Uganda: Mapping of the legal environment shows how the current criminal justice system discriminates against people living with HIV

Published in the Daily Monitor on Febraury 22, 2019

Report shows how laws discriminate against HIV positive people

KAMPALA- Various existing laws criminalise people living with HIV/ Aids, according to a new report released in Kampala on Thursday.

The report is titled: “Draft report on the assessment and mapping of the legal environment on provisions of HIV and TB services to let populations, persons living with HIV and tuberculosis”

“The existing legal framework is not favourable for some categories of the key, vulnerable and priority populations to freely access health services in Uganda. Specifically, the lifestyles sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender persons and makes them most affected by the existing legal framework in Uganda,” read part of the report

It adds: “The laws criminalise sex work, same sex relationships and drug use. This results into violence, harassment, disappointment of sex workers and their legal recourse to address injustice against them.” “The other law, the HIV and Aids prevention and Control Act although not specifically targeting key vulnerable and priority populations, has implications for both the general affected by HIV in Uganda.”

The report indicates that the HIV and Aids Prevention and Control Act 2014 provides for voluntary HIV testing in Sub Section 9. However, the voluntarism is not considered if a person commits a sexual offense as part of the criminal proceedings and yet Section 8 provides for identity of a person tested with HIV not to be disclosed or released to any person except in accordance with the law and medical standards.

The report was carried out by civil society organisation Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) in conjunction with Aids and Rights Alliance for South Africa (ARASA).

The current criminal justice system is also discriminative as it hands down more deterrent jail terms to those suspects found to be living with HIV than their counterparts that are not.

Reacting to the aforementioned finding, a law professor at Makerere University, Prof. Ben Twinomugisha, explained that sometimes it’s prudent for the prosecution to take an HIV test of a suspect accused of committing a sexual offense for purposes of securing a conviction.

However, he was also quick to say that this compulsory HIV testing will lead to violation of their human rights and that this will drive those infected away instead of going to hospital to get medication.

“But a civil society organisation and I, have since petitioned court challenging Section 43 of the HIV Prevention and Control Act about criminalization of HIV,”  Prof. Twinomugisha said

“Why is it that a person suffering from Hepatitis B, which is more deadly than HIV are not subjected to a test when they commit a crime,” he wondered.

The study was carried out in three districts of Gulu, Mbarara and Tororo.

The study was mainly about the extent to which laws and policies protect and promote the rights of persons living with HIV/ Aids, let populations like sex workers, truck drivers and fishermen can access health care and services.

The HIV prevalence in Uganda stands at 6.2%. In 2016, approximately 1.4 million people were living with HIV and 28,000 Ugandans were estimated to have died of Aids-related illness.

Travel and long-stay restrictions for foreign nationals with HIV have no logical basis and have been deemed a human rights violation by the United Nations

Published in South China Morning Post on February 5, 2019

Visa restrictions for HIV-positive immigrants still in place in dozens of countries

  • Recent leak in Singapore of data of HIV-positive people renewed attention on its curbs on long-term stays by those who have the virus
  • Countries with restrictions include Russia and the United Arab Emirates; there’s no logical basis for them any more, UNAids says

A data leak of Singaporean medical records exposing the HIV-positive status of 14,200 people last month triggered concerns about a backlash for those whose health status was made public in a country that continues to stigmatise the disease.

But the case, involving the records of 8,800 foreign nationals who tested positive for HIV in Singapore, also shines a spotlight on the city state’s restrictive policies towards foreigners with HIV, who face barriers to staying in the country for more than 90 days unless married to a Singaporean national.

The records were leaked by a foreigner in just such a situation, American Mikhy Farrera Brochez, who was deported after serving jail time for drug-related crimes and fraud, including hiding his HIV status. He was able to access the records with help from his boyfriend, a Singaporean doctor.

Singapore is one of only a handful of developed nations that still have laws restricting the long-term stay of foreign nationals with HIV – laws that have been deemed a human rights violation by the United Nations.

“When this [1998] law was brought in there was a lot more fear of unknown issues around disease … but [today] the logic is just not borne out by any scientific or medical basis,” says Eamonn Murphy, UNAids regional director for Asia and the Pacific.

Instead, countries that still have such restrictions in place often do so because of “historical convention, ideology, or even passivity”, Murphy says. He notes that UNAids is renewing its focus on the issue this year, compiling a new report on national restrictions.

UNAids most recent comprehensive report on HIV-related travel and immigration laws in 2015 listed 35 countries with such restrictions.

However, incomplete data published in 2018 by UNAids named at least 18 countries that have policies restricting entry, stay or residence for people living with HIV. Information from many countries were left off the list, and will be updated this year to reflect the true extent. The same report found that 60 countries require testing for residence or other permits, including marriage, not limited to foreigners.

The exact numbers, however, are difficult to pin down, experts say. An independently researched global database counts 49 countries with HIV-related restrictions on long-term stay in 2018, based on information sourced from local embassies and reports from travellers and immigrants. Countries with restrictions include Russia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.

“The data the countries present about themselves in diplomatic settings can be different from the policies that are actually executed,” says American epidemiologist Jessica Keralis, who has researched the public health impacts of such HIV-related restrictions.

For example, countries may not have regulations “on the books”, but employers can revoke visas for HIV-positive employees, or state insurance policy can make it difficult for immigrants to afford treatment, she says.

In other cases, official policy may not be known by regional or local officials and institutions.

These distinctions matter for HIV-positive immigrants, whether white-collar workers, migrant labourers or students, according to David Haerry, who publishes the Global Database on HIV-Specific Travel and Residence Restrictions, which names the 49 countries.

“Oftentimes people [sent abroad for work] don’t know and they fall in the trap: if you don’t know and you have to be tested on the ground, and then you are sent back on health grounds, your company knows,” he says. “It’s a big issue.”

Haerry receives daily emails through the database from people around the world wondering how to travel or relocate safely while living with HIV. In recent years, he’s seen restrictive policies become more of an issue for students looking to study abroad, but who fear the consequences of mandatory HIV testing even in countries where there is no explicit restriction on those who are HIV-positive.

For such situations, “we have no solution”, Haerry says.

Many national restrictions are holdovers from the 1980s, before the disease’s transmission was understood and the antiretroviral therapies and daily medications that can prevent its spread became widely available, according to UNAids’ Murphy. But he has seen progress globally.

A number of countries changed their policies after UNAids launched a 2008 campaign against the 59 governments that had bans at that time. The United States, South Korea and China were among the nations to remove restrictions in 2010, although South Korea retained some related to immigration, while China reportedly has mandatory HIV testing for some visas.

Singapore revised its own regulations in 2015 to allow people living with HIV to enter the country for short-term stays of less than three months, while South Korea in 2017 removed its final restriction, which mandated the testing of foreign teachers.

But conservative cultures, social stigma and inertia have kept some restrictions in play in other nations, experts say. The majority of such restrictions are found in conservative countries; more countries in the Middle East than anywhere else have them.

“The basis of discrimination is misconception and fear, and with HIV these boil down to drug use, men who have sex with men, and all these realities that countries don’t want to face,” says Peter Wiessner, who co-authors the global database. “There’s also xenophobia mixed in.”

That element can have a negative public health impact, according to Keralis.

“It communicates that HIV is a foreign contagion and a foreigners’ problem, and if [citizens] don’t mix with foreigners then they are not at risk,” she says. She notes that, paired with a lack of proper sex education, this can create a dangerous situation.

“There’s no incentive for people to seek more information or modify their behaviours,” she says.

Belarus: 89 HIV criminalisation cases initiated in 2018 in the Gomel region alone

Published in TUT.BY on February 6, 2019 – Google translation from Russian. For original article in Russian, please scroll down.

There are also minors. How and who in the Gomel region are infected with HIV

In the Gomel region, the number of registered crimes under the article “Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus” remains high. Among those included in the statistics there are minors. The Investigation Committee told who, how and why infects a dangerous disease.

In 2018, 89 crimes under this article were registered in the region.

For example, a criminal case was initiated in Mazyr against a 16-year-old girl. A minor, knowing that she is a carrier of the virus, repeatedly entered into an intimate relationship with no means of protection with a 23-year-old young man. For knowingly putting him in danger of being infected with HIV by a court of the Mozyr District, the minor is sentenced to 6 months in prison with a 1-year delay in the execution of the sentence.
 
A criminal case was filed with the Svetlogorsk district court against a 24-year-old resident of Svetlogorsk, who was at risk of contracting HIV to his wife, and also infected a minor friend.

A 28-year-old resident of the Rogachev region infected two fellow villagers with HIV. The first victim learned about the diagnosis during the examination in the hospital. The second victim was established by investigative means. The district court sentenced a man to imprisonment for a term of 5.5 years with serving in a correctional colony with a reinforced regime.

Several criminal cases were sent to the Zhlobinsky District Court against a 26-year-old woman who, in the period from 2013 to 2018, infected four men with HIV and put four more people at risk of infection. The victims are from 25 to 65 years old.

According to the Gomel Regional Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Public Health, 7973 people with HIV-positive status live in the region. In 2018, the highest number of new cases was registered in the age group of 40 years and older (47.7%).

Есть и несовершеннолетние. Как и кого на Гомельщине заражают ВИЧ

В Гомельской области число зарегистрированных преступлений по статье «Заражение вирусом иммунодефицита человека» остается по-прежнему высоким. Среди попавших в статистику есть и несовершеннолетние. В Следственном комитете рассказали, кто, как и зачем заражает опасной болезнью.

В 2018 году в области зарегистрировано 89 преступлений по этой статье.

К примеру, в Мозыре возбуждено уголовное дело в отношении 16-летней девушки. Несовершеннолетняя, зная, что является носителем вируса, неоднократно вступала в интимную связь без средств защиты с 23-летним молодым человеком. За заведомое поставление его в опасность заражения ВИЧ судом Мозырского района несовершеннолетняя приговорена к 6 месяцам лишения свободы с отсрочкой исполнения наказания на 1 год.
 

В суд Светлогорского района направлено уголовное дело в отношении 24-летнего жителя Светлогорска, который подвергал опасности заражения ВИЧ жену, а также заразил несовершеннолетнюю знакомую.

28-летний житель Рогачевского района заразил ВИЧ двух односельчанок. Первая потерпевшая узнала о диагнозе при прохождении обследования в больнице. Вторая потерпевшая была установлена следственным путем. Районным судом мужчине назначено наказание в виде лишения свободы сроком на 5,5 года с отбыванием в исправительной колонии усиленного режима.

В суд Жлобинского района направлено несколько уголовных дел в отношении 26-летней женщины, которая в период с 2013 по 2018 год заразила ВИЧ четверых мужчин, еще четверых поставила в опасность заражения. Потерпевшим от 25 до 65 лет.

По информации Гомельского областного центра гигиены, эпидемиологии и общественного здоровья, в области проживает 7973 человека с ВИЧ-положительным статусом. В 2018 году наибольшее количество новых случаев заболевания зарегистрировано в возрастной группе 40 лет и старше (47,7%).

Читать полностью:  https://news.tut.by/society/625331.html?crnd=18984

 

 

 

[Update] US: Missourians living with HIV testify in House committee hearing in support of proposals to modernise HIV criminalisation laws

Published in Houston Herald on Feb. 4, 2019

By Alexis Allison

Proposals to reduce criminal HIV exposure penalties encourage prevention

JEFFERSON CITY — LaTrischa Miles doesn’t spit when she runs.

A mother of three, the treatment adherence supervisor at Kansas City Health Center was diagnosed with HIV in 1995. She remembers the day like her birthday, and she remembers it when she’s running.

“Running is not a pretty sport. You see a lot of things when you’re running. You smell a lot of things when you’re running,” Miles said. “A lot of runners get dry mouth, and they spit, a lot. But I dare not. Because if I spit … I may get arrested at the finish line.”

Current Missouri law makes it a felony for a person knowingly infected with the human immunodeficiency virus to “recklessly” expose someone else without their knowledge or consent — whether or not the person meant to do so, and whether or not the victim contracted HIV. The law lists sex, needle-sharing and biting as methods of transfer.

It’s not clear whether spitting during a half-marathon violates the law, but that uncertainty is part of the problem. “As a person living with HIV,” Miles said, “I’ve lived in the shadow of these criminal laws.”

But for the second year in a row, Reps. Tracy McCreery, D-St. Louis, and Holly Rehder, R-Sikeston, have filed separate but similar bills to modernize what some call the “criminal HIV exposure” law.

Each proposal would apply penalties currently reserved for exposing someone to HIV to other “communicable diseases,” such as hepatitis C or HPV, and minimize the punishment for those convicted. The proposals also update the law’s language to reflect current understanding about how HIV is transmitted.

Miles and a slew of public health advocates, students and Missourians living with HIV testified in a House committee hearing Monday in support of the proposals. The witnesses emphasized the need for a revised bill that would reduce stigma, encourage people to know their status and reflect modern science.

“So much has changed. HIV is no longer a death sentence. It’s a chronic disease. It’s a human disease,” Miles said. “Persons living with HIV that once took 16 pills a day … now have the option to take one pill a day.”

Lawmakers passed the original bill in the late ‘80s, an era when the rampant spread of AIDS through sex made lovers into killers, and the law ensured they would be punished accordingly. Mere exposure can lead to a class B felony conviction. If the victim contracts HIV, the charge bumps up to a class A felony, punishable by up to 30 years or life in prison. It’s the same consequence in Missouri for murder.

Both proposals would consider whether the person with a communicable disease intended to transmit it to someone else, and the consequences would be less severe. Rehder’s bill makes knowingly exposing another person to a communicable disease a class C felony; if transmission occurs, the charge becomes a class B felony.

“For comparison’s sake, if you’re driving while intoxicated and hurt someone but don’t kill them in Missouri, it’s a class C felony,” Rehder said. “If you’re driving while intoxicated and in an act of criminal negligence you cause the death of someone, then it’s a class B felony, so that makes it more consistent.”

McCreery’s bill offers a less severe punishment, diminishing the consequences for exposing another person to a communicable disease to a class B misdemeanor — or a class A misdemeanor if the victim contracts the disease.

The severity of the current law also serves as a disincentive for people to know their HIV status, Rehder said. If a person doesn’t know they have HIV, they can’t be convicted of exposing the virus to another person.

And, Rehder said, people who are unaware of their positive status are responsible for 90 percent of HIV transfer — and that ignorance is a public health issue.

“The bottom line is, we want people to get tested and know their status and get treatment,” she said.

Another strategy the proposals encourage is prevention. Under the current law, condom use — which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends as a preventative strategy — is not a defense. The new proposals note that using science-based, preventive measures (including condoms) could serve as evidence that the person with the disease did not intend to expose or transmit it.

The proposals offer a few more updates based on the scientific advancements that have happened in the last 30 years. For one, they’ve removed “biting” from the list as a way to transfer HIV. In fact, transmitting HIV via biting is extremely rare — so rare that the CDC notes it’s only happened when the bite led to “severe trauma with extensive tissue damage and the presence of blood.”

McCreery’s bill removes the current law’s enhanced punishments for HIV-positive sex workers; Rehder’s does not address it. McCreery’s bill also eliminates punishments for a person with HIV or hepatitis who endangers a correctional or mental health employee.

The current law lists exposure to feces, urine or saliva as a means for transmission. Rehder’s version no longer specifically penalizes HIV or hepatitis and applies only in the case of exposure to “bodily fluids … scientifically shown to be a known means of transmission of a serious infectious or communicable disease.”

Rehder acknowledged that neither proposal is perfect, and the final product may lie somewhere between the two.

“We’re working closely together to present Missouri-specific options to update Missouri’s antiquated HIV laws,” McCreery said in an interview after the hearing. “We wanted to send a strong message to Missourians that this is a nonpartisan issue.”

 

Published in Fox2Now on December 1, 2018

Lawmakers, health officials push Missouri HIV law rewrite

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Some Missouri legislators and public health professionals are calling for a rewrite of the state’s HIV laws, which they say are outdated and medically inaccurate.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Republican Rep. Holly Rehder and Democratic Rep. Tracy McCreery proposed bills in the last legislative session to reduce the state’s penalties for exposing someone to HIV. They plan to present the same bills in the 2019 session.

Missouri’s roughly 30-year-old law states that an HIV-positive individual could be convicted of a felony if he or she exposes a partner to the disease without the partner’s knowledge or consent. The law gives a minimum 10-year sentence for transmitting HIV and minimum five-year sentence for knowingly exposing someone to HIV.

Advocates say such laws result in questionable prosecutions and negative public health outcomes.

 

St Vincent and the Grenadines: Following deportation of man jailed in Canada for alleged HIV transmission, prosecution service confirms existence of similar provision in SVG law

Persons who willfully pass on HIV infection can be charged – Prosecutor

HIV-positive persons in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) who wilfully pass on an HIV infection to another person can be charged with grievous bodily harm with intent under the laws of this country.

Crown Counsel at the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Karim Nelson made this clear to SEARCHLIGHT on Monday.

Nelson was responding to a question raised by a report that X, a 41-year-old man who was jailed in Canada after he knowingly passed on HIV to his lovers, had been deported to SVG, the land of his birth.

X arrived in SVG last Thursday February 7. He is originally from the East St George area and goes by the alias “Shorty”.

The Crown Counsel told SEARCHLIGHT there have been instances, in England particularly, where persons have been charged with grievously bodily harm with intent for doing what Ralph did.

“We have the same provision and we could apply that particular provision to deal with the situation,” the lawyer explained, while noting that this has never been done in SVG.

He explained that for a charge to be laid, a report will have to be made and the police must have evidence that the person who passed HIV to the other person actually knew that they had the health issue.

“The information can come from a third party because persons might know. For example, if there are persons whom this person confided in and say well ‘I have this disease’, that could be sufficient evidence to say this person knew they had this disease and they still went ahead and had unprotected sexual intercourse with another person.

“That to me will establish the person had intent to cause the grievous bodily harm,” Crown Counsel Nelson explained.

He however noted that without that third-party declaration, obtaining personal medical documents to use as evidence could present some difficulty.

“You can’t just move on the individual. There must be some sort of evidence that he committed a crime and in the absence of a person reporting the matter, you cannot be aware that a crime was actually committed,” the prosecutor added.

Meanwhile X’s crimes are generating discussion on local airwaves and on social media.

According to an article published on Monday March 10, 2014 in the Toronto Sun, X concealed his HIV-positive status from four sex partners and was found guilty of several crimes, including forcibly confining and assaulting his last victim.

The article noted that Justice Nancy Spies found X, 37 at the time, guilty of committing aggravated sexual assault by endangering the life of his last victim, between November 1, 2010 and New Year’s Day 2011 when he assaulted and held her captive for a few hours at his north Toronto home.

The Sun reported, “When police arrested X, a small-time pot dealer who lives on government assistance or disability, he admitted his HIV-positive status. When officers broke the grim news to the woman, she was so upset she became violently ill. Her worst fears were confirmed when she tested positive for HIV.

“Besides the last victim, X was also guilty of aggravated sexual assault against another woman between March 1, 2008 and August 5, 2010. This victim, like Xs last victim, also tested positive for HIV.”

In court, X denied hiding he was HIV positive, and claimed the two women consented to having unprotected sex with him while knowing of his condition. His version was rejected.

The Vincentian national also pleaded guilty to endangering two other women’s lives in 2009 and from January 1, 2003 to January 1, 2005. He admitted he had sex without revealing his condition to them. They tested negative for HIV.

X knew of his HIV status since May 2003 and despite repeated warnings by public health officials to disclose his condition to sex partners, he did not.

The SUN said when X was arrested in January 2011, police issued a public alert and Toronto public health authorities found the two other victims.

Russia: Russian Interior Ministry Press Service identified 130 cases of criminalisation of HIV transmission in 2018

How many Russians intentionally transmit HIV – Google translation from Russian article in News.Ru, published on January 25, 2019 – For article in Russian, scroll down.

Each year, the police recorded about 100 crimes under the article about intentional HIV transmission. So, in 2018 130 people were identified who committed similar offenses, in 2017 – 129. This was reported to the press service of the Russian Interior Ministry. At the same time, experts say that statistics hardly reflects the real picture. Most of the victims simply do not go to the police, fearing publicity. News.ru figured out whether it is difficult in court to punish the perpetrator of the infection and get a monetary compensation from him.

Despite the fact that on January 23, the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Chief Medical Officer of Russia Anna Popova, reported a decrease in the rate of increase in HIV incidence in 2018 by 2%, the overall picture of the spread of the disease in the country can hardly be called favorable. According to official data, the number of HIV-infected Russians has almost reached 1 million people. At the same time, the head of the Federal Scientific and Methodological Center for the Prevention and Fight against AIDS, academician Vadim Pokrovsky, has repeatedly stated that there can be much more in fact, from 1.3 million to 1.5 million people.

Deliberate HIV infection in Russia is a criminal offense for which you can get up to eight years in prison. According to Article 122 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, punishment threatens those who knew about their positive status, but hid it from a partner, as well as for knowingly putting another person in danger of infection and for infection if their professional duties were not performed properly. Moreover, if a person does not know about his illness, he does not bear criminal responsibility. Criminal liability is also a threat for the intentional infection of a venereal disease (Article 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), but such cases are much less frequent by law enforcement agencies: five criminals were identified in 2017, and one was reported in 2018. The Russian Interior Ministry also told News.ru .

More often The immunodeficiency virus is transmitted sexually, during pregnancy or breastfeeding from mother to child and through untreated medical or cosmetic items, if they have already been used by an infected person.

As a rule, HIV is diagnosed in the second stage of the disease. That is, from the moment of infection it can take from six months to several years. That is why, when a person finds out about his status, he is not always able to say with certainty at what point the infection occurred and whether it was intentional or accidental. That is why far from everybody turns to the police, lawyer Alexander Tolmachyov suggested in a conversation with News.ru.

Most often, it is very difficult to prove the intention and guilt of the person who infected it. Especially if the infection occurred in a medical facility. And one person suffered, not several. But in some cases, when a person knows exactly when he was infected, it is possible not only to punish the perpetrator, but also to sue the impressive compensation, which will cover the costs of treatment and moral harm. A significant factor here will be that the disease is incurable,” the expert believes.

To identify who the person was infected with, you can use laboratory tests, told a senior member of the Russian Scientific and Methodological Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS, epidemiologist Oleg Yurin, to News.ru.

“In sets of one or two people with the virus, it is easy, there are some studies that show how close these viruses are” ,  – stated the expert.

The doctor after diagnosis can only recommend contacting the person from whom the disease could have been transmitted. Often people, fearing publicity, do not go to the police, even if there is a suspicion that the infection was intentional, he suggested.

“Usually they turn to the police if there was some kind of violence or something like that, or maybe an infection occurred in the medical institutions. But about the infection in the clinic – it is quite difficult to prove, it is necessary to conduct an investigation. Basically, the medical institution is suspicious if a child is infected. Children have practically no other way of infection, because they do not use drugs, there is no sex. But here too it is possible to prove that in a certain institution infection occurred, but to prove that it is the fault of a particular health professional -is also quite difficult “ ,  – said epidemiologist.

Сколько россиян умышленно заражают ВИЧ

Елена Оя

Ежегодно полицией фиксируются порядка 100 преступлений по статье об умышленном заражении ВИЧ-инфекцией. Так, в 2018 году были выявлены 130 человек, совершивших аналогичные правонарушения, в 2017-м — 129. Об этом News.ru сообщили в пресс-службе МВД России. При этом эксперты утверждают, что статистика едва ли отражает реальную картину. Большинство пострадавших просто не обращаются в полицию, боясь огласки. News.ru выяснял, сложно ли в судебном порядке наказать виновного в заражении и получить с него денежную компенсацию.

Несмотря на то, что 23 января руководитель Роспотребнадзора, главный санитарный врач России Анна Попова сообщила о снижении темпов прироста заболеваемости ВИЧ в 2018 году на 2%, общую картину по распространению болезни в стране трудно назвать благоприятной. По официальным данным, количество ВИЧ-инфицированных россиян практически достигло 1 млн человек. При этом руководитель Федерального научно-методического центра по профилактике и борьбе со СПИДом, академик Вадим Покровский неоднократно заявлял, что по факту заболевших может быть гораздо больше — от 1,3 млн до 1,5 млн человек.

Умышленное заражение ВИЧ в России является уголовным преступлением, за которое можно получить срок до восьми лет лишения свободы. Согласно статье 122 УК РФ, наказание грозит тем, кто знал о своём положительном статусе, но скрыл его от партнёра, а также за заведомое поставление другого лица в опасность заражения и за инфицирование при ненадлежащем исполнении профессиональных обязанностей. При этом если человек не знает о своём заболевании, то уголовной ответственности он не несёт. Грозит уголовная ответственность и за умышленное заражение венерическим заболеванием (121-я статья УК РФ), но такие случаи органы правопорядка фиксируют значительно реже: в 2017-м выявлены пять преступников, в 2018-м — один, также сообщили News.ru в МВД России.

Чаще всего вирус иммунодефицита передаётся половым путём, во время беременности или грудного вскармливания от матери к ребёнку и через необработанные надлежащим образом медицинские или косметические предметы, если ими уже пользовался заражённый человек.

Как правило, ВИЧ диагностируют на второй стадии развития заболевания. То есть от момента заражения может пройти от шести месяцев и до нескольких лет. Именно поэтому, когда человек узнаёт о своём статусе, он не всегда с уверенностью может сказать, в какой момент произошло заражение и было ли оно умышленным или случайным. Именно поэтому в полицию обращаются далеко не все, предположил в разговоре с News.ru юрист Александр Толмачев.

«Чаще всего доказать умышленность и вину человека, который заразил, очень сложно. Особенно если заражение произошло в медицинском учреждении. И пострадал один человек, а не несколько. Но в некоторых случая, когда человек точно знает, когда он был инфицирован, можно не только наказать виновного, но и отсудить внушительную компенсацию, которая покроет издержки на лечение и моральный вред. Существенным фактором здесь будет являться то, что заболевание неизлечимое», — считает эксперт.

Выявить, от кого заразился человек, можно с помощью лабораторных анализов, рассказал News.ru старший научный сотрудник Российского научно-методического центра по профилактике и борьбе со СПИДом, эпидемиолог Олег Юрин.

«Установить, один ли вирус у двух человек, несложно, есть определённые исследования, которые показывают, насколько близки эти вирусы», — констатировал специалист.

По его словам, выяснять или нет, от кого произошло заражение, решает сам инфицированный. Врач после постановки диагноза может только рекомендовать связаться с человеком, от которого могло передаться заболевание. Часто люди, боясь огласки, не обращаются в полицию, даже если есть подозрение, что заражение было умышленным, предположил он.

«Обычно в полицию обращаются, если имело место быть какое-то насилие или что-то в таком духе, либо, может быть, в медицинских учреждениях произошло заражение. Но насчёт заражения в поликлинике — это достаточно сложно доказать, нужно проводить расследование. В основном на медучреждение падает подозрение, если заразился ребёнок. У детей практически нет другого способа заражения, поскольку они наркотики не употребляют, половых контактов нет. Но здесь тоже можно доказать, что в таком-то учреждении заражение произошло, но что по вине конкретного медицинского работника — это тоже достаточно сложно», — сообщил эпидемиолог.

 

 

Tajikistan: Amendments to criminal code introduces criminal liability for beauty salons, hairdressers and other services & strengthened penalties in cases of alleged HIV transmission

Rahmon introduced criminal liability for hairdressers to HIV infection (Google translation from Russian)

In Tajikistan, the liability of doctors, beauty salons, hairdressers and other service enterprises for HIV infection has been strengthened. The President of the Republic, Emomali Rakhmon, has signed amendments to the Criminal and Administrative Codes made and supported by the Parliament, the Khovar agency reports .

Responsibility, according to the law, is provided for those employees who “due to non-compliance with sanitary and hygienic, sanitary and anti-epidemic rules and regulations have become the cause of the HIV / AIDS virus.” The punishment is also tightened for those who are engaged in the import and production of low-quality or counterfeit medicines that do not meet established standards, or sells expired medicines.

Other amendments made to the Criminal Code strengthened the responsibility for intentional infection with the HIV / AIDS virus and human trafficking. For how long the penalties are tightened, it is not reported, it says only that “the full text of the adopted laws will be published in the official press of the country in the coming days.”

The first, which became known to the media, the case of accountability in Tajikistan of a person guilty of mass infection of the disease, occurred in August 2018. A court in the Sharuz district of the Khatlon region sentenced a local woman who engaged in prostitution and thus infected 10 men with HIV, to one year’s imprisonment.

Later began “sanitary” raids on hairdressing and dental clinics. In the Khatlon region, several barber shops, beauty salons and dental clinics were closed, and in the Sughd region, dozens of dental offices and beauty salons closed for violation of sanitary and hygienic standards.

This happened after September 1 at the State Medical University Rakhmon criticized the activities of private dental clinics, expressed concern about the growth of infectious diseases, instructing the Ministry of Health and other specialized departments to “take action”, and also proposed criminal liability for dentists and hairdressers customers are infected with any kind of infection.

Source: Fergana News, January 3, 2019

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Рахмон ввел ответственность для парикмахеров за заражение ВИЧ

В Таджикистане усилена ответственность врачей, работников салонов красоты, парикмахерских и других предприятий сферы обслуживания за заражение ВИЧ. Президент республики Эмомали Рахмон подписал внесенные и поддержанные парламентом поправки в Уголовный и административный кодексы, сообщает агентство «Ховар».

Ответственность, говорится в законе, предусмотрена для тех сотрудников, которые «из-за несоблюдения санитарно-гигиенических, санитарно-противоэпидемических правил и норм стали причиной заражения вирусом ВИЧ/СПИД». Наказание ужесточено также для тех, кто занимается ввозом и производством низкокачественных или поддельных медикаментов, не отвечающих установленным стандартам, или продает просроченные лекарства.

Другими изменениями, внесенными в УК, усилена ответственность за умышленное заражение вирусом ВИЧ/СПИД и торговлю людьми. На какие сроки ужесточены наказания, не сообщается, говорится только, что «полный текст принятых законов в ближайшие дни будет опубликован в официальной прессе страны».

Первый, ставший известным СМИ, случай привлечения к ответственности в Таджикистане лица, виновного в массовом заражении болезнью, произошел в августе 2018 года. Суд Шаартузского района Хатлонской области приговорил местную жительницу, занимавшуюся проституцией и заразившую таким образом ВИЧ-инфекцией 10 мужчин, к одному году лишения свободы.

Позже начались «санитарные» рейды на парикмахерские и стоматологические клиники. В Хатлонской области были закрыты несколько парикмахерских, салонов красоты и стоматологических клиник, а в Согдийской области за нарушение санитарно-гигиенических норм закрыли десятки стоматологических кабинетов и салонов красоты.

Это произошло после того, как 1 сентября в Государственном медуниверситете Рахмон раскритиковал деятельность частных стоматологических клиник, выразил обеспокоенность ростом инфекционных заболеваний, поручив Минздраву и другим профильным ведомствам «принять меры», а также предложил ввести уголовную ответственность для стоматологов и парикмахеров, если по их вине клиенты заражаются какой-либо инфекцией.

Jamaica: Legislation to criminalise wilful or reckless HIV transmission recommended by parliamentary committee

Committee recommends criminal offense for wilful transmission of STIs

KINGSTON − A Joint Select Committee of Parliament has recommended that amendments be made to the Offences Against the Person Act (OAPA), to make it a criminal offence for individuals who wilfully and knowingly transmit sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV.

This is contained in the report of the Joint Select Committee appointed to complete the review of the Sexual Offences Act, the Offences Against the Person Act, the Domestic Violence Act and the Child Care and Protection Act.

The report, that was recently tabled in the House of Representatives by Justice Minister Delroy Chuck, said the Committee acknowledged that there was a deficiency in the law in relation to the deliberate or intentional spreading of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

“We noted that this type of offence existed in other jurisdictions, such as Canada (grievous sexual assault under the Canadian Criminal Code) and the United Kingdom (grievous bodily harm under the United Kingdom (UK) Offences Against the Person Act), and referenced case law, such as Guerrier, 1998 and Mabior, 2014 from Canada,” the report noted.

“We also made reference to the George Flowers case involving a Jamaican who had infected a number of women with HIV while living in Canada, and fled to Jamaica, resulting in an extradition request being made to the Jamaican authorities for him to return to Canada to face charges. [The] Committee agreed that the Act should be amended to make it a criminal offence for someone to wilfully or recklessly infect a partner with any sexual transmissible disease that can inflict serious bodily harm to that partner,” the document adds.

In the meantime, while reviewing a suggestion that a new offence of stalking should be created in the OAPA, the Committee discovered that there was in fact no general, substantive offence of stalking in either the OAPA or the Sexual Offences Act (SOA).

“We felt that this omission should be addressed and, therefore, decided to insert a new, substantive offence of stalking in the OAPA, which should be formulated using the provision in the UK Protection from Harassment Act, 1997 as a guide,” the report said.

The Offences Against the Person Act was last amended in 2010. (CMC)

Published in Nation News

Update of global database on HIV specific travel and residence restrictions shows 49 countries restrict long-term stays and 13 have punitive laws

The Global Database on HIV-specific Travel & Residence Restrictions, a useful online tool regarding the cross-border mobility of people living with HIV/AIDS, was recently updated.

This is a joint collaboration between the International AIDS Society (IAS), the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG), the German AIDS Federation (DAH) and Positive Council Switzerland.

Below you can find an update by the International AIDS Society, as it was shared with its members:

The global database was updated in July 2018 and shared at the 22nd International AIDS Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

The good news:

  • Taiwan and South Korea have abolished all existing restrictions
  • Singapore has eased its laws and is now allowing short-term stays
  • Canada is making it easier for people living with HIV to obtain a residence permit
  • No country has introduced new legislation or punitive laws affecting people living with HIV
  • New information from several countries indicates they are “free of restrictions” (Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Rwanda and Turkmenistan)

The bad news:

Entry bars, restrictions for short-term and long-term stays persist, and many countries continue to deport people living with HIV.

Countries with entry bars:

  • Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Solomon Islands, United Arab Emirates, Yemen. Russia is listed because a factual entry bar applies to multiple entry visa

Countries deporting people living with HIV:

  • Bahrain, Brunei, China, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Oman, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

Thirteen countries have punitive laws affecting stays below 90 days. Forty-nine countries restrict long-term stays of more than 90 days. Laws and practices are unclear in 24 countries, while 143 countries have no restrictions. An overview on all restriction categories is available here.

Published on EATG website on October 9,2018

Russia: Lower House to debate bill, not supported by its Health Committee, that proposes mandatory treatment of people living with HIV

HIV-infected people could be treated forcibly (Google translation, for article in Russian, scroll down).

In the event that HIV-infected people pose a danger to others, they are suggestions to send them to compulsory hospitalization by court decision. The corresponding bill, introduced by the Legislative Assembly of the Altai Territory, will be considered by the State Duma on September 18.

In addition, the document grants the head of the medical organization, in which the HIV-infected citizen is on dispensary records, the right to apply to the court for a mandatory examination and treatment of this person.

The explanatory note to the document states that at present the duty to receive treatment is imputed to patients with tuberculosis and mental illnesses. However, such a requirement does not apply to HIV-infected people.

At the same time, the Government submitted a negative response to the document. “The analysis of foreign experience of normative legal regulation of diagnostics and treatment of HIV-infected persons shows that the legislation of the majority of foreign states does not contain provisions on compulsory placement in a hospital,” the document says.

The State Duma Committee on Health Protection did not support the initiative. “The social danger of tuberculosis is significantly higher than that of HIV infection,” the deputies concluded. Also, the parliamentarians reminded that the examination in medical organizations is carried out voluntarily if there is consent to this procedure by the patient or his legal representative. At the request of a citizen, a voluntary medical examination may be anonymous.

“Adoption of the bill may entail a violation of the rights of HIV-infected persons to anonymity of medical examination,” representatives of the State Duma Health Committee noted.

Published in Parliamentary Newspaper on September 18, 2018

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ВИЧ-инфицированных предложено лечить принудительно

В том случае, если ВИЧ-инфицированные предоставляют опасность для окружающих, их предложено отправлять на принудительную госпитализацию по решению суда.  Соответствующий законопроект, внесённый Заксобранием Алтайского края, Госдума планирует рассмотреть 18 сентября.

Кроме того, документ наделяет руководителя медицинской организации, в которой ВИЧ-инфицированный гражданин состоит на диспансерном учёте, правом обратиться в суд с иском об обязательном обследовании и лечении этого человека.

В пояснительной записке к документу указано, что в настоящее время обязанность проходить лечение вменена больным туберкулёзом и психическими заболеваниями. Однако на ВИЧ-инфицированных подобное требование не распространяется.

В то же время Правительство предоставило на документ отрицательный отзыв. «Анализ зарубежного опыта нормативного правового регулирования вопросов диагностики и лечения ВИЧ-инфицированных свидетельствует о том, что законодательство большинства иностранных государств не содержит положений о принудительном помещении в стационар», — указано в документе.

Не поддержал инициативу и Комитет Госдумы по охране здоровью. «Социальная опасность туберкулеза значительно выше, чем ВИЧ-инфекции», — указано в заключении депутатов. Также парламентарии напомнили, что освидетельствование в медицинских организациях проводится добровольно при наличии согласия на эту процедуру со стороны пациента или  его законного представителя. По желанию гражданина добровольное медицинское освидетельствование может быть анонимным.

«Принятие законопроекта может повлечь нарушение прав ВИЧ-инфицированных лиц на анонимность  медицинского освидетельствования», — отметили представители Комитета Госдумы по охране здоровья.