prostitution with HIV as a “violent sexual offense” with a lifetime registration as a sex offender — even if protection is used.

At least 83 people are believed to be on Tennessee’s sex offender registry solely because of these laws, with most living in the Memphis area, where undercover police officers and prosecutors most often invoked the statute, commonly against Black and transgender women, according to a lawsuit filed last year by the American Civil Liberties Union and four women who were convicted of aggravated prostitution. The Department of Justice challenged the law in a separate suit earlier this year.

Both lawsuits argue that Tennessee law does not account for evolving science on the transmission of HIV or precautions that prevent its spread, like use of condoms. Both lawsuits also argue that labeling a person as a sex offender because of HIV unfairly limits where they can live and work and stops them from being alone with grandchildren or minor relatives.

“Tennessee’s Aggravated Prostitution statute is the only law in the nation that treats people living with HIV who engage in any sex work, even risk-free encounters, as ‘violent sex offenders’ subjected to lifetime registration,” the ACLU lawsuit states.

“That individuals living with HIV are treated so differently can only be understood as a remnant of the profoundly prejudiced early response to the AIDS epidemic.”

In a settlement agreement signed by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on July 15 and filed in both lawsuits on July 17, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said it would comb through the state’s sex offender registry to find those added solely because of aggravated prostitution convictions, then send letters alerting those people that they can make a written request to be removed. The language of the settlement suggests that people will need to request their removal from the registry, but the agency said in the agreement it will make “its best effort” to act on the requests “promptly in the order in which they are received.”

The Tennessee attorney general’s office, which represents the state in both the ACLU and DOJ lawsuits and approved the settlement agreement, said in an email statement it would “continue to defend Tennessee’s prohibition on aggravated prostitution.”

In an email statement, the ACLU celebrated the settlement as “one step toward remedying the harms by addressing the sex offender registration,” but said its work in Tennessee was not done because aggravated prostitution remained a felony charge that it would “fight to overturn.”

Molly Quinn, executive director of LGBTQ+ support organization OUTMemphis, another plaintiff in the ACLU lawsuit, said both organizations would help eligible people with the paperwork to get removed from the registry.

“We would not have agreed to settle if we did not feel like this was a process that would be extremely beneficial,” Quinn said. “But, we’re sad that the statute existed as long as it did and sad that there is any process at all that folks have to go through after living with this extraordinary burden of being on the sex offender registry for really an irrelevant reason.”

Michelle Anderson, a Memphis resident who is one of the plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit, said in court records that since being convicted of aggravated prostitution, the sex offender label has made it so difficult to find a home and a job that she was “unhoused for about a year” and has at times “felt she had no option but to continue to engage in sex work to survive.”

Like the other plaintiffs, Anderson said her conviction kept her minor relatives at a distance.

“Ms. Anderson has a nephew she loves, but she cannot have a close relationship with him,” the lawsuit states. “Even though Ms. Anderson’s convictions had nothing to do with children, she cannot legally be alone with her nephew.”

The Tennessee settlement comes months after state lawmakers softened the law so no one else should be added to the sex offender registry for aggravated prostitution. Lawmakers removed the registration requirement and made convictions eligible for expungement if the defendant testifies they were a victim of human trafficking.

State Sen. Page Walley (R-Savannah), who supported the original aggravated prostitution law passed in 1991 and co-sponsored the recent bill to amend it, said on the floor of the legislature that the changes do not prevent prosecutors from charging people with a felony for aggravated prostitution. Instead, he said, the amendments undo the 2010 law that put those who are convicted on the registry “along with pedophiles and rapists for a lifetime, with no recourse for removal.”

“Having stood, as I mentioned, in 1991 and passed this,” Walley said, “it is a particular gratifying moment for me to see how we continue to evolve and seek what’s just and what’s right and what’s best.”

Malaysia: Latest attempt to amend the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act retains many of its controversial provisions

Act 342 Amendment Bill Treats Infection Like A Criminal Offence
By Alifah Zainuddin | 15 July 2024

The Act 342 Amendment Bill 2024 treats infection like a criminal offence, raising compounds on individuals to RM5,000 and granting Health DG vast powers over isolation and surveillance, among others, and CPC investigation powers for authorised officers.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) is making its latest attempt to amend the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342), while retaining many of the controversial provisions that led to previous failures.

The latest attempt is supposedly in line with a recent decision by the World Health Organization (WHO) member countries to adopt critical amendments to the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR).

This was supposed to include provisions for a National IHR Authority, an entity established at the national level to coordinate the implementation of the Regulations within the country’s jurisdiction. However, this provision is absent from the new bill.

Instead, the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Bill 2024 curiously retains many of the contentious elements from the previous amendment.

These include a revised Section 25 proposing compounds of up to RM5,000 for individuals and RM50,000 for companies; a revised Section 24 imposing general penalties of up to two years’ imprisonment or fines of up to RM10,000 for individuals, and up to RM100,000 for companies; and a new Section 31 that stipulates penalties for specific breaches of regulations, including imprisonment for up to two years or fines of up to RM8,000 for individuals, and imprisonment for up to two years or fines of up to RM50,000 for companies.

The new bill varies slightly from the previous amendment in terms of penalty amounts. It appears to impose tougher penalties on individuals (increasing from a maximum RM1,000 in compounds and RM2,000 in general fines), while reducing fines for corporations (decreasing from a maximum RM500,000 in compounds and RM2 million in general fines).

The bill also retains controversial provisions, including Section 21(A), which grants the Health Director-General broad powers to issue directives for controlling infectious diseases, including lockdowns and isolation.

Non-compliance is a criminal offence, extending the DG’s authority beyond the current Act, which regulates diseases like Covid-19, HIV, dengue, and tuberculosis.

Section 14A allows an an authorised officer to order any person who is infected or who he has “reason to believe” has been infected with an infectious disease to “undergo isolation or surveillance” in a specified place and for a determined period as the authorised officer may think fit or until he may be discharged without danger to the public.

Section 15A enables an authorised officer to issue any order to be complied with by any person who is infected or whom he has reason to believe to be infected, or any contact, for the “purpose of tracking and monitoring”. Such order may include order to wear any form of tracking device provided by the authorised officer and to use any digital application in any digital device as determined by the authorised officer.

Section 21B empowers the authorised officers to carry out investigation under Act 342 in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code [Act 593], while Section 21C empowers the authorised officers to require any person to furnish any information relating to the prevention and control of infectious diseases.

Although the new bill does not explicitly reference the IHR, the powers granted to the Health DG and authorised officers imply that the MOH will effectively act as both the IHR Focal Point and the National IHR Authority, as outlined in Article 4 of the IHR amendments.

Under Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration, the government tabled an Act 342 amendment bill in December 2021 – during the Covid pandemic – that raised compounds of offences from the current RM1,000 maximum to RM10,000 for individuals and up to RM500,000 for corporate bodies.

Individuals convicted of offences under Act 342 faced penalties of a maximum RM50,000 fine, up to three years’ jail, or both under Section 24 on the proposed amended general penalties. For corporate bodies, a maximum RM2 million fine upon conviction was proposed.

The bill underwent two revisions before being shelved in March 2022 due to intense public backlash. The punitive approach faced criticism from ordinary citizens, businesses, lawyers, and doctors.

Current Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad, among other lawmakers, opposed the bill, calling the proposed amendments a “cataclysmic failure”.

Mexico: Activists push to repeal Morelos outdated HIV Criminalisation law

Activists seek to repeal the crime of “danger of contagion” in Morelos

Translated with Deepl.com – Scroll down for original article in Spanish

Five people with HIV are in prison because of this article in the Morelos Penal Code, according to a civil association; in Mexico City this article has already been repealed.

Article 136 of the Penal Code of the State of Morelos reads: “Anyone who, knowing that he or she suffers from a serious illness during the infectious period, puts another person at risk of contagion, by any means of transmission of the disease, will be sentenced to six months to one year in prison and will be treated for up to one year”, a sanction that, according to the civil association Positivos Morelos, which works in favour of the rights of people with HIV in the state, should no longer exist.

This was stated by Carlos Batalla, founder of the association, who recalled that these sanctions were created during the 1980s, at the peak of HIV infections, thus contributing to a stigma that has been difficult to erase afterwards, in defence of the human rights of people infected by the virus.

What does the law say?

“According to this article, any person who can transmit any disease can be subject to a fine in the judicial system, and in this case it can go as far as imprisonment. It has already been repealed in Mexico City, because it is a very old law, created to mitigate the risk of contagion at the time, but people’s rights are more important,” said the activist.

“If the illness suffered by the agent is incurable, the prison sentence established in the previous paragraph shall be doubled,” the article continues.

According to Batalla, there are at least five people in the state of Morelos who are currently deprived of their liberty because of this article, citizens who were accused of having intentionally transmitted HIV:

“These cases have not been followed up, but we are looking to attend to them and see how we can help them,” he said.

He recalled that two years ago an initiative to repeal article 136 of the Penal Code was presented to the state Congress, but was unsuccessful.

Activistas buscan derogar delito de “peligro de contagio” en Morelos

Cinco personas con VIH están en prisión por la vigencia de este artículo en el Código Penal de Morelos, señala asociación civil; en la Ciudad de México este artículo ya fue derogado.

“A quien sabiendo que padece una enfermedad grave en periodo infectante, ponga en peligro de contagio a otro, mediante cualquier medio de transmisión del mal, se le aplicará de seis meses a un año de prisión y tratamiento en libertad hasta por un año”, se lee en el artículo 136 del Código Penal del Estado de Morelos, una sanción que, de acuerdo con la asociación civil Positivos Morelos, que trabaja en favor de los derechos de las personas con VIH en el estado, ya no debería existir.

Así lo expuso Carlos Batalla, fundador de la asociación, quien recordó que estas sanciones fueron creadas durante la década de 1980, en el auge de los contagios de VIH, contribuyendo así a un estigma que después ha costado trabajo borrar, en defensa de los derechos humanos de las personas contagiadas por el virus.

¿Qué dice la ley?

“De acuerdo con este artículo, cualquier persona que pueda transmitir alguna enfermedad puede ser acreedora a una multa en el tema judicial, y en este caso puede llegar hasta prisión. Ya se derogó en la Ciudad de México, porque es una ley muy antigua, creada para mitigar el riesgo de contagio en aquel entonces, pero son más importantes los derechos de las personas”, dijo el activista.

“Si fuese incurable la enfermedad que padece el agente, se duplicará la sanción privativa de libertad establecida en el párrafo anterior”, continúa el texto del artículo.

De acuerdo con Batalla, en el estado de Morelos hay por lo menos cinco personas que están actualmente privados de su libertad debido a este artículo, ciudadanos que fueron acusados de haber contagiado el VIH de manera intencional:

“A estos casos no se les ha dado seguimiento, pero estamos buscando atenderlos y ver de qué manera los podemos ayudar”, dijo.

Recordó que hace dos años se presentó una iniciativa para derogar el artículo 136 del Código Penal ante el Congreso del estado, la cual no tuvo éxito.