Sean Strub Harvard Lecture: HIV Criminalization: Creating a Viral Underclass in the Law (US, 2018)

HLS Lambda hosted this lecture on HIV stigma, criminalization, and activism.

Sean Strub is a longtime HIV survivor, founder of POZ magazine, director of the Sero Project, and an advocate for people living with HIV. He is the author of Body Counts: A Memoir of Politics, AIDS, Sex, and Survival. His short film, HIV Is Not a Crime, introduced the problem of HIV criminalization to audiences worldwide. A longtime activist, Strub was the first openly HIV-positive person to run for the U.S. Congress. He has also produced the off-Broadway hit The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me, and served as a member of the board of the Global Network of People Living with HIV.

For more information, visit our website at: petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/events/details/hiv-criminalization-lambda

US: SERO Project and Positive Women’s Network-USA Announce 2018 HIV Is Not a Crime National Training Academy Registration is Open (Press Release)

SERO Project and Positive Women’s Network-USA Announce 2018 HIV Is Not a Crime National Training Academy Registration is Open

February 5, 2018: SERO Project and Positive Women’s Network – USA are excited to announce that registration is now open for the 2018 HIV is Not a Crime III National Training Academy! Planning to participate? Register now! Get more information on the training academy website here.

Building on the amazing success of the HIV Is Not a Crime II National Training Academy in 2016, the planning process is underway for the third HIV Is Not a Crime National Training Academy to support advocates in their efforts to repeal or modernize state laws criminalizing the alleged non-disclosure, perceived or potential exposure or transmission of HIV. The training academy will be held at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) June 3-6, 2018.

HIV is Not a Crime III will once again unite and train advocates living with HIV and allies from across the country about laws criminalizing people living with HIV and on strategies and best practices for repealing such laws. Skills-building trainings, with an emphasis on grassroots organizing, advocacy, coalition-building and campaign planning, will leave participants with concrete tools and resources to work on state-level strategies when they return home.

“The HIV Modernization Movement (HMM) is excited to welcome HIV is Not a Crime III to the IUPUI campus! Science has made extraordinary advances since the HIV epidemic began in the 1980s, but one area that hasn’t kept up is the body of laws that criminalize HIV. Lacking in scientific merit, these harmful laws stigmatize people living with HIV and are counterproductive to HIV treatment and prevention efforts. Organized activities like this one, that bring together people living with HIV and their allies to collectively strategize on reforming these draconian laws, are critical to ending the HIV epidemic,” says Dr. Carrie Foote, HMM Chair and Associate Professor at IUPUI.

Interested in presenting a session at HIV Is Not a Crime III? The abstract submission process is open through Monday, February 12. Find complete instructions for submitting your session proposal here.

Interested in providing financial support for this important event? Sponsorships are still available at various levels. Please contact Sean Strub, SERO Project (sean….@seroproject.com) or Naina Khanna at Positive Women’s Network – USA (naina.kh…@gmail.com) for more information.

Questions? Please contact Tami Haught, SERO Organizer and Training Coordinator, at:  tami.haught@seroproject.com.

 

US: HIV Criminalisation Webinar on Dec 7 for criminal defense attorneys about the current state of medicine

2017 FREE Webinar: HIV Criminalization Webinar

On December 7, 2017, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and The Center for HIV Law & Policy (CHLP), will co-host a webinar on HIV Criminalization that will provide participants with a medical primer about the current state of medicine with regard to HIV research and treatment. This primer, geared toward criminal defense attorneys, but open to all, will be coupled with a discussion on how to use medical research to develop defenses, present the court with mitigation, negotiate favorable pleas for clients, and litigate constitutional, evidentiary, and discovery issues. There will also be a section exploring the ethical issues that attorneys must grapple with when handling these cases. See attached event flyer.

Date:   Thursday, December 7, 2017

When:  1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET

Cost:   FREE

CLE credit:  Available for up to *1.5 hours of CLE (general) where self-study credit authorized and approved.

Register:  Click here to register.

* Registrants will be sent a link to the written CLE materials in advance of the webinar.

 

Mexico: First Spanish language ‘HIV is Not A Crime’ meeting leads to new Network and impressive early results

In October 2017 the first Spanish-language ‘HIV Is Not A Crime’ meeting took place in Mexico City, supported by the HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE coalition.

The two-day meeting brought together people living with HIV, activists, lawyers, human rights defenders, and academics from across Mexico – alongside HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE partners CNET+ (Belize), Sero Project (USA), and the HIV Justice Network – to discuss the current state of HIV criminalisation nationally, regionally and globally.

As well as learning about HIV criminalisation around the world; the global movement to end HIV criminalisation; and the importance of the leadership of Networks of People Living with HIV, participants discussed reform initiatives in the three states where specific problematic laws exist (Veracruz) or were recently proposed (and Quintana Roo and San Luis Potosí).

In 2015, the Congress of Veracruz approved a reform of the Penal Code in order to add to the crime “of contagion” the term “sexually transmitted infections” (STI), among which are HIV and HPV, to “try to prevent the transmission of such infections, mainly to (vulnerable) women and girls.” The penalty includes six months to five years in prison and a fine of up to 50 days minimum wage for anyone who “maliciously” infects another person with an STI.

In San Luis Potosí, the governor, Juan Manuel Carreras López, proposed reforms to the Criminal Code, including the creation of article 182 bis, to punish “the person knowing that he is a carrier of a sexually transmitted disease. ..) endangers the health of another person through sexual intercourse “.  Thanks to quick action by local activists, the proposed reforms did not pass.

In Quintana Roo, last year Congresswoman Laura Beristain proposed reforming Article 113 of the Criminal Code to punish anyone who transmits HIV with up to 25 years in prison.  A few weeks ago, following a meeting with activists including those who attend the ‘HIV is not a crime meeting’, she committed to dropping the proposal.

In addition to these HIV-specific laws, the meeting heard that 30 the 32 states that make up the Mexican Republic have a public health law that sanctions exposure to sexually transmitted infections.  Only the states of Aguascalientes and San Luis Potosí do not have this law.

According to data from Letra S, at least 39 people have been prosecuted under this law between 2000 and 2016 on suspicion of having transmitted a sexual infection and / or HIV. The state with the highest number of registered cases is Veracruz, with 15; Sonora follows, with nine; Tamaulipas and State of Mexico, with five; Chihuahua, with three, and Mexico City and Nuevo León with a case.

Last year, the Veracruz Multisectoral Group on HIV / AIDS and STIs and the National Commission on Human Rights challenged the Veracruz law on unconstitutionality grounds at the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. The challenge was supported by HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE in a widely reported press conference last year.  However, the Supreme Court has yet to rule.

As a result of the meeting, the Mexican Network of organisations against the criminalisation of HIV was formed, bringing together 29 organizations from all over the country. During, and immediately following the meeting, the Network drafted an 11-point Declaration addressed to various governmental agencies in charge of responding to the epidemic, as well as to society in general.

Among the key points in the Declaration, they note that the Mexican State is required to assume the commitment to guarantee an integrated response to HIV (prevention, timely diagnosis and comprehensive attention) and stresses that it is not the task of the judicial authorities to develop and implement measures to prevent transmission of HIV.

The declaration also emphasises that the criminalisation of HIV exposure through “risk or danger of HIV infection” and other public health statutes that appear in the laws of individual Mexican states are generating more harm than good in terms of impact on public health, in addition to preventing the guarantee of respect for the human rights of people with HIV.

With two weeks of the meeting, Network representatives met with Congresswoman Laura Beristain, who had proposed the new unjust, overly broad HIV criminal law in Quintana Roo. She listened to their arguments, read the Declaration, and immediately gave a firm commitment to repeal Quintana Roo’s problematic provisions in Article 113.

Watch and share short video below about the meeting and the Network’s immediate advocacy win.

Webinar on Wednesday, Nov. 15: HIV Criminalisation Beyond Non-Disclosure: Advocacy Toolkits on Intersections with Sex Work and Syringe Use

Introducing HIV Criminalization Beyond Non-Disclosure: Advocacy Toolkits on Intersections with Sex Work and Syringe Use 

Webinar: Wednesday, November 15, 3:30-4:30 pm ET

The toolkits highlight the intersections between advocacy for HIV criminal law reform, decriminalization of sex work, and safe syringe access. These different advocacy communities share many common goals and constituencies, yet do not generally work in close collaboration or collectively strategize.
The webinar will introduce you to these intersections and include a discussion of how the toolkits can enhance your own advocacy, as well as Q and A. 
Click here to register!

Mexico: Mexican advocates attend the "HIV is not a crime" forum to fight HIV criminalisation laws

Representatives of civil organizations rejected, during the forum “HIV is not a crime”, the approval of a law initiative in Veracruz and Quintana Roo that aims to punish and criminalize, by up to 25 years in prison, those who are carriers of HIV-AIDS and infect another person.

While in Quintana Roo a bill is being proposed that aims to punishHIV transmission by 25 years of imprisonment, a similar initiative was also approved in Veracruz, which sanctioned 5 years of imprisonment.

In the case of Veracruz, the organizations indicated that a constitutional challenge is already in motion for that initiative to be repealed.

“We filed an appeal for unconstitutionality because now anyone can go and report that you infected the virus, but HIV is not contagious but transmitted and there is no way to verify that one person passed it on to another,” said Patricia Ponce, member of the Multisectoral Group on HIV and AIDS in the State of Veracruz.

A similar initiative was presented in San Luis Potosí, which proposed to sanction with one and up to three years of imprisonment the person who, having a risk of HIV transmission, had sex and up to 10 years if it was transmitted. However, local civil organizations managed to stop its approval, said Alberto Macías Narváez member of “Friends Potosinos in Fight against AIDS.”

“The argument we used to stop this initiative was that it is virtually impossible to prove that someone transmitted you AIDS, and the health system does not even have the equipment to do this type of studies, therefore, we can not prove who it is the person responsible for a transmission, “Macias said.

A member of the civil organization “Círculo Social Igualitario de Quintana Roo” named Edgar Mora, said that in that state the initiative that plan for up to 25 years imprisonment to those who transmit this disease is being discussed and, therefore, organizations are having a dialogue with the deputy Laura Esther Beristain, who promoted this proposal of law.

The idea is to make the lawmaker see that there are no methods to prove that a person was responsible for the infection and, if this initiative is approved, more stigmas will be generated around the disease and people will avoid undergoing diagnostic tests, he said.

“People are now avoiding HIV testing because people prefer not to know whether or not they live with the virus for fear their partner knows they have the disease and, as a result, the person is incarcerated.

“Unfortunately there is already a lot of psychosis because in social networks there have been widely spread messages like: ‘Sidosos, they go to jail’,” Mora shared.

Leonardo Bastida, member of the Civil Association “Letter S, AIDS, Culture and Everyday Life”, explained that in a study conducted in 2016 by the organization to which he belongs, it was identified that from 1990 to 2015, at least 20 people in the country were prosecuted for transmission of sexual diseases, mostly HIV-AIDS.

So far, organizations have pointed out that the best way for MPs to legislate in favour of people with HIV is to ensure the coverage of antiretroviral treatments and to strengthen plans for the control and management of HIV.

—————————–

Original article in Spanish

Rechazan leyes que criminalizan VIH

Evlyn Cervantes

Cd. de México (11 octubre 2017).- Representantes de organizaciones civiles rechazaron, durante el foro “VIH no es un crimen”, la aprobación de una iniciativa ley en Veracruz y Quintana Roo que pretende castigar y criminalizar, hasta con 25 años de cárcel, a quienes sean portadores de VIH-sida y contagien a otra persona.

Mientras en Quintana Roo se discute una iniciativa de ley que pretende castigar con 25 años de prisión la transmisión de VIH, en Veracruz también se aprobó una iniciativa similar que sanciona con 5 años de prisión el contagio.

En el caso de Veracruz, las organizaciones señalaron que ya se promueve una acción de inconstitucionalidad para que esa iniciativa sea derogada.

“Metimos un recurso de inconstitucionalidad porque ahora cualquier persona puede ir y denunciar que tú le contagiaste el virus, pero el VIH no se contagia sino se transmite; no hay manera de comprobar que una persona se lo transmitió a otra”, planteó Patricia Ponce, miembro del Grupo Multisectorial en VIH SIDA E ITS del Estado de Veracruz.

Una iniciativa similar se presentó en San Luis Potosí, la cual proponía sancionar con uno y hasta tres años de prisión a la persona que, teniendo un riesgo de contagio de VIH, tuviera relaciones sexuales y hasta con 10 años a quien lo transmitiera. No obstante, organizaciones civiles locales lograron frenar su aprobación, explicó Alberto Macías Narváez integrante de “Amigos Potosinos en Lucha contra el Sida”.

“El argumento que utilizamos para frenar esta iniciativa fue que es prácticamente imposible demostrar que alguien te transmitió el sida, y el sistema de salud no cuenta ni siquiera con los equipos para hacer este tipo de estudios; por lo tanto, no podemos demostrar quién es el responsable de una transmisión”, indicó Macías.

Un integrante de la organización civil “Círculo Social Igualitario de Quintana Roo” llamado Edgar Mora, expuso que en esa entidad se discute la iniciativa que prevé hasta 25 años de cárcel a quien transmita esta enfermedad y, por ello, las organizaciones están gestionando un diálogo con la diputada Laura Esther Beristain, quien promovió esta propuesta de ley.

La idea es hacerle ver a la legisladora que no existen métodos para acreditar que una persona fue responsable del contagio y, que de aprobarse dicha iniciativa, se generarán más estigmas en torno al padecimiento y las personas evitarán someterse a pruebas de diagnóstico, abundó.

“Ahora las personas están evitando hacerse pruebas de diagnóstico de VIH porque las personas prefieren no saber si viven o no con el virus por temor a que su pareja sepa que tiene la enfermedad y, que en consecuencia, la persona sea encarcelada.

“Desafortunadamente ya hay mucha psicosis porque en redes sociales se han difundido ampliamente mensajes como: ‘Sidosos, se van a la cárcel'”, compartió Mora.

Leonardo Bastida, miembro de la Asociación Civil “Letra S, SIDA, Cultura y Vida Cotidiana”, detalló que en un estudio realizado en 2016 por la organización a la que pertenece, se identificó que de 1990 a 2015, al menos 20 personas en todo el País fueron procesadas por transmisión de enfermedades sexuales, en su mayoría VIH-sida.

Hasta el momento, las organizaciones señalaron que la mejor forma de que los diputados legislen a favor de las personas portadoras de VIH es que se garantice la cobertura de tratamientos antirretrovirales y se fortalezcan los planes de control y manejo sanitario de esta enfermedad.

FCAA Philanthopy Summit: Growing the Global Movement to End Criminalization (Funders Concerned About AIDS, 2017)

This session aimed at philanthropic funders discussed the growing global movement to end HIV criminalization – overly broad and/or vague criminal laws, that unjustly regulate, control, and/or punish people living with HIV solely based on their HIV status. The panel’s participants exemplify the uniqueness of the Robert Carr Fund model of incentivizing collaborative and joint efforts of networks across movements – who join into consortia of, for example, people living with HIV and human rights defenders/lawyers – and the model of linking activities at global, regional and national levels, which catalyzes a more aligned and impactful effect in resisting and fighting HIV criminalization.

Moderator: Sergey Votyagov, Robert Carr Fund for Civil Society Networks (RCF)
Introduction: Luisa Cabal, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
Panelists:
• Edwin Bernard, HIV Justice Network (HJN)
• Laurel Sprague, Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+)
• Lynette Mabote, AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA)

South Africa: Video from live streaming of 2nd Africa Regional Dialogue on HIV, TB and the law

Live stream: Addressing legal barriers to fast track HIV/TB response in Africa

This is the live stream of the 2nd Africa Regional Dialogue on HIV, TB and the law, on 4 August 2017. It is being streamed from The Balalaika Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa. For more information please visit http://africadialogue.net

Global Commission on HIV and the Law and partners urge governments to promote progressive legislation based on science and human rights

Evidence- and rights- based laws and policies are key to ending AIDS

On the five-year anniversary of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law’s groundbreaking report, former members of the Commission and partners commend 88 countries for advancing the report’s recommendations and urge other countries to enact progressive legislation and protect human rights

NEW YORK – Five years ago, a landmark report published by the Global Commission on HIV and the Law urged governments to promote laws and policies grounded in evidence and human rights in order to turn the tide against AIDS. This week, members of the Commission and representatives of UN Member States, civil society, academia and international organizations came together to assess the progress made in advancing the report’s recommendations, look at the barriers that remain and discuss opportunities for further progress.

The Commission – comprised of former heads of state, human rights, public health and legal experts – released a report that has led a multi-year effort to ensure that national laws, policies and practices that impede the AIDS response are overturned.  Laws that stigmatize people living with and vulnerable to HIV perpetuate discrimination and block people from seeking health services and undermining public health goals.

“HIV is still one of the deadliest diseases in the world and it’s unforgivable that national governments have failed to address legislation that fuels the AIDS pandemic,” said former Commissioner Michael Kirby, a former Justice of the High Court of Australia. “Laws that criminalize HIV are anti-science, unjust and unconstructive.”

It’s not all bad news – the Commission also pointed out several success stories, noting that legislation based on science and human rights has helped advance the global commitment in the Sustainable Development Goals to end HIV for good and leave no one behind. Today, there’s still reason to be optimistic.

“It is time for countries to think proactively about designing laws and policies that will help end the HIV epidemic,” said former Commissioner Bience Gawanas, a lawyer and human rights expert. “We’ve seen that some countries, including Ghana and Mozambique, have been able to improve HIV responses by adopting more progressive policies. If we’re going to defeat HIV, other countries need to do the same.”

Since the release of the Commission’s report, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and its partners have helped advance the report’s recommendations in 88 countries. Several countries have conducted comprehensive assessments of laws, policies and practices affecting people with HIV and have changed legislation as a result. National conversations on the rights of people living with and vulnerable to HIV have led countries to reform discriminatory practices against people living with HIV. Judges, civil society organizations and partners have been instrumental in helping to overturn discriminatory legislation and counter HIV stigma.

The Commission’s recommendations contributed to several success stories over the last five years. These include:

  • After analyzing its laws and legal practices around HIV, health and human rights, Mozambique revised its laws on criminalizing unintentional HIV transmission.
  • In Pakistan, protections for people living with HIV were included in the Sindh Province HIV/AIDS Control Treatment and Protection Act.
  • Seychelles decriminalized consensual same-sex relationships.
  • A national dialogue in Peru highlighted the need for a gender identity law, which spurred the development of a draft Gender Identity Bill that was presented to the National Assembly in December 2016.
  • The High Court of Botswana ruled that foreign prisoners living with HIV are entitled to receive life-saving antiretroviral treatment.
  • In Ghana, partners developed a stigma   and discrimination reporting system that allows key populations, including people living with HIV, to file formal complaints about human rights abuses and seek redress.

“Equality, inclusion and non-discrimination are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” said Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator. “Laws and policies that protect rather than punish, combined with programmes that reduce stigma and discrimination, exist and need to be scaled up if we are to achieve our goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.”

By replacing legal practices rooted in stigma with legislation based on science, these countries are among the frontrunners taking steps to protect the human rights of people living with and affected by HIV.

“It’s incredible to see the progress that some countries have made over the past five years,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “They’ve taken important strides to protect the rights of women and people living with and vulnerable to HIV.”

These countries have shown us that laws and policies grounded in evidence and human rights, combined with programs that reduce stigma and discrimination, can help accelerate progress to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

About the Global Commission on HIV and the Law:

The Global Commission on HIV and the Law was launched in June 2010 by UNDP on behalf of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to provide global leadership on HIV-related legal and human rights issues by analyzing what is known about the interactions between the legal environments, human rights and HIV; fostering evidence-informed public dialogue on the need for rights-based law and policy in the context of HIV; and identifying clear and actionable recommendations with a concrete plan for follow-up.  (www.hivlawcommission.org)

Contact informationSangita Khadka, Communications Specialist, UNDP Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, email: sangita.khadka@undp.org tel: +1 212 906 5043

Apply now for the first European HIV Academy for Enabling Legal Environments, September 13-14, Berlin

A call for applications for the European HIV Academy for Enabling Legal Environments is now open.

This two-day training academy for people living with and affected by HIV, is dedicated to skills building for addressing punitive or disabling legal environments.

Around 25 participants from across Europe will be selected to take part in this training academy, which will focus on three intersectional legal barriers affecting people living with, and affected by, HIV:

  • legal and regulatory barriers that impact access to HIV testing;
  • legal barriers affecting access to healthcare of migrants in an irregular situation; and
  • criminalisation of HIV non-disclosure, potential or perceived exposure, and/or transmission.

The training academy is organised in collaboration with Deutsche AIDS Hilfe (DAH) – the host organisation of AIDS Action Europe (AAE) – the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG), Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) and the HIV Justice Network (HJN).

When: 13-14 September 2017

Where: Deutsche AIDS Hilfe, Berlin, Germany

Apply here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WZRFV35

Applications close Wednesday July 26th (23:59 CET)

The objectives of the training academy are:

  1. To increase awareness and understanding of the many legal barriers to health, dignity, and HIV prevention for people living with, and affected by, HIV.
  2. To increase skills and capacity of people living with and affected by HIV by using new tools created by each of the Academy partners in order to challenge punitive or disabling legal environments at the country-level across Europe.
  3. To develop stronger relationships and networks within Europe in order to facilitate skills-sharing and support amongst people working on HIV-related legal and policy reform across the region.
  4. To catalyse co-ordination and strengthen community voices from across Europe on the road to AIDS 2018 and beyond.

Format

The training academy is organised in a workshop format with presentations and group work. The trainers are leading experts in the field from the organising bodies and their networks. The entire training will be in English; no translation will be provided.

Participant criteria

People working on improving HIV-related legal and policy environments in any of the 53 countries in the WHO Europe region are welcome to apply.  Participants will be scored based on country needs-assessment, fluency in English and links to local and national networks.

Only complete applications submitted via the online form will be accepted.

Scholarships

Some scholarships are available to cover all costs including flights and accommodation, or flights or accommodation only. If you wish to apply to a scholarship, please indicate this on the application form. Please note that all meals are provided to all participants.

To apply please fill in this application form (2 pages/steps) by Wednesday July 26th (23:59 CET)