US: Idaho activists are looking to reform Idaho's HIV Criminalisation laws

Local activists are looking to reform and modernize Idaho’s code on the transfer of bodily fluid containing HIV or AIDS virus. The law was created in the 1980’s, a time when HIV and AIDS was a rising issue in the country.  In the last 10 years, 32 people have been charged under the law. Activists and health officials say scientifically its outdated.

In 1988 Idaho created a law to punish anyone HIV positive, who transferred their body fluids with intentions to expose or infect someone else. Ian Troesoyer a Registered Nurse and Epidemiologist at Southeast Idaho Public Health says,”Singling out HIV from a biological perspective it doesn’t make perfect sense. But in the 1980s when the law was created there was a lot more fear and greater lack of knowledge regarding the transmission.”

Under the code body fluids are: Semen, blood saliva, vaginal secretion, breast milk and urine. But 28 years later health experts say, “So saliva and urine, saliva in particular, they are not known to transmit HIV.” Which is why local activists in Pocatello want to modernize Idaho Code 39-608. Kevin Lish the Board Chair of All Under One Roof says, “These laws come down a lot of times to a ‘He said, she said’ situation.”

The crime carries a maximum of 15 years in prison. In the last decade 12 people across the state have been convicted including a man named Kerry Thomas. He’s serving 30 years for not telling his partner. He says in a video posted on SEROProject.com, “I’m glad that she, three years down the road… she’s not positive.”

Health experts and activists say with an outdated law, there’s a stigma associated with the disease that could increase people’s risks. Lish says, “We have the tools to get to an HIV free generation. One of the things we need to do is update laws like this so people feel good about being tested and are getting tested when they need to.”

Activists say speaking to legislators about changing the law will take years. Educating the public is their first mission before heading to the capitol steps in Boise. On National AIDS Awareness Day, All Under One Roof will host an event on December 1st at 234 North Main Street at 7 p.m. There they will educate the public on the statue, and how they’d like to change it.

On Friday November 11, representatives will speak with Elizabeth Taylor’s granddaughter in Boise about how the Elizabeth Taylor’s AIDS Foundation can help their cause.

Published on KPVI on Nov 10, 2016

Australia: Australian experts publish statement urging courts to consider current scientific evidence in criminal cases involving alleged HIV transmission or exposure

A group of leading HIV experts are calling for “caution to be exercised” when considering criminal charges against people who recklessly spread the disease.

In a consensus statement published in the Medical Journal of Australia, Australian researchers and scientists — including Professor Sharon Lewin and Professor Andrew Grulich — argue that “criminal cases involving HIV transmission or exposure require that courts correctly comprehend the rapidly evolving science of HIV transmission and the impact of an HIV diagnosis”.

The statement cites scientific evidence that shows the risk of HIV transmission to be negligible if a person is on treatment and has an undetectable viral load. It also claims that HIV isn’t as serious a condition as it used to be: “Most people with HIV are able to commence simple treatment providing them a normal and healthy life expectancy, largely comparable with their HIV-negative peers.”

“Given the limited risk of HIV transmission per sexual act and the limited long-term harms experienced by most people recently diagnosed with HIV, appropriate care should be taken before prosecutions are pursued,” says the statement.

While acknowledging that cases of deliberate transmission of HIV are “extremely unusual”, the group urge authorities to change behaviours through counselling rather than the courts.

“Careful attention should be paid to the best scientific evidence on HIV risk and harms, with consideration given to alternatives to prosecution, including public health management.”

The statement has been welcome by HIV advocacy groups.

“It’s incredible to see these experts come together and make a bold statement regarding HIV and the law,” said Richard Keane, President of Living Positive Victoria.

“The impact of HIV criminalisation or even the threat of it is a dangerous form of stigma and we’re still feeling the ripple effect more than two decades later.”

There have been at least 38 Australian criminal prosecutions for HIV sexual transmission or exposure since 1991.

“You don’t have to be convicted or even prosecuted for HIV criminalisation to affect you,” said Keane.

“The HIV community lives with the threat that a complaint can be made against us and the stigma that criminal prosecutions amplify and perpetuate.”

Keane hoped the statement’s focus on utilising the public health system rather the criminal courts in dealing with behaviour change would lead to better outcomes on policy.

“Most people on treatment are able to achieve an ‘undetectable’ viral load which makes it highly likely that the person will remain healthy and pose a negligible risk of transmitting HIV,” Keane said.

“The evidence outlined in this statement shows that the per-act risk of HIV transmission from even the most risky sex is still low. The message should be to encourage individuals to take care of their health and eliminate barriers to accessing treatment rather than intimidation through the justice system.

“By focusing on what the studies and science is telling us about treatments, relative risk and harm, that’s how we reduce HIV transmission whilst protecting the rights and dignity of people living with HIV. HIV is a health issue, not a criminal justice issue.”

Additional reporting Positive Living.

Published in Gay News Network on Nov 6, 2016

India: Sex workers organisations oppose Human Trafficking Bill which would make rehabilitation mandatory and HIV transmission a criminal offence

The most pressing concern is that the bill seems to be making rehabilitation mandatory

A consortium of rights bodies, especially of those working for sex workers, have come forward to speak out against the Human Trafficking Bill, which was sent to the Cabinet last month for approval. Associations of sex workers said that they fear that the bill will make it difficult for them to function. The most pressing concern, said Kusum, President of the All India Network of Sex Workers, is that the bill seems to be making rehabilitation mandatory. “Rehabilitation is needed for thousands of women who face trafficking around the country. But scores of practicing sex workers might not want it. Why not make it voluntary,” she says.

Dr Smarajit Jana, a health practitioner and the founder of Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Samiti, the first sex workers collective, agrees. Dr Jana was on a Supreme Court panel on the rights of sex workers, which submitted a report last month. He says that not a single state has statistics on rehabilitation. “Among the secretaries of the women and child development department of over 20 states we interacted with, 15 did not have any number for their own states,” says Dr Jana.

 The definition of a trafficking victim, both Dr Jana and Kusum said, was vague enough to include practicing sex workers. As per the Bill, a sex worker who gets married and has settled down will also come under the ambit of the definition. “There is also a clause that states that if a sex worker is found drinking and smoking with her friends, they can be booked for plying substances to her and punishable for over 10 years,” says Kusum.

Tripti Tandon of the Lawyer’s Collective says that the biggest lacunae in the bill is its failure to distinguish those in need of rescue from those who do not. “Since The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act will continue to function, the government is simply creating layer after layer of law, without really taking into account the problems of livelihood, sanitation, health which sex workers face routinely, like every working-class women,” says Tandon.

Another crucial loophole is that the bill states that if a person transmits HIV to another, then they will be punishable for a period of 10 years. “The problem is that many victims do not know if they are HIV positive. Globally, the debate is on decriminalising HIV patients,” says Dr Jana.

Published in DNA India on Nov 5, 2016

Mexico: Civil association in San Luis Potosi State urges parliament to rethink proposition to criminalise HIV transmission

English translation (Para artículo en español, desplácese hacia abajo)

Civil association urges a rethink of the criminalisation of HIV transmission as such an amendment to the penal code would promote higher levels of stigma and discrimination.

San Luis Potosi, SLP.- With regard to the initiative presented during the Ordinary Session No. 44, on October 27, 2016 in the State Congress by the State Governor Juan Manuel Carreras Lopez and Erika Velasquez Gutiérrez, the president of the Women Institute in San Luis Potosi, the civil association Amigos Potosinosen Lucha Contra el Sida condemned the initiative which they say, stigmatize people living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and have therefore called for reconsideration of the initiative put forward, conveying the following position:

1. It is important to promote actions that recognise the human rights of women through the varied international tools signed and ratified in this matter by the Mexican State,  and which have been become mandatories following the constitutional reform of 2011 in the field of Human Rights.

2. It is not advisable to seek to punish conducts that are perceived to be fraudulent with regard to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, as the evidence tell us that HIV prevention is not achieved through punitive measures, but by public health policies which promote changes at the structural level, to facilitate equal access to services that guarantee the sexual and reproductive health of women, and also strengthen programmes and activities that promote equality between women and men.

3. Criminalisation promotes stigma and discrimination against people with HIV, including girls, children, adolescents and women, contradictorily promoting actions that violate the dignity of these vulnerable groups.

4. It is very difficult to determine causality, fraud and intention and other varied factors involved in HIV transmission such as: the possibility of transmission, the type of exposure, the use of condoms or not, at what stage of infection the person is, whether the person is on antiretroviral treatment, if their viral load is undetectable, if there is any concomitant infection, the health status of the receiving partner and the agreements between spouses or casual partners, among others.

5. It is important to emphasize that punitive measures such as those intended to legislate through this initiative, could hinder and affect various multisectoral actions in prevention, detection and HIV care in our state.

6. It might influence people who perceive themselves as having  risk factors for HIV, to not undergo testing in order not to know their status and avoid any potential criminal proceedings made possible by testing. Such legislation may affect the continuous detection, prevention and care of HIV in Mexico [1], which seeks to facilitate the early diagnosis of people who perceived themselves to at risk so they can receive timely treatment to improve their quality of life and also help to curb the transmission chain.

7. Scientific evidence indicates that to stop the chain of transmission of HIV from one person to another, it is essential to combine prevention strategies, which include biomedical, behavioural and structural change, the latter emphasizing the need for actions that contribute to the eradication of stigma and discrimination associated with HIV-AIDS, and a punitive law does not contribute to these strategies.

8. The specific content of this initiative “Risk of contagion” could result in the legal responsibility for HIV prevention to fall only on those living with HIV, and could conceal the public health message that sexual partners have shared responsibility for their sexual health. People may mistakenly assume that their partners are HIV-negative because they are unaware of their status or do not disclose it, and they would therefore stop taking preventive measures.

9. Such amendments to the penal code will promote higher levels of stigma and discrimination against diverse HIV populations and their families.

Amigos Potosinos en lucha contra el Sida urges the State governor Juan Manuel Carreras Lopez and Erika Velázquez Gutiérrez president of the Women Institute in San Luis Potosi (sic), to reconsider the criminalization of HIV, as to do so would place people with HIV under a status of being possible criminals, which is contrary to their dignity as persons, violating their human rights and stigmatising them for their health condition.

Better yet, we encourage you to promote the creation of the State Council for the control of HIV, AIDS and STIs in San Luis Potosi, and to increase resources to prevent, detect and address HIV in a timely manner; to improve the quality and comprehensiveness of care services in the State that are provided by CAPASITS and by hospitals in the health system; to generate and strengthen empowerment programs for women and actions that seek to promote equal opportunities between women and men; finally to reduce stigma and discrimination against key populations affected by HIV and other STIs incorporating the MIPA principle [3] which speaks of greater involvement of people living with HIV as part of the solution and response, thereby contributing to a democratic, inclusive and non-discriminatory Mexico.

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Asociación Civil pide reconsiderar tipificar como delito trasmisión del VIH. Este tipo de adecuaciones al código penal promoverán mayores niveles de estigma y discriminación.

San Luis Potosí, SLP.- En relación a la iniciativa presentada, en la Sesión Ordinaria No. 44, día 27 de octubre del 2016 al Congreso del Estado, por el gobernador del Estado Juan Manuel Carreras López y Erika Velázquez Gutiérrez presidenta del Instituto de las Mujeres en San Luis Potosí la asociación civil Amigos Potosinos en Lucha Contra el Sida condenaron la iniciativa que a decir de ellos, estigmatiza a las personas con contagiadas con el Virus de Inmunodeficiencia Humana (VIH), por lo que llaman a reconsiderar la iniciativa formulada, difundiendo el siguiente posicionamiento:

1.- Es importante impulsar acciones a favor del reconocimiento de los derechos humanos de las mujeres en el orden internacional de los diversos instrumentos que en esta materia ha suscrito y ratificado Estado Mexicano, lo cual se convierte en obligatorio a partir de la reforma Constitucional del año 2011 en materia de Derechos Humanos.

2.-No es recomendable buscar castigar las conductas que se perciben como dolosas en relación al VIH y otras infecciones sexuales, ya que la evidencia científica nos señala que la prevención del VIH no se logra con medidas punitivas, sino con políticas en salud pública que faciliten acciones que promuevan cambios a nivel estructural que faciliten la igualdad en el acceso a servicios que garanticen la salud sexual y reproductiva de las mujeres, así también fortalecer los programas y acciones que promuevan la igualdad entre mujeres y hombres

3.- La penalización favorece el estigma y la discriminación hacia personas con VIH, incluyendo a las niñas, niños, adolescentes y mujeres, por lo que resulta contradictorio impulsar acciones que contravienen a la dignidad de estos grupos vulnerables.

4.- Es muy difícil determinar la causalidad, el dolo, la intencionalidad ya que intervienen diversos factores en la trasmisión del VIH, como son: la posibilidad de la trasmisión, el tipo de exposición, el uso o no de condón, la etapa de la infección en la que se encuentra la persona, si lleva tratamiento antirretroviral, si tiene carga viral detectable o indetectable, si existen enfermedades concomitantes, el estado de salud de la pareja receptora y los acuerdos establecidos entre cónyuges o parejas ocasionales, entre otros.

5.- Es importante enfatizar que medidas punitivas como las que se pretende legislar a través de esta iniciativa, podrían obstaculizar y afectar las diversas acciones multisectoriales en materia de prevención, detección y atención del VIH en nuestro Estado.

6.- Podría influir a que las personas que se perciban con factores de riesgo ante el VIH, omitan realizarse una detección temprana a fin de no conocer su estado serológico en virtud de prevenir un posible proceso penal. Este tipo de legislaciones pueden afectar al Continuo de la detección, prevención y atención en VIH en México[1], el cual busca que las personas que se perciban en riesgo se realicen un diagnóstico temprano, puedan recibir un tratamiento oportuno que mejore su calidad de vida y además contribuya a frenar la cadena de transmisión.

7. La evidencia científica señala que para detener la cadena de trasmisión del VIH de una persona a otra es indispensable realizar estrategias de prevención combinada, entre las cuales, destacan las biomédicas, las comportamentales y las de cambio estructural, estas últimas enfatizan las acciones que contribuyen a erradicar el estigma y la discriminación asociado al VIH-sida, y una ley con acciones punitivas no contribuye con estas estrategias.

8.- El contenido en específico de esta iniciativa de “Peligro de contagio” podría provocar que la responsabilidad jurídica de la prevención del VIH recaiga solamente en quienes viven con VIH, y podría invisibilizar el mensaje de salud pública de que las parejas sexuales tienen responsabilidad compartida sobre su salud sexual. Las personas podrían suponer erróneamente que sus parejas son VIH-negativas porque desconocen o no revelan su estado serológico, por tal dejarían de incorporar medidas de prevención.

9.-Este tipo de adecuaciones al código penal promoverán mayores niveles de estigma y discriminación hacia las diversas poblaciones con VIH y sus familias.

Amigos Potosinos en lucha contra el Sida exhorta al gobernador del estado Juan Manuel Carreras López y a Erika Velázquez Gutiérrez presidenta del Instituto de las Mujeres en San Luis Potosí (sic), a reconsiderar la penalización del VIH, de hacerlo colocarían a las personas con VIH bajo un estatus de posibles criminales, contraviniendo a su dignidad como personas, atentando a sus derechos humanos y estigmatizándoles por su condición de salud.

Mejor aún, le exhortamos a impulsar la creación del Consejo Estatal Para el control del VIH, Sida e ITS en San Luis Potosí, además incrementar los recursos  para prevenir, detectar y atender oportunamente el VIH; mejorar la calidad e integralidad de los servicios de atención en el Estado que son otorgados desde los CAPASITS y hospitales del sector salud; generar y fortalecer programas de empoderamiento para las mujeres y acciones que busquen promover la igual de oportunidades entre mujeres y hombres; por último a disminuir el estigma y la discriminación hacia las poblaciones clave y personas afectadas por el VIH y otras ITS incorporando el principio MIPA[3] que habla del mayor involucramiento de las personas con VIH como parte de la solución y respuesta, con ello contribuir a un México democrático, incluyente y sin discriminación.

US: New report explores how HIV criminal laws in California are enforced against foreign born populations

FOR IMMIGRANTS, HIV CRIMINALIZATION CAN MEAN INCARCERATION AND DEPORTATION 

New Study Shows 15 Percent of People who had Contact with Californa Criminal System because of HIV Criminalization Laws were Foreign Born

LOS ANGELES – A new study suggests that for some immigrants, an HIV-specific criminal offense may have been the triggering event for their deportation proceedings.  In HIV Criminalization Against Immigrants in California, Williams Institute Scholars Amira Hasenbush and Bianca D.M. Wilson, explore how HIV criminal laws are enforced in California, particularly against foreign born populations.

HIV criminalization is a term used to describe statutes that either criminalize otherwise legal conduct or that increase the penalties for illegal conduct based upon a person’s HIV-positive status.  California has four HIV-specific criminal laws, and one non-HIV-specific criminal law that criminalizes exposure to any communicable disease.  All HIV-specific offenses in California have the potential to lead to deportation proceedings.

“People living with HIV still face stigma and discrimination,” said Amira Hasenbush.  “If one is HIV-positive and enters the criminal system, one may be more severely impacted than those who are HIV-negative.  A major impact for HIV positive immigrants is possible deportation, possibly a far worse outcome than the original sentence.  Living with HIV is a public health matter, not a criminal one.”

Key Findings:

-Overall, 800 people have come into contact with the California criminal system from 1988 to June 2014 related to that person’s HIV-positive status.  Among those individuals, 121 (15 percent) were foreign born.

-Thirty-six people, or 30 percent, of these foreign born individuals, had some form of a criminal immigration proceeding in their histories. Among those who had immigration proceedings in their records, nine people (25 percent) had those proceedings initiated immediately after an HIV-specific incident.

-Like their U.S. born counterparts, 94 percent of all HIV-specific incidents in which immigrants had contact with the criminal system were under California’s felony offense against solicitation while HIV-positive.

-Eighty-three percent of the immigrants who had contact with the system based on their HIV-positive status were born in Mexico, Central or South America, or the Caribbean.

-While U.S. born people were divided fairly evenly between men and women, immigrants were overwhelmingly men: 88 percent of foreign born individuals in the group were men. (It should be noted that “men” may include transgender male-to-female individuals.  Problems created by a lack of data on transgender people within criminal justice databases are highlighted in the report.)

HIV Criminalization Against Immigrants in California was developed by analyzing the California Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) data on HIV offenses in California, exploring the demographics and experiences of foreign born individuals as compared to their U.S. born counterparts. Future research beyond the enforcement data may explore whether initial patterns seen by sex and place of birth are perpetuated in other criminal systems or under other offenses. Future research can also explore the influence of sexual orientation and gender identity as a potential driver to the criminal system and as a potential mediating factor in experiences once in the system. This will help provide a more nuanced and complete picture of the experiences of people who are criminalized based on their HIV-positive status.

Read the report.

The Williams Institute, a think tank on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, is dedicated to conducting rigorous, independent research with real-world relevance.

Australia: Up to 14 years jail sentences and compulsory testing for people spitting at police officers could be introduced in new legislation

Police in Australia are pushing for the introduction of a maximum 14 year jail sentence for people who spit at police officers.

The move comes after new figures reveal more than 1,000 officers are “exposed to bodily fluids” at work each year in the country.

Officers have routinely put there lives on hold for months to ensure they had not contracted any diseases.

South Australian Police Association president Mark Carroll said: ““When, in the course of duty, officers are spat on, bitten or otherwise assaulted in a way involving an exchange of bodily fluids, it’s essential that these officers have access to blood samples from the assailant that can be tested.”

The Adelaide Advertiser reported a case in May where a man spat at an officer and said: “I have HIV AIDS and now you’ve got it too”.

After sentencing the man to four and a half years in prison, Judge Rauf Soulio said: “Your comments about HIV caused him great distress. He felt unable to hold his infant daughter, who was born prematurely, for fear of passing on a communicable disease.”

“He had to deal with the fear of waiting for blood results, which were, fortunately, negative,” he added.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph police minister Troy Grant has prepared new proposals saying he hopes to make it a “new offence with tough penalties for spitting on officers and a mandatory testing regimen for offenders who spit.”

In Ireland, the offence appears to be at the lower end of the punishment scale. The Herald reported in June 2015 where a man, Liam Deegan, was sentenced to a month in prison for spitting in a Garda’s face as he was being led to the cells following a court appearance.

The same paper reported another incident whereby another man, Shamsiytar Shafie, received a four month sentence in May 2015 for a similar offence.

Published in NewsTalk on Oct 2, 2016

 

HIV criminalisation advocacy must extend beyond HIV specific statutes

By Kate D’Adamo

From TheBody.com

September 29, 2016

The fight to combat HIV criminalization is not new. After years of activism, gains are finally being made to repeal statutes that turn a person’s knowledge of their HIV status into a crime.

Just this year, Colorado’s HIV modernization bill comprehensively repealed almost all of the HIV-specific statutes in the state. This is an evidence-based success: Criminalizing people’s HIV status does not inhibit HIV transmission, but instead turns their knowledge and treatment of that status into evidence of a crime. This weaponizes their knowledge and their enrollment in the very care public health officials recommend, forcing people to weigh testing and treatment against fear of arrest.

With the growing success in fighting HIV criminalization, it is now time for advocates to take the conversation beyond the repeal of HIV-specific statutes and to confront the larger context of how criminalization encourages HIV transmission.

The growing data on where and when laws criminalizing a person’s status are implemented show that the people in the crosshairs of these laws are often those already criminalized through their engagement in sex work. The ostensible targets of HIV criminalization laws may be people who are not otherwise criminalized, but the data clearly show who faces most of their impact. The more common way that people who are HIV positive are criminalized for their status is not through general HIV criminalization statutes, but through laws that upgrade a misdemeanor prostitution charge to a felony if a sex worker is HIV positive.

The Williams Institute looked at who is charged and convicted of HIV-specific statutes in California found that “[t]he vast majority (95%) of all HIV-specific criminal incidents impacted people engaged in sex work or individuals suspected of engaging in sex work.” Research out of Nashville, Tennessee, corroborated this picture, with charges disproportionately targeting people arrested for prostitution, who then faced a felony upgrade and (until last year) were required to register as sex offenders for being HIV positive. However, these laws are not the only way criminalization increases sex workers’ vulnerability to HIV transmission, and advocacy must expand its vision to include the fuller context.

At the Sex Workers Project, we work with individuals who trade sex across the spectrum of choice, circumstance and coercion. For sex workers, the relationship between criminalization and health is complex and deeply interwoven.

When we look at the role of HIV transmission in the lives of our clients and community, it is not simply HIV-specific statutes, but the tactics of policing and the instability created through criminalization that increase people’s vulnerability. If the long-term goal is to end the spread of HIV, advocacy should target criminalization more holistically and see HIV modernization, or the on-going state-by-state push to repeal these statutes, as just one of the initial steps needed to explore the nexus between public health and criminalization.

When we expand our scope beyond these specific statutes to look at how policing and criminalization encourage HIV transmission, a more complex and multi-layered picture emerges. For instance, the relationship between evidence of a crime and transmission of HIV does not end with simply knowing one’s status. Law enforcement’s use of condoms as evidence of prostitution has a chilling effect. In research on the impact of policing that uses safer-sex supplies as evidence of a crime, many sex workers reported that they were afraid to carry condoms or take condoms from outreach workers, regardless of whether they were engaging in prostitution at that time. Most impacted by these policing practices were transgender women of color, a population acknowledged to be already at higher risk for HIV transmission. Transgender women are commonly profiled as being engaged in sex work, and therefore, were most at risk for being arrested for the mere possession of condoms. This means that policing practices are actively putting the community with the highest vulnerability to HIV at even higher risk of transmission.

Further, policing procedures that inundate areas “known for prostitution” with law enforcement push sex workers into isolated locations to avoid arrest. This means isolation from peers who can provide harm reduction and safety, and from outreach workers who may offer resources — in addition to making sex workers vulnerable to physical and sexual assault, as physical isolation carries its own risk of HIV transmission.

The fight for HIV modernization bills across the country is already having a demonstrable success. The recent Colorado HIV modernization bill shows what a comprehensive policy can look like. Many other state-based efforts have made sure their work encompasses those most impacted by HIV-specific statutes and fought to include in their advocacy sex workers and organizations serving people who trade sex.

But these policy changes should not be where the momentum ends. HIV criminalization is only one part of the larger on-going dialogue on the nexus between criminalization and public health that deeply impacts the lives of marginalized communities. When more people understand how criminalization affects individual and public health, we can expand the impact of our work to address these larger issues and shift our goals to not just avoiding the criminalization of HIV, but also stemming its spread.

Kate D’Adamo is the national policy advocate at the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center, focusing on laws, policies and advocacy that target folks who trade sex, including the criminalization of sex work, anti-trafficking policies and HIV-specific laws. Previously, Kate was a community organizer and advocate for people in the sex trade with the Sex Workers Outreach Project-NYC and Sex Workers Action New York. She holds a BA in political Science from California Polytechnic State University and an MA in international affairs from the New School University.

Originally published in The Body on 29/09/2016

Canada: Global Fund Replenishment Conference puts the spotlight on Canada HIV criminalisation laws

Friday and Saturday, Montreal will play host to the Fifth Replenishment Conference of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. While much of the discussion will be focused on developing countries (the Global South), where the fund has played a crucial role since is creation in 2002, this is also an appropriate time to take stock of Canadian realities.

At a time when the global effort is suffering from precarious funding, Canada has stepped up to the plate by increasing its contribution by 20 per cent, to a total of $785 million over the next three years. This commitment is to be applauded. It proves that there is a willingness on the part of government to make Canada a leader once again on the international scene. It is also a promising reminder that increased donations will get us closer to beating these diseases once and for all.

But good leadership also puts the spotlight on Canada’s own responsibility to address human-rights issues that are impediments to the improvement of public health and fair access to health services.

In the HIV sector, we know that gender inequality, racism and homophobia are the breeding grounds for the epidemic. Poverty and discrimination are further barriers to access and care. As was recently pointed out by Canada’s Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, Marie-Claude Bibeau, HIV has a particularly heavy impact on young women.

In order to continue to play its part as an international leader, Canada has to make good on commitments to end these epidemics here at home. We have work to do in our own backyard in order to align the fight against HIV/AIDS with human-rights advocacy.

Canada in 2016 is a country that still imposes criminal penalties on people living with HIV: they still risk prison sentences for having sexual relations without disclosing their HIV status to their partners when they have taken the necessary precautions to avoid transmission (use of a condom or undetectable viral load), and when there has been no transmission. This increases stigma, goes against science and UNAIDS recommendations, and should not be the case in a country that otherwise is helping lead the way.

Leadership comes from inspiring the best public policy, especially when it is supported by scientific data. In this regard, Canada must go farther and support the opening of supervised-injection sites. Such harm-reduction approaches are proven to reduce rates of infection.

Furthermore, we must work to create social and legal frameworks that help sex workers, as recommended by such NGOs  as Amnesty International. It is crucial that we repeal Bill C-36, the so-called “Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act” that criminalizes sex work in Canada.

This major international event will also be an opportunity to highlight how these epidemics affect migrants. Mandatory testing by immigration authorities contradicts recommendations by Canadian health experts. Rejecting migrants on the basis of their HIV or health status continues to foster prejudice in this regard. Economic arguments for refusing them entry only serve to exacerbate such inequalities. It is high time to look at universal access to treatment and the real cost of its being denied to certain people.

The Global Fund Replenishment Conference is a fitting time to demonstrate Canada’s financial support for countries most affected by HIV, TB, and malaria. Canada’s commitment to international aid is a solid foundation for global action on these issues.

But now is also the time for us to lead by example in our own country. There is much work to be done before we can truly “End it. For Good.” We need concrete measures that show Canadians stand with and support HIV-positive people.

Gabriel Girard is a post-doctoral researcher in sociology at Université de Montréal. Pierre-Henri Minot is executive director of Portail VIH/sida du Québec in Montreal. This article is based on an open letter that has been co-signed by more than 150 others. The full list is available at pvsq.org/globalfunds2016.

Uganda: ABC Radio interviews HIV criminalisation survivor, Rosemary Namubiru, and UGANET’s Dora Kiconco Musinguzi

Listen to Natasha Mitchell compelling interview with HIV criminalisation survivor, Rosemary Namubiru, and UGANET’s Dora Kiconco Musinguzi on the challenge to the problematic HIV criminalisation statutes within Uganda’s HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Act.

This seven minute audio report from AIDS 2016 in Durban is excerpted from ABC Radio’s longer podcast, The brutal politics of a virus that won’t go away, by reporter Natasha Mitchell for Background Briefing. 

Listen to and/or download the full podcast and read the transcript on ABC Radio’s website.

The transcript of Natasha’s HIV criminalisation-related report is below.

Natasha Mitchell: In Uganda, around 7% of people are infected, and while the country is recognised for taking decisive action against HIV, the government’s harsh attitude and laws is dramatically undermining that progress.

Rosemary Namubiru is a 66-year-old nurse, mother and grandmother. She found out she had the virus just three years ago, and she thinks she got it from a patient.

Rosemary hadn’t yet disclosed her status at work, but when she was wrongly accused of intentionally infecting a patient, before she knew it the full force of the law was thrown at her.

Rosemary Namubiru: I saw the police coming, and they were holding me, ‘You are under arrest for murder.’ Then they called the media, so when I was in that room they called and told me, ‘Come out.’ I came out and I found a crowd of cameramen, media people.

Natasha Mitchell: Outside the police station?

Rosemary Namubiru: Yes.

Natasha Mitchell: Rosemary was charged with attempted murder after she accidentally pricked herself with a needle while treating a child. The mother watching on was worried and reported Rosemary. While the child wasn’t infected, thankfully, all hell broke loose when Rosemary’s HIV positive status was confirmed and made public. Rosemary was arrested and paraded in front of the media, who labelled her a ‘killer’ and a ‘murderer’.

Rosemary Namubiru: They were trying to manhandle me. They were taking photographs of me. They were calling me all sorts of names, ‘Murderer, killer. Look at this woman, a killer, a murderer.’ And it went all over the country in the national newspapers, in the English newspapers. ‘That murderer, the murderer. If we see her we shall beat her, we shall kill her.’ It was the talk of town. Even my village. Initially, they labelled it as ‘murder’. Then it was reduced, ‘attempted murder’, and then it was eventually changed into ‘negligence’.

Natasha Mitchell: Rosemary was publicly shamed, and sentenced to three years in prison for negligence.

Lawyer Dora Kiconco Musinguzi is the executive director of Uganda Network on Law, Ethics and HIV/AIDS or UGANET.

Dora Kiconco Musinguzi: Rosemary’s story sent so many chills across the country amongst people living with HIV. She was the headline of the news. ‘Killer nurse’. ‘Monster nurse’. She was treated so cruelly at the police, she was beaten, her hair was pulled, right, left, and centre, and that caused a lot of fear among people living with HIV. So we see discrimination written on walls, written in political statements, discrimination is still real, so that is where we are. That’s Uganda’s story currently.

Natasha Mitchell: Rosemary Namubiru was released at the end of 2014 after her case received international attention.

In the same year, Uganda introduced the HIV Prevention and Control Act. At face value it’s about controlling HIV, promoting testing and treatment, and preventing discrimination. Uganda’s not alone here, HIV specific criminal laws are on the increase worldwide, and also exist in America and Europe.

But Dora Kiconco Musinguzi and colleagues are leading a legal challenge in the Ugandan Constitutional Court against key parts of the law, including certain provisions that demand disclosure of your HIV status, and criminalise those who transmit the virus intentionally.

Dora Kiconco Musinguzi: The question is at what point do you establish intention. In a circumstance where we have so many people that have not yet tested, how do you know that a person infected another? So anybody could blame the other for infecting them, and what should be a human condition, a disease, then becomes a criminal object and lives break, and families break, and you know how the media picks on this, and totally takes it out of context. We believe it’s going to be really dangerous.

Natasha Mitchell: At least half of the Ugandan population still don’t know their HIV status. And Dora Kinconco Musinguzi believes the HIV Prevention and Control Act will exacerbate their reluctance to get tested and treated and so cause the virus to spread.

Dora Kiconco Musinguzi: So if people fear, relate HIV testing with obligation, with imprisonment, with undue power of the law, we believe this is going to create a bigger barrier to testing, and that fails the objective of prevention and control because then we shall have more people left out of the treatment area.

Natasha Mitchell: And because pregnant women have to be tested for HIV, they’re at greater risk under this law.

Dora Kiconco Musinguzi: They are going to be found to be HIV positive fast, and if they don’t disclose then they are in the ambit of attempting to transmit, so that makes the women criminals. So there’s lots of unanswered questions. And yet on the other side science has given us hope that people who test and take their medicines very well, they become less infectious, so they don’t transmit HIV. The law neglects this science. The law does not consider what public health specialists are saying, but the Ugandan government has not put this into consideration.

Natasha Mitchell: The experience of Rosemary Namubiru is a cautionary lesson about why laws that criminalise HIV positive people can be so bad for public health.

Dora Kiconco Musinguzi: You shouldn’t be criminalised. These cases could be handled in another way. We are really asking the Constitutional Court to find out whether this is the law that will present and control HIV, and still afford dignity and non-discrimination for living with HIV.

Natasha Mitchell: Based on your experience, Rosemary, what do you feel about the criminalisation law in Uganda against people with HIV?

Rosemary Namubiru: It hurts. Ignorance kills, but it hurts when people just carry on, and people keep on saying, ‘Oh, that one, that one.’ Me, I didn’t get it sexually. It was during the course of saving lives of human beings, so it is not something to laugh about. I wouldn’t wish anybody to go through what I went through.

Natasha Mitchell: Rosemary Namubiru. She’s now retired from nursing.

HIV Justice Network presents important new HIV criminalisation data today at AIDS 2016

Today, at the International AIDS Conference in Durban, the HIV Justice Network and GNP+ will present important new data on HIV criminalisation based on updated research from our Advancing HIV Justice 2 report.

Global Trends in HIV Criminalisation (Download the pdf here)

HIV criminalisation is a growing, global phenomenon that is seldom given the attention it deserves considering its impact on both public health and human rights, undermining the HIV response.

In many instances, HIV criminalisation laws are exceedingly broad – either in their explicit wording, or in the way they have been interpreted and applied – making people living with HIV (and those perceived by authorities to be at risk of HIV) extremely vulnerable to a wide range of human rights violations.

Seventy-two countries currently have HIV-specific laws, rising to 101 jurisdictions when individual US states are included. Notably, 30 countries in Africa have such laws, including new overly-broad laws in Uganda (2014) and Nigeria (2015).

At least 61 countries have reported HIV-related criminal cases. This total increases to 105 jurisdictions when individual US states and Australian states/territories are counted separately.

However, not all countries have enforced HIV-specific laws and other countries have applied general laws: 32 applied general or public health laws, 26 used HIV-specific laws and 3 (Australia, Denmark and United States) have applied both.

During the 30-month period: April 2013 to October 2015, we found reports of at least 313 arrests, prosecutions and/or convictions in 28 countries.

The highest number of cases during this period were reported in:

• Russia (at least 115);

• United States of America (at least 104);

• Belarus (at least 20);

• Canada (at least 17);

• France (at least 7);

• United Kingdom (at least 6);

• Italy (at least 6);

• Australia (at least 5); and

• Germany (at least 5).

Global trends in HIV criminalisation