The HIV Justice Network (HJN) team will be participating in the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where we will showcase new research, launch an important new global resource, facilitate community dialogue, and connect with partners from around the world.
Throughout the conference, visit us in the Global Village to explore our work, meet the team, and discover practical tools supporting HIV justice.
Visit the HIV Justice Network booth
Global Village | Monday 27 – Thursday 30 July
Our interactive booth will feature:
- the Global HIV Criminalisation Database
- the HIV Justice Academy
- Positive Destinations, our platform addressing HIV-related travel and migration restrictions
- practical tools and resources to support advocacy, legal reform and community action against HIV criminalisation
Meet members of the HIV Justice Network team, learn about our latest projects, and discover how you can contribute to global efforts to end HIV criminalisation and HIV-related travel restrictions.
Whether you are an activist, researcher, lawyer, healthcare provider, policymaker or funder, we would love to meet you and discuss opportunities for collaboration.
Launching the Guidance on Good Practices in HIV Decriminalisation
Thursday 30 July | 10:45–11:45 | Global Village
One of the highlights of our week will be the official launch of the Guidance on Good Practices in HIV Decriminalisation, developed by HJN on behalf of HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE and the Global Partnership for Action to Eliminate All Forms of HIV-Related Stigma and Discrimination, with support from UNAIDS.
This practical session will introduce advocacy resources, legal literacy tools and community-led strategies that can help challenge HIV criminalisation around the world.
Speakers include Edwin Bernard, Janet Butler McPhee, Isis Tapia, Svitlana Moroz, Sofía Várguez and Immaculate Owomugisha Bazare.
HJN represented in AIDS 2026 plenary
Thursday 30 July | Morning plenary
HIV Justice Network is also proud to see Immaculate Owomugisha Bazare, a member of our Supervisory Board and Executive Director of the Centre for Women Justice Uganda, featured in one of AIDS 2026’s flagship plenary sessions.
Immaculate will speak on “Justice, rights and HIV: Building resilient legal frameworks”, bringing her expertise as a lawyer, advocate and leader in advancing HIV justice and gender equality. Her participation highlights the growing recognition that ending HIV criminalisation and other punitive laws is essential to an effective, rights-based HIV response.
Breastfeeding is not a crime!
Wednesday 29 July | 16:30–18:00 | Global Village
HJN’s Alison Symington will lead an interactive workshop, in partnership with ICW Global, exploring criminalisation and other punitive responses to women living with HIV who breastfeed.
The workshop will bring together advocates, researchers and clinicians to contribute to a growing global consensus supporting rights-based, evidence-informed approaches grounded in bodily autonomy and informed choice.
Presenting new research
HJN team members will present four abstracts during AIDS 2026.
Oral presentation
Thursday 30 July | 16:30–17:30 | Room 203
Edwin Bernard
HIV criminalisation as structural violence: science, geopolitics and community-led pathways to justice
Drawing on new global data, this presentation argues that HIV criminalisation persists because of structural violence embedded within legal, political and funding systems. It explores how community-led advocacy is helping to close the gap between science and the law.
Poster presentations
Wednesday 29 July | 12:15–13:15
- Sylvie Beaumont – From the doctor’s office to the jail cell: system reforms to protect care, confidentiality and prevention in the context of HIV criminalisation.
- Edwin Bernard – Science, rights, and HIV on trial: is rising HIV criminalisation part of a global anti-science/anti-rights resurgence?
Thursday 30 July | 12:00–13:00
- Sofía Várguez – Positive destinations or persistent barriers? Rethinking HIV-related travel restrictions.
Sofía’s poster has been selected for the Track F Featured Poster Walk, where invited presenters will give short presentations and discuss their work with conference delegates.
Follow us from Rio
We’ll be sharing highlights, photos, videos and key messages throughout the conference across our website and social media channels.
Whether you’re attending AIDS 2026 in person or following from elsewhere, we hope you’ll join us as we continue working towards a world where HIV criminalisation is consigned to history.