Russia: New bill proposed on the deportation of migrants with “dangerous” diseases, including HIV

The State Duma may pass a law on the expulsion of migrants with dangerous diseases

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has prepared a bill on the expulsion of migrants with dangerous diseases. Including with coronavirus. The decision on deportation will also be made by the Ministry of Health, the FSB and the bodies of sanitary and epidemiological surveillance. They must coordinate their actions with the Ministry of Justice. At the same time, it is necessary to provide sick people with treatment, accompaniment and transportation.
In addition to coronavirus, the list also includes plague, cholera, tuberculosis, HIV and anthrax. The document, according to the channel “Russia 24”, will be presented to the Cabinet in March, the State Duma will consider it in May.

Госдума может принять закон о выдворении мигрантов с опасными болезнями

МВД подготовило законопроект о порядке выдворения мигрантов с опасными заболеваниями. В том числе, с коронавирусом. Решение о депортации будут также принимать Минздрав, ФСБ и органы санитарно-эпидемиологического надзора. Свои действия они должны согласовывать с Минюстом. Заболевшим, при этом, необходимо предоставить лечение, сопровождение и перевозку.

Кроме коронавируса, в списке также чума, холера, туберкулез, ВИЧ и сибирская язва. Документ, по данным телеканала “Россия 24”, представят кабмину в марте, Госдума рассмотрит его в мае.

South Africa: African migrants face dual challenge of navigating HIV care and social stigma

The social management of HIV: African migrants in South Africa

HIV is the most common chronic illness in South Africa. One in every five is infected and one in every 13 takes antiretroviral drugs daily. Managing HIV medically has become more of a part of normal life.

Amid this public health emergency, some 2.5 million foreign-born African immigrants live in South Africa. They largely come from countries with the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world, such as Lesotho. Yet their access to health care and services is limited, because they are vulnerable in various ways. Though entitled to inclusion and care in South Africa, they may face deportation, xenophobia, exploitation, language barriers, cultural estrangement and social isolation.

In spite of these challenges, migrants do manage HIV medically. But we do not really know how they manage socially in communities where the stigma of the disease affects all dimensions of life. HIV is often referred to today as a “manageable” chronic illness, but it is not just a medical condition. It is also very much a social condition as living with HIV comprises both clinical features of care and experiences of stigma and social angst.

Understanding how migrants manage this social dimension of their condition matters because it shapes the landscapes and outcomes of their care. It directly influences when and where people seek treatment, and how well they adhere to it if they do. This in turn affects critical issues such as drug resistance and prevention of transmission.

In a recent journal article, I unravel complexities of stigma and perceptions of HIV in Mozambican migrant communities. My research exposes layers and shades of stigma across different social networks and locations, which influence how HIV is managed socially. It shows how an individual’s HIV status determines how other community members are regarded and interacted with in daily life.

Perceptual contrasts

Nowhere in South Africa is the migrant population as dense as in inner-city Johannesburg. In their urban enclaves, community members inevitably lead lives entwined with those of people receiving care for HIV, whether aware of their infection or not.

HIV is spoken of here in ways that acknowledge, perpetuate and replicate stigma. For instance, Mozambicans may allude to HIV as “stepping on the mine”, as “being poisoned” or as “getting stung”. Open conversation about HIV is avoided, which in turn creates an anxiety that motivates secrecy. This is so because disclosure of HIV serostatus may put social life at risk.

I explore perceptions of HIV among two groups of Mozambican migrants in Johannesburg: one consisting of patients receiving care for HIV in a hospital; and the other of community members unaware of their own serostatus.

The contrast between how these two groups perceive of each other is staggering. The patients apprehensively conceal their status for fear of what others might think of them. But these others express mostly empathy and understanding for their condition.

I identify two reasons for such stark perceptual contrasts. The first lies in a transformation of identity, which results in a division between an “us” and a “them”, between the HIV-positive and the HIV-negative.

This process creates a schism between “patienthood” and “personhood”. When a person tests positive for HIV, fears of physical death in the future transform into fears of social disruption in the present. Loneliness and isolation then result from the person keeping her HIV status secret.

As the identity of a community member shifts from personhood to patienthood, as she receives counselling and care, she comes to associate disclosure with her own (and others’) social death. Her serostatus then becomes a secret in her life, while her notion of others’ perceptions of HIV becomes confined to the realm of the suspected and nervously anticipated. Expecting social misfortunes should others learn of her status, she opts for concealment as a strategy of survival in the community.

Secondly, I find that stigma is tied to location, because of the ways in which location is tied to social networks. In different social networks such as family at home, friends, work colleagues, acquaintances in the community or the nightlife, the stakes of disclosure vary considerably.

For instance, one focal point of stigma is the local HIV clinic. It is supposed to care for its patients, but at the same time it also estranges them, because others might recognise them there and so become antagonists rather than fellow patients.

In fact, Mozambicans largely prefer to avoid clinics in South Africa and go home to Mozambique for treatment. The stakes of disclosure, involving livelihoods, partners and identities, are far too high to risk being seen receiving care in South Africa. Disclosure may be less hurtful in certain locations where social networks are more sympathetic.

This may further complicate the therapeutic journey of migrants in terms of costs, retention in treatment or simply having to explain away the true purpose of one’s absence.

Medicalised, not socialised

HIV may have become easier to manage medically, but stigma continues to cause distress and remains severely challenging to manage. This is also a challenge for health care provision, as it sways choices of when and where to seek care: a South African clinic, for example, or a distant, socially safer treatment option.

HIV may have been medicalised, yes, but not socialised.

UNAIDS and UNDP urge countries to lift all forms of HIV-related travel restrictions

UNAIDS and UNDP call on 48* countries and territories to remove all HIV-related travel restrictions

New data show that in 2019 around 48* countries and territories still have restrictions that include mandatory HIV testing and disclosure as part of requirements for entry, residence, work and/or study permits

GENEVA, 27 June 2019—UNAIDS and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are urging countries to keep the promises made in the 2016 United Nations Political Declaration on Ending AIDS to remove all forms of HIV-related travel restrictions. Travel restrictions based on real or perceived HIV status are discriminatory, prevent people from accessing HIV services and propagate stigma and discrimination. Since 2015, four countries have taken steps to lift their HIV-related travel restrictions—Belarus, Lithuania, the Republic of Korea and Uzbekistan.

“Travel restrictions on the basis of HIV status violate human rights and are not effective in achieving the public health goal of preventing HIV transmission,” said Gunilla Carlsson, UNAIDS Executive Director, a.i. “UNAIDS calls on all countries that still have HIV-related travel restrictions to remove them.”

“HIV-related travel restrictions fuel exclusion and intolerance by fostering the dangerous and false idea that people on the move spread disease,” said Mandeep Dhaliwal, Director of UNDP’s HIV, Health and Development Group. “The 2018 Supplement of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law was unequivocal in its findings that these policies are counterproductive to effective AIDS responses.”

Out of the 48 countries and territories that maintain restrictions, at least 30 still impose bans on entry or stay and residence based on HIV status and 19 deport non-nationals on the grounds of their HIV status. Other countries and territories may require an HIV test or diagnosis as a requirement for a study, work or entry visa. The majority of countries that retain travel restrictions are in the Middle East and North Africa, but many countries in Asia and the Pacific and eastern Europe and central Asia also impose restrictions.

“HIV-related travel restrictions violate human rights and stimulate stigma and discrimination. They do not decrease the transmission of HIV and are based on moralistic notions of people living with HIV and key populations. It is truly incomprehensible that HIV-related entry and residency restrictions still exist,” said Rico Gustav, Executive Director of the Global Network of People Living with HIV.

The Human Rights Council, meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, this week for its 41st session, has consistently drawn the attention of the international community to, and raised awareness on, the importance of promoting human rights in the response to HIV, most recently in its 5 July 2018 resolution on human rights in the context of HIV.

“Policies requiring compulsory tests for HIV to impose travel restrictions are not based on scientific evidence, are harmful to the enjoyment of human rights and perpetuate discrimination and stigma,” said Dainius Pūras, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health. “They are a direct barrier to accessing health care and therefore ineffective in terms of public health. I call on states to abolish discriminatory policies that require mandatory testing and impose travel restrictions based on HIV status.”

The new data compiled by UNAIDS include for the first time an analysis of the kinds of travel restrictions imposed by countries and territories and include cases in which people are forced to take a test to renew a residency permit. The data were validated with Member States through their permanent missions to the United Nations.

UNAIDS and UNDP, as the convenor of the Joint Programme’s work on human rights, stigma and discrimination, are continuing to work with partners, governments and civil society organizations to change all laws that restrict travel based on HIV status as part of the Global Partnership for Action to Eliminate all Forms of HIV-Related Stigma and Discrimination. This is a partnership of United Nations Member States, United Nations entities, civil society and the private and academic sectors for catalysing efforts in countries to implement and scale up programmes and improve shared responsibility and accountability for ending HIV-related stigma and discrimination.

*The 48 countries and territories that still have some form of HIV related travel restriction are: Angola, Aruba, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, New Zealand, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

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.

Venezuela: Over 7,700 Venezuelans in need of HIV/AIDS treatment have left their country

A chance to live: The quest of Venezuelan refugees and migrants with HIV/AIDS

A chance to live: The quest of Venezuelan refugees and migrants with HIV/AIDS

By Marta Martinez in Lima. Also available in: Français, Español, عربي

Over 7,700 Venezuelans in need of HIV/AIDS treatment have left their country and face additional challenges in their journey to safety and medical care.

Sitting on a crowded bus about to reach Lima, Peru, after seven days on the road and thousands of kilometres away from his home country of Venezuela, Arturo* started to feel terrified. The 47-year-old wondered about getting access to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) medication: “Will I die in this country where I do not know anyone?”

Over three million refugees and migrants have left Venezuela to date. The lack of medicine has forced thousands – especially those with chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDS – to search for treatment and hope in other countries.

For people living with HIV/AIDS, having access to antiretroviral treatment means not only a chance to survive, but to lead a normal life. Over 7,700 Venezuelans live with the condition outside of their home country and are in need of antiretroviral therapy, according to UNAIDS.

Arturo was diagnosed in 2000. He had a comfortable, healthy life as a hair and make-up stylist in Caracas, Venezuela until about two years ago, when access to antiretroviral medication was shrinking.

“I was really scared of not having any medication.”

To get the daily pills he needed, he was forced to resort to friends who were doctors. But soon it became even more cumbersome. Arturo felt he only had one option.

“This marked my decision to leave,” he says. “I was really scared of not having any medication.”

Since he left less than six months ago, Arturo says that five of his friends with HIV/AIDS who remained in Venezuela have died.

Countries like Peru and Mexico have recognized some cases of Venezuelans with HIV as refugees. However, there is no regional response in Latin America that guarantees access to antiretroviral medication for Venezuelan refugees and migrants with HIV/AIDS. Their access to treatment depends on each of the countries’ policies, and they vary greatly from one country to another.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and UNAIDS are providing technical support to national NGOs working to establish a regional network that will allow people with HIV to safely contact clinics, hospitals, shelters and other organizations providing humanitarian assistance to those searching for treatment outside Venezuela.

“Refugees and migrants from Venezuela living with HIV need access to life-saving antiretroviral treatment and care in host countries as well as consistent access to targeted HIV prevention information, education and communication, voluntary counselling, testing and condoms,” says UNAIDS regional programme adviser Alejandra Corao.

Not providing easy access to antiretroviral treatment can develop into a public health issue because it can increase the risk of HIV antiretroviral resistance and the number of new HIV infections, Corao adds.

Refugees and migrants may avoid going to the hospital for fear of being discriminated due to their condition or – if they do not have legal residence – of being deported. That increases the risk of transmission in host countries.

To his surprise, it only took Arturo 20 days to start treatment in Lima. “The medical attention was wonderful,” he says. “I immediately got into treatment. Everyone was very respectful.”

In Peru, access to antiretroviral medication is free. However, availability and effective access are not always guaranteed. UNHCR’s partner organization PROSA reported three cases of Venezuelans with HIV/AIDS they have been monitoring who died because they did not get timely access to retroviral treatment. Civil society actors report eight cases in total.

“As soon as I told them about my condition, they asked me to leave. They said I could infect others.”

In addition, most refugees and migrants do not have access to the public health system – for instance, when it comes to treatment of other conditions developed from HIV.

“We demand universal coverage,” says Julio Rondinel, a Peruvian psychologist who supports Venezuelan refugees and migrants with HIV in his therapy group at CCEFIRO Association. “Consuming antiretroviral medication for long periods of time generates metabolic syndromes, like diabetes or high blood pressure.”

Due to their uniquely vulnerable condition, Venezuelans with HIV/AIDS can apply for extraordinary residency in Peru. To qualify for it, they need to provide a medical exam and go through some health controls, which can amount to some 170 soles (US$50).

“Ensuring broader access to health care is essential for the most vulnerable, like refugees and migrants with HIV/AIDS, whose lives depend on it,” says UNHCR acting Representative in Peru, Sabine Waehning.

Willy’s arrival in Peru was not as positive as Arturo’s. The 22-year-old was diagnosed with HIV in September 2017 in Venezuela, and the doctor was blunt in his recommendation: “If you stay here, you will die.”

After some months in Colombia and Ecuador, Willy made it to Peru’s capital in August. He spent his first 10 days in a shelter. “As soon as I told them about my condition, they asked me to leave,” Willy recalls. “They said I could infect others.”

Thanks to non-profit organizations such as PROSA and AHF, he was able to undergo the necessary medical exams to access treatment. When it comes to antiretroviral therapy in Peru, Willy has only praising words. The medical attention was “top notch” and he quickly started treatment.

“Here you feel safe.”

Willy is now trying to complete his medical tests, so that he can apply for extraordinary residency. “If you don’t have it, it’s very difficult to find a job,” he says.

Darwin, 29, feels like he is now contributing to helping others as a volunteer with AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) in Lima. He advocates for access to treatment and support for both Peruvians and Venezuelans, and accompanies newly arrived Venezuelans with HIV/AIDS to the hospital and supports them in their quest to access antiretroviral treatment.

If he had stayed in Venezuela, Darwin would have died. After three months without medication – because antiretrovirals were impossible to find in hospitals and too expensive to buy in the black market – he got very sick with a stomach virus. He became so weak that he could not walk. He lost 34 kilograms in four months. Darwin said to himself, “I am not going to surrender, I want to keep living.”

Darwin found safety in Peru a year ago. For him, host countries should be more conscious of the fact that anyone can become a refugee: “It’s like HIV. We are all exposed. No one is safe from that risk.”

Arturo recently got his extraordinary residency. He is now taking eight pills a day and works as a hair stylist in Lima. Leaving his home was hard, but he is thankful to Peru. “It is not easy because when you come you’re lacking so many things,” Arturo says. “But here you feel safe.”

Israel: Expulsion threatens lives of HIV-positive Eritrean and Sudanese migrants receiving treatment in Israel

Israel AIDS Task Force demands asylum seekers with HIV not be deported

The Health Ministry is currently treating 184 Eritrean and Sudanese migrants for HIV.

The Israel AIDS Task Force is imploring the government to allow Eritrean and Sudanese migrants with HIV to remain in treatment in Israel amid the pending April 1 mass expulsion of 20,000 unmarried African men of working age.

Out of a total population of 38,000 African migrants in Israel, the Health Ministry estimates there are approximately 400 with HIV.

According to Israel AIDS Task Force’s coordinator, Tal Aberman, 207 have been identified and 184 are being treated via the ministry’s National HIV Prevention and Treatment Program for Immigrants.

Among the patients in treatment, Aberman estimates that 30 are slated to be deported to an unnamed country, widely believed to be Rwanda or Uganda.

“When we learned on January 1 that the Interior Ministry decided to deport asylum seekers from Sudan and Eritrea, we contacted the government and demanded that people living with HIV not be deported,” she said on Tuesday.

“We also contacted UNHCR and tried to get all possible information to learn if they do get deported to Rwanda if they will get medical treatment, and the conclusion was that they will not. So, the bottom line is that the government is deporting people getting treatment in Israel and living a healthy life and sending them to their deaths.”

Aberman said the NGO has yet to receive a response from the Interior Ministry.

“It has been radio silence so far,” she lamented.

To date, Aberman said all African HIV patients have been given letters from UNHCR stating their condition, and informing the government that they will not receive treatment in Rwanda.

Asked if she was concerned about whether the stigma of having HIV would create more anti-African migrant sentiment, Aberman noted that 207 people out of 8.7 million should not be cause for alarm.

“We are allowing these people to live a healthy life and get medication, so why not let them stay here,” she said. “Also, we are past stigmatization, because the press and government already call them ‘cancer,’ ‘terrorists,’ and ‘criminals,’ anyway.”

In the meantime, Aberman said the Israel AIDS Task Force has received ongoing support from UNHCR, multiple NGOs, and the Health Ministry, which is providing medication and treatment at no cost.

“I think that it is very important to say that we are getting a lot of help and support, which is helping us in reaching out to the African community to get tested and find treatment.”

Russia: European Court of Human Rights rules that Russia must compensate a Ukrainian woman deported based on her HIV status

English version – Translation (For Russian version, please scroll down)

European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Russia to pay 15,000 euros compensation to a Ukrainian citizen for her family separation due to her HIV status.

Lawyer Irina Khrunova, representing the interests of the applicant, stated that the court found Russia was guilty of violating the right to respect for family life and of excessive interference in a person’s private life.

Khrunova said her client had lived in Russia since the early 2000s and met her future husband there. When in 2012 a woman was traveling from Ukraine to Sochi, the border officers did not let her into the country, citing the ruling of Rospotrebnadzor came into effect on undesirability of stay HIV-positive non-citizens in Russia.

The Ukrainian’s appeal against this decision had failed in Russian courts.

Европейский суд по правам человека (ЕСПЧ) обязал Россию выплатить 15 тысяч евро компенсации гражданке Украины, разлученной с семьей из-за ВИЧ.

Адвокат Ирина Хрунова, представляющая интересы заявительницы, сообщила, что суд признал правительство России виновным в нарушении статьи об уважении семейной жизни и излишнем вмешательстве в личную жизнь человека.

Хрунова рассказала, что ее подзащитная жила в России с начала 2000-х годов и познакомилась здесь со своим будущим мужем. Когда в 2012 году женщина ехала из Украины в Сочи, пограничники не пустили ее в страну, сославшись на вступившее в силу постановление Роспотребнадзора о нежелательности пребывания в России ВИЧ-положительных неграждан.

Обжаловать это решение в российских судах украинке не удалось.

Originally published in Radio Svoboda

Turkmenistan: New law provides free HIV treatment but mandates HIV testing prior to marriage, and for people who use drugs, prisoners, blood donors and foreigners seeking work visas.

Turkmenistan has passed a law under which all people seeking a marriage license must be tested for HIV.

The law implies that anyone found to be infected with the virus that is the precursor to AIDS would be denied a marriage license.

Reports in state-controlled media on April 6 said the law was enacted “in order to create conditions for forming healthy families and avert the birth of HIV-infected children.”

Authoritarian Turkmenistan has given little public information about the extent of HIV infection in the country.

The new law also requires HIV tests for anyone suspected of using narcotics, foreigners seeking work visas, prisoners, and blood donors.

Under the legislation signed by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the government will guarantee free treatment to people infected with AIDS.

In 2002, Turkmenistan’s Health Ministry claimed the country had only two cases of HIV and that both patients had been infected outside the Central Asian state.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP

South Korea: Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says mandating HIV testing only for foreigners is "discriminatory and an affront to..dignity"

A New Zealand woman’s rights were violated when her employers in the Republic of Korea demanded that, as a foreign English teacher, she undergo HIV/AIDS and drug tests as a condition of having her contract renewed, United Nations experts have found.

The Geneva-based Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) was considering the case of the woman, whose contract was not renewed in 2009 after she refused to undergo a secondary mandatory HIV test required only of foreigners, arguing it was “discriminatory and an affront to her dignity.”

In a statement released by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) today, CERD members noted that the Republic of Korea did not provide any reasons to justify the mandatory testing, from which Korean and ethnic Korean teachers were exempt.

They also noted that, during arbitration proceedings, the woman’s employers, the Uslan Metropolitan Office of Education (UMOE), said that HIV/AIDS tests were viewed as a means to check the values and morality of foreign English teachers.

The testing policy, the Committee wrote in its findings , “does not appear to be justified on public health grounds or any other ground, and is a breach of the right to work without distinction to race, colour, national or ethnic origin.”

The Committee called on the Republic of Korea to grant the woman adequate compensation for the moral and material damages she suffered. The Committee also urged the authorities to take steps to review regulations and policies related to the employment of foreigners and to abolish, in law and in practice, any legislation which creates or perpetuates racial discrimination.

“The Committee recommends the State party to counter any manifestations of xenophobia, through stereotyping or stigmatizing, of foreigners by public officials, the media and the public at large,” members wrote. The Committee has asked the Republic of Korea to inform it within 90 days of the steps it has taken.

In its submission to the Committee, the Republic of Korea said that, since 2010, its guidelines on the employment of foreign teachers do not specify that they have to submit results of HIV/AIDS and drugs tests to have their contracts renewed, and that mandatory testing is no longer required by the UMOE.