Laws and policies : Legal and policy guidance
News and features
Canada: Police training and guidelines in criminal HIV non-disclosure cases urgently required
The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario (HALCO) have submitted a paper to the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police Diversity Committee, informed by their extensive experience in working on the issue. The paper includes … More
Germany: National AIDS Council releases powerful policy statement on HIV criminalisation
The German National AIDS Council – an independent advisory body of the Ministry of Health consisting of experts from the fields of research, medical care, public health services, ethics, law, social sciences, as well as people from the civil society … More
UK: New research calls for better guidance for HIV service providers on criminal law, confidentiality and ethics
Yesterday saw the release of an important new UK study, Keeping Confidence: HIV and the criminal law from service provider perspectives, which explores how HIV criminalisation impacts those who deliver health and social care services for people with HIV. The … More
US: President’s AIDS council calls on feds to help states repeal HIV criminalisation laws
Advisory group says these statutes are ‘unjust’ and fuel the epidemic BY TODD HEYWOOD, AMERICAN INDEPENDENT The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) passed a resolution last week that calls for an end to federal and state HIV-specific criminal … More
UK: Updated guidance on HIV transmission, the law and the work of the clinical team now published
The British HIV Association (BHIVA) and the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) have produced updated guidance on HIV Transmission, the Law and the Work of the Clinical Team. This guidance is aimed at those working in the field … More
Global Commission on HIV and the Law: an analysis of their HIV criminalisation recommendations
Today, the Global Commission on HIV and the Law finally issued its long-awaited report, ‘HIV and the Law: Risks, Rights and Health.’ It was well worth the wait. “Fundamentally unjust, morally harmful, and virtually impossible to enforce with any semblance … More
Scotland: New guidance on prosecutions clarifies law, recognises treatment’s impact on infectiousness
On May 1st, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) published their Guidance for Scotland on ‘Intentional or Reckless Sexual Transmission, or Exposure to, Infection‘. According to COPFS, the policy aims to “provide guidance to prosecutors but also provide … More
Canada: Urgent – support the call for prosecutorial guidelines in Ontario
Canada is facing its most critical point in the history of criminalisation of HIV non-disclosure since the Supreme Court’s 1998 Cuerrier decision which found that not disclosing a known HIV-positive status prior to sex that poses a “significant risk” of … More
UNAIDS announces new project examining “best available scientific evidence to inform the criminal law”
A new project announced yesterday by UNAIDS will “further investigate current scientific, medical, legal and human rights aspects of the criminalization of HIV transmission. This project aims to ensure that the application, if any, of criminal law to HIV transmission … More
Canada: New report calls for prosecutorial guidelines to establish ‘significant risk’
A new report, launched at AIDS 2010 in Vienna last month, recommends that the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General establish a consultation process to inform the development of prosecution guidelines for cases involving allegations of non-disclosure of sexually transmitted … More
