New global data reveals rising HIV criminalisation
amid stalling legal reforms

The HIV Justice Network published new data this week showing a troubling rise in the number of people criminalised for HIV non-disclosure, potential or perceived exposure, or unintentional transmission in 2024 and the first half of 2025. As legal reforms appear to be stalling, discriminatory prosecutions, harsh sentences, and misuse of outdated laws continue to impact people with HIV and the HIV response.

The figures, presented at the 13h IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2025) in Kigali, Rwanda, are drawn from the Global HIV Criminalisation Database. The database documents criminal cases and legal developments involving HIV-specific or general criminal laws worldwide.

In 2024, at least 65 HIV criminalisation cases were reported across 22 countries – up from 57 in 2023 and 50 in 2022. Russia (25 cases) and the United States (11) led the global tally, followed by Uzbekistan, Spain, Argentina, Belarus, Senegal, and Singapore. For the first time, prosecutions were documented in Panama and Uruguay.

The upward trend continued into 2025, with 48 cases reported in just the first six months. Uzbekistan (28) and Russia (9) again accounted for the majority, alongside new cases in the U.S., Canada, and Argentina. However, the actual number of cases is likely much higher, particularly in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the United States, where civil society organisations report many cases go undocumented.

“These cases show that HIV criminalisation remains a global crisis,” said Edwin J. Bernard, Executive Director of the HIV Justice Network. “Far too often, people living with HIV are prosecuted not for causing harm, but simply for living with a health condition – often in ways that are unscientific, discriminatory, and deeply unjust.”

                 Download the poster by clicking on the image

The report highlights the intersection of HIV criminalisation with racism, homophobia, gender-based discrimination, and systemic inequality. In Senegal, for example, prosecutions have disproportionately targeted LGBTQ+ individuals. In the U.S., criminal laws continue to be weaponised against communities of colour, even in cases involving no risk of transmission – such as spitting, or sex with an undetectable viral load.

One of the most alarming cases occurred in South Africa, where a former soldier was sentenced to life plus ten years for rape and attempted murder after failing to disclose his HIV status to a consenting partner – despite no evidence of intent or actual transmission. Advocates warn that such cases equate HIV non-disclosure with sexual violence and undermine decades of public health and human rights gains.

Yet, amidst the setbacks, 2024/2025 also brought some signs of hope. Maryland and North Dakota fully repealed their HIV-specific laws, while Tennessee removed mandatory sex offender registration for HIV-related convictions. Mexico City and Colima repealed vague “danger of contagion” laws, and Ukraine’s parliament voted to remove HIV from its criminal code.

In Zimbabwe, community activism helped block a proposal to re-criminalise HIV transmission. However, a new law was introduced criminalising the deliberate transmission of STIs to children, including HIV – raising fears it could be used against mothers living with HIV, particularly in breastfeeding cases.

Despite these advances, HIV criminalisation remains widespread. A total of 83 countries still have HIV-specific laws, and 23 countries reported prosecutions in this period using either HIV-specific or general laws. The HIV Justice Network warns that without urgent action, the world is unlikely to meet UNAIDS’ target of reducing punitive laws to below 10% of countries by 2030.

“The path forward must be rooted in science, rights, and community leadership,” Bernard said. “We must end laws that punish people for their status, and instead build legal systems that support health, dignity, and justice.”

EPO622 Recent progress and setbacks in HIV criminalisation around the world by Edwin J Bernard, Sylvie Beaumont, Elliot Hatt was presented in Kigali by Paul Kidd at 13th IAS Conference on HIV Science in Kigali, Rwanda.

 

HIV Unwrapped: Justice in Every Stitch

At the intersection of science, art, and activism, HIV Unwrapped is a bold new exhibit reimagining the lab coat as a symbol of resistance, resilience, and representation.

HIV Unwrapped reveals not only the fabric of HIV science, but the human stories stitched within.

Among the collaborations launched today at the 13th IAS Conference on HIV Science in Kigali is a garment created by Kigali-based fashion design student, Dolice Niyomukiza, in partnership with HIV Justice Network’s Executive Director, Edwin Bernard.

Working remotely through online meetings and WhatsApp messages, Dolice and Edwin forged a creative partnership grounded in storytelling, symbolism, and shared commitment.

Dolice’s design, inspired by the ongoing fight for HIV justice, incorporates visual elements representing both the scales of justice and the weight of stigma. 

“My design was inspired by the idea that having HIV is not a crime,” Dolice explains. “My goal was to fight stigma and make people feel strong, loved, and safe.”

Her sketches evolved into a garment that embodies both struggle and strength – a powerful tribute to those unjustly criminalised because of their HIV status.

“Dolice listened deeply,” said Edwin. “She translated complex legal and social issues into fabric, texture and form. Her design doesn’t just speak – it demands to be heard.”

Dolice is one of 12 students from Rwanda Polytechnic – Kigali College (IPRC-Kigali) whose designs feature in the exhibition, alongside peers from London’s Central St Martins and Melbourne’s Royal Institute of Technology.

Together, their work weaves a global narrative of creativity and courage, shaped by cross-continental collaboration.

Today’s launch brought many of these young designers together to showcase their work and share their stories.

The event was hosted by Karl Schmid, HIV-positive broadcaster and host of +LIFE, with welcoming remarks from Beatriz Grinsztejn, President of the International AIDS Society.

Additional speakers included Alexis Apostolellis, CEO of ASHM; Dr. Alice Ikuzwe, Deputy Principal of Academics and Training at IPRC-Kigali; and Ophelia Haanyama, a woman living with HIV from Zambia who migrated to Sweden in 1991.

Criminalization and funding cuts threaten global progress against HIV/AIDS

High-risk HIV groups facing record levels of criminalisation as countries bring in draconian laws

Curbs on LGBTQ+ rights and a halt to US funding may reverse decades of progress in fight to end Aids epidemic, warns UNAids.

People at higher risk of HIV, such as gay men and people who inject drugs, are facing record levels of criminalisation worldwide, according to UNAids.

For the first time since the joint UN programme on HIV/Aids began reporting on punitive laws a decade ago, the number of countries criminalising same-sex sexual activity and gender expression has increased.

In the past year, Mali has made homosexuality a criminal offence, where the law previously only banned “public indecency”, and has also criminalised transgender people. Trinidad and Tobago’s court of appeal has overturned a landmark 2018 ruling that decriminalised consensual same-sex relations, reinstating the colonial-era ban. In Uganda, the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Acthas “intensified the proscription of same-sex relations”, and Ghana has moved in a similar direction with the reintroduction of legislation that would increase sentences for gay sex.

The crackdown on gay rights comes as the fight against HIV/Aids has been hit by abrupt US funding cuts, which have combined with “unprecedented” humanitarian challenges and climate crisis shocks to jeopardise hopes of ending the global epidemic this decade, UNAids said.

Several groups of people, known as “key populations”, are more likely to be infected with HIV. They include sex workers, gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, transgender people, and those in prisons and other enclosed settings.

In 2025, only eight of 193 countries did not criminalise any of those groups or behaviours, or criminalise non-disclosure of HIV status, exposure or transmission, according to the report.

The number of people infected by HIV or dying from Aids-related causes in 2024 was the lowest for more than 30 years, according to the UNAids annual report, at 1.3 million and 630,000 respectively.

Progress was uneven – ranging from a 56% fall in infections since 2010 in sub-Saharan Africa to a 94% increase in the Middle East and North Africa. But coupled with scientific advances – such as twice-yearly drugs to prevent infection – the world had the “means and momentum” to end Aids as a public health threat by 2030, an internationally agreed goal, it said.

However, that has been “seriously jeopardised” in the early months of this year after sweeping US aid cuts that could undo decades of progress. In January, Donald Trump cut funding that had underpinned much of the global HIV response almost overnight.

The report highlights HIV-prevention services as an area of concern, with many particularly reliant on donor funding. The reported number of people receiving preventive drugs in Nigeria in November 2024 was approximately 43,000. By April 2025, that number had fallen to below 6,000.

Activists say access to prevention will be a particular issue for key populations, who may not be able to access mainstream healthcare due to factors such as stigma or fear of prosecution, but relied on donor-funded community clinics that have now closed.

Key populations were “always left behind”, said Dr Beatriz Grinsztejn, president of the International Aids Society (IAS).

The report is being released before an IAS conference next week in Kigali, Rwanda, where researchers will share data on the impact of cuts.

Modelling by Bristol University calculated that a one-year halt in US funding for preventive drugs in key populations in sub-Saharan Africa would mean roughly 700,000 people no longer used them, and lead to about 10,000 extra cases of HIV over the next five years.

UNAids modelling suggests that without any replacement for funding from US Pepfar (president’s emergency plan for Aids relief), an additional 4m deaths and 6m new infections could be expected globally by 2029.

However, Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAids, said 25 of the 60 low- and middle-income countries included in the report had found ways to increase HIV spending from domestic resources to 2026. “This is the future of the HIV response – nationally owned and led, sustainable, inclusive and multisectoral,” she said.

HJN’s Executive Director remarks to the
56th UNAIDS Board (PCB)

These remarks were made during the discussion of the proposed new Global AIDS Strategy (2026-31), the outline of which can be found here.

I’m the Executive Director of the HIV Justice Network, speaking on behalf of HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE, a coalition of community-led and community-based organisations working to end HIV criminalisation and related injustices.

Last June, I was a panellist during the Thematic Meeting on the Sustainability of HIV Response. You may recall that I highlighted that decriminalisation not only saves lives but it also saves money.

And so we welcome the direction of the new Global AIDS Strategy – especially Priority 2: People-focused – equity, dignity, and access, and Priority 3: Powered communities leading the HIV response, and the related results areas 6: End stigma and discrimination and uphold human rights and gender equality, and 8. Ensure community leadership.

But these priorities and results will remain aspirational unless they are backed by sustained, core funding for community-led networks.

Like UNAIDS itself, the HIV justice movement was born out of crisis, but it is sustained by hope. We know change is possible because we’ve seen it, even under the most difficult conditions. In fact, in just the past five years, 25 jurisdictions in 11 countries have repealed or revised their HIV criminalisation laws – motivated by everything from the futility of enforcement to the need to uphold privacy rights, recognise up-to-date science, and avoid harm to public health.

We have been making progress. But it is patently clear we cannot take any of that progress for granted. Communities, even if they and their organisations are criminalised, will continue to do much of the heavy lifting – reaching those who are excluded, challenging stigma and discrimination, and holding legal systems and governments accountable. That work takes time, trust, and skills – and it’s only possible when core funding is available to sustain expert teams and nurture leadership.

Global networks like ours are crucial in this ecosystem. With core, flexible funding – such as that provided by the Robert Carr Fund which has supported much of our work over the past decade – we support regional and national partners, strengthen the evidence base, build local advocacy capacity, and amplify community voices, including HIV criminalisation survivors. And we complement – not duplicate – Global Fund investments at the country level.

If we want a strategy that results in HIV justice, one that prioritises decriminalisation and is powered by communities, we must also continue to fund those communities that have brought us this far.

Humanising the Law: Harnessing Science and
Community Voices to End HIV Criminalisation

Speech delivered on the final morning plenary session of the 16th AIDSImpact Conference, Casablanca, 28th May 2025

Good morning.

I am deeply honoured to stand here with you today in Casablanca – a city whose name evokes stories of resistance and solidarity – to share our own story of resistance and solidarity: the global movement to end HIV criminalisation.

It’s especially meaningful to be back at AIDSImpact. Because, you see, this is where it all began for me. Eighteen years ago, in Marseille, I stood on a stage like this one, trembling slightly, as I spoke publicly for the very first time about HIV criminalisation.

I had no idea that moment would change the course of my life – or that it would help spark a movement that continues to grow today.

Later that same year, NAM – where I worked as an HIV treatment journalist – published my first book on the subject aimed at explaining HIV science and social science to the criminal legal system, and I started a blog – Criminal HIV Transmission – as a way of documenting the mounting number of unjust prosecutions and problematic new laws taking place across the world.

What started as a mostly solitary – and primarily UK-focused – effort quickly became a shared and surprisingly international one.

By AIDS 2008 in Mexico City, I began to understand that my blog was becoming a de facto global network, and many of the cases it documented were cited by South African Justice Edwin Cameron when, during his now-legendary plenary, he called for a global movement to end HIV criminalisation.

That same year UNAIDS and UNDP released guidance opposing overly broad criminal laws, and it was clear that something was shifting.

Two years later, at AIDS 2010 in Vienna we – that is NAM, GNP+, and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network – convened the first-ever pre-conference on HIV criminalisation. It brought together scientists, advocates, lawyers, and most importantly, people living with HIV.  I had planned to start the HIV Justice Network then, but a consultancy job at UNAIDS, providing scientific and legal support for clear guidance to limit the overly broad use of the criminal law, kept me busy.

So it wasn’t until 2012, when we gathered in Oslo at a UNAIDS consultation on HIV and the criminal law, that the network finally came together. On the sidelines of the consultation, key representatives of civil society worked together to draft the Oslo Declaration on HIV Criminalisation – a ten-point call to action that was endorsed by more than 1700 individuals and organisations from 130 countries and, to my astonishment, also appeared as an appendix to the official UNAIDS guidance note that was published in 2013.

The Oslo Declaration became the founding document of the HIV Justice Network. From that point on, we were no longer reacting – we were organising.

By AIDS 2014 in Melbourne, with the support of several Australian and international HIV organisations, we held the Beyond Blame pre-conference, where our first major victory was announced: the repeal of the Australian state of Victoria’s HIV-specific criminal law. We knew then that change was possible.

In 2015, we joined forces with ARASA, the HIV Legal Network, GNP+, the Sero Project, and Positive Women’s Network–USA to form a powerful global consortium. With support from the Robert Carr Fund, we launched the HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE coalition in 2016, committing ourselves to collective action against the unjust criminalisation of people living with HIV.

Together, we developed a range of advocacy tools and resources, including the Expert Consensus Statement on the Science of HIV in the Context of Criminal Law, launched at AIDS 2018 in Amsterdam. The Consensus Statement translated complex science – about viral load, transmission routes, treatment effectiveness, and HIV forensics – into language that courts and lawmakers could understand.

Because the truth is: the law had not kept pace with science. Outdated laws continued to criminalise people living with HIV as though it were still the ‘90s. And behind each of these prosecutions was a human life: interrupted, humiliated, punished, often for simply living with a virus.

Today we know that people living with HIV on effective treatment cannot transmit the virus. U=U is not just a slogan – it’s a scientific fact.  And that message has been useful in limiting unjust prosecutions, primarily in the global North.

But HIV criminalisation is a global phenomenon, and we cannot rely on science alone as an argument against HIV criminalisation, especially in places where access to treatment or viral load testing is limited or is being taken away; nor in this brave new world of integration, where treatment or prevention is only likely to be accessed by people who are not marginalised, stigmatised, or otherwise criminalised.

That’s why our key messaging must always be that making people living with HIV solely responsible – and criminally liable – for HIV prevention is simply wrong: it’s ineffective, counterproductive, and unjust. That’s where storytelling comes in – to shine a spotlight on the human cost. So over the years we made documentaries focusing on the impact of HIV criminalisation on people.

Documentaries like More Harm Than Good – which brought to life all the social science studies that overwhelmingly found mandating disclosure, criminalising non-disclosure, and sending people to prison for potentially exposing or allegedly passing on HIV did the opposite of what lawmakers intended.

And Mwayi’s Story, about a woman in Malawi unjustly prosecuted for briefly comfort-nursing another woman’s baby and the subsequent empowered movement of women living with HIV in Malawi who spoke truth to power and persuaded their Parliament not to pass an HIV-specific criminalisation law.

We wanted to show that these laws and prosecutions do nothing to protect public health – in fact, they undermine in, and they destroy lives in the process. They increase stigma, turning vulnerable people away from prevention, treatment and care services.

And we have never stopped centring the voices of those most harmed.

People like Rosemary Namubiru, a kind, elderly nurse in Uganda, who dedicated her life to caring for others. She was falsely accused of exposing a child to HIV while administering an injection – a claim later shown to be scientifically impossible. Yet she was arrested live on TV, vilified in the press, and imprisoned. Rosemary was a survivor, but she never recovered from what was done to her. When she passed away in 2022, she left behind not only grief and anger, but also a legacy – a reminder of why we do this work. To honour her. To fight for the dignity and rights of people like her. And to ensure that no one else is ever treated the way she was.

And here in Morocco – where people living with HIV and key populations still face stigma, criminalisation, and exclusion – we must also honour the rich legacy of resistance, solidarity, and resilience that continues to inspire advocates demanding justice, dignity, and change.

Throughout this movement, it has always been communities who’ve led the way: survivors who dared to speak their truths; advocates who pushed for reform; scientists who stood up for evidence-based policy; and networks like ours, who bring it all together.

I never imagined, back in 2007, that this would become my life’s work. But here I am, 18 years later, standing before you with immense pride in what we’ve achieved – and profound concern for what we’re up against. Because the truth is: we are facing an existential moment.

Globally, we’ve witnessed the rise of authoritarianism and the anti-rights movement, which along with the funding crisis is leading to a rollback of hard-won human rights, and the erosion of multilateral cooperation.

Some governments are already doubling down on criminalisation – of people and of NGOs – using stigma and fear to justify their repression. And I worry that punitive approaches to HIV prevention will become the new normal, including policing of the bodies and lives of people living with HIV that was considered acceptable in the ‘90s.

And people living with HIV – especially those who are Black, Brown, gay or queer, trans, migrants, sex workers, people who use drugs – will be the first to be caught in the crosshairs.

The HIV justice movement was born out of crisis, but it is sustained by hope. We know change is possible – because we’ve seen it, even under the most difficult conditions. In fact, over the past five years 25 jurisdictions in 11 countries have repealed or revised their HIV criminalisation laws based on a range of reasons –  from futility to privacy rights, to recognising up-to-date science, to concerns over the financial, human or public health cost.

We have been making progress. But now we cannot take any of that progress for granted.

This movement belongs to all of us. And together, even with dwindling resources and some formidable enemies, I believe we can still create a world where justice is not just a concept, but a lived reality for every person living with HIV.

Thank you.

Canada: Canada’s broken promise on HIV criminalisation reform

HIV criminalization and the Canadian government’s failed law reform project: Another. Incredible. Disappointment. Surprise!

By Chad Clarke with contributions from Colin Johnson 

The Government of Canada has broken its promise to reform the laws that criminalize people living with HIV. In November 2024, the Federal Justice Minister’s office informed the Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization (CCRHC) that the federal government’s long-promised initiative addressing the “overcriminalization” (their term) of HIV was not going to move forward. This announcement came after almost a decade of difficult work on the part of the HIV community. Blood, sweat and tears and some lives were lost while we worked on developing a workable consensus statement that would satisfy a majority of Parliament.

The government squandered time, money, people’s energy and people’s lives. By conducting a public consultation on “reforming the criminal law regarding HIV non-disclosure” only to appear like they were doing something, when in fact they weren’t, the government failed to address the harms associated with stigma, discrimination and criminalization! It has failed to address the way our current Criminal Code harms people and communities affected by HIV. “Silence = Death” is an iconic slogan in the history of AIDS activism and we can not be silent on our incredible disappointment with the government’s inaction.

A backdrop of struggle

Back in July of 2024, I sat down with fellow CCRHC steering committee member Colin Johnson to discuss HIV criminalization and to urge the government to act. Our CATIE Blog article, entitled “HIV law reform”, began by listing some of the emotions that I was feeling at the time: “Anger! Disappointment! Betrayal!” I still feel these emotions as I write this follow-up blog post.

I feel like I’m playing a game of chess with this government and once again we’re locked in a stalemate. Our current feelings of disappointment are experienced against the backdrop of 44 years of struggle.

While there have been notable improvements in Canada for people living with HIV/AIDS, for example in antiretroviral medicines, in some respects we are backsliding. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, we saw 2,434 new HIV diagnoses in 2023, a 35.2% increase from the previous year.

Consultation games

In the face of rising HIV cases, it makes sense to ask how the government is funding the HIV response. Short answer: it’s not funding it enough.

In 2003, more than 20 years ago, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health recommended that $100 million per year be allocated to support the HIV response in Canada. While funding did increase, it fell short of this recommendation. The government promised to spend $84.4 million annually as of 2008, but in reality, this figure has been frozen at about $73 million. This means over $123 million promised for the HIV response was never delivered. This lack of funding has had a crippling effect on the services and community organizations working to respond to and prevent HIV.

In 2019, the Standing Committee on Health, once again, recommended $100 million per year to fund the HIV response in Canada. But, we’re still waiting!

On the one hand, the government is clearly not spending enough on the HIV response. But on the other hand, how much money was spent on the nationwide consultation that was destined to go nowhere? We already had so much data showing that the criminal law needed to be changed. For example, back in 2019 the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights tabled a report calling on the government to change the criminal code.

The CCRHC even developed proposed language for reforming the Criminal Code. We didn’t need this expensive consultation.

A consequence of inaction

As I write this, people living with HIV are still being convicted of serious criminal offences and sentenced to years in prison for allegedly not disclosing their HIV status to sexual partners, even in situations where there was little to no risk of transmission.

Beyond the horrible, violent ways that HIV criminalization harms individuals—too numerous and too painful for me to recount here (see Alexander McClelland’s book on this topic)—we know that it has also caused significant harmful consequences for our wider communities. To quote a recent publication in the Canadian Journal of Public Health, HIV criminalization

“…is applied in uneven and discriminatory ways, hinders public health HIV prevention efforts, and has damaging effects on the everyday well-being, safety, security, and rights of people living with HIV. Studies also show that the mainstream press reinforces damaging, racist, stigmatizing messages about HIV in its coverage of criminal non-disclosure cases.”

If anyone reading this thinks they might be in favour of a criminal law response to HIV, let me ask you this: how many cases of HIV has the criminal law ever prevented? To answer this question, I’ll offer this quote from an article in the journal of Critical Public Health: “One of the defining features of the literature is the absence of a single study demonstrating that HIV criminalization has a positive impact on HIV prevention.”

HIV criminalization is killing people. I tell you this based on my own personal experience. As a criminalization survivor, I sometimes feel like I am being inexorably, slowly, killed by a brutal system that has abandoned me to poverty, precarious housing, stigma, discrimination and ongoing criminalization. I served my time, but there are so many other ways that my life is still criminalized today because of the unjust Criminal Code that persecuted me in the first place, and because of the government’s inaction and failure to right this historic wrong.

From inaction to action

I don’t want to end this piece with the government’s inaction. Instead, I want to leave us with a call to action. In the coming federal election, we can ask how parties and leaders will address community calls for criminal law reform. We can ask them to commit to taking real action: we don’t need another public consultation that goes nowhere.

Also, we can inform ourselves and others about the harms of HIV criminalization. I don’t know exactly where this quotation comes from, but it’s one that my friend, the late Cindy Stine, once told me: “If you don’t know your rights… you don’t have any!”

As we head into this next election, we as a community can keep HIV criminalization on the political agenda. We know that HIV criminalization harms public health—it harms everyone. Time to ACT UP!

I encourage you to stand with me by joining the Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization. HIV IS NOT A CRIME!!

Chad Clarke has been living with HIV for more than 15 years. His personal experience of prosecution and imprisonment has transformed him into a passionate leader and activist working against the discriminatory criminalization of HIV non-disclosure. Chad’s voice has been a spark that has inspired many to get involved in the movement for change. He is a current member of the steering committee of the Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization.

Colin Johnson is a Black gay man who has lived with HIV for the past 40 years. He has been an advocate for African, Caribbean and Black communities for decades, with a focus on queer folk and substance use. He is the co-chair of the Toronto Harm Reduction Alliance (THRA) and sits on the steering committee for the Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization.

Zimbabwe’s victory:
A beacon of hope for HIV justice amid global challenges

In a landmark victory for human rights, Zimbabwe repealed its HIV criminalisation law in 2022, marking a significant step forward in the global fight for HIV justice. This historic reform, detailed in a new case study and documentary by the HIV Justice Network (HJN), was the result of years of dedicated advocacy by Zimbabwean activists, legal experts, and community organisations. Their success serves as both an inspiration and a blueprint for other nations still grappling with punitive HIV laws.

For decades, Zimbabwe’s Section 79 of the Criminal Law Code unfairly targeted people living with HIV criminalising alleged transmission without regard for intent, transmission risk, or scientific evidence. These laws, rooted in stigma rather than science, disproportionately harmed women, but mostly deterred men from seeking testing and treatment. The repeal of Section 79 was a hard-won victory that showcased the power of coalition-building and sustained advocacy.

Yet, as we celebrate Zimbabwe’s progress, we must confront a sobering reality: the global movement for HIV decriminalisation faces an existential crisis due to dwindling funding. Many donors are shifting priorities, putting essential advocacy work at risk. The HIV response itself is in peril, making it even more critical to sustain efforts to challenge unjust laws and protect the rights of people living with HIV.

The HIV Justice Network has been at the forefront of this struggle, playing an irreplaceable role in co-ordinating the global movement against HIV criminalisation. In a recent meeting, our HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE coalition partners re-affirmed the immense value of our work, emphasising our deep institutional knowledge, comprehensive legal monitoring, and convening power. Our two databases – the Global HIV Criminalisation Database and Positive Destinations – are vital resources for advocates, helping to expose patterns of injustice and build evidence-based arguments for reform.

Moreover, in environments where local organisations face political or legal risks, we serve as a powerful global voice, shining a spotlight on abuses and advocating for change. The network’s ability to bring together diverse stakeholders – activists, lawyers, researchers, and policymakers – ensures that no-one is fighting this battle alone.

Despite the funding crisis, the fight for HIV justice has never been more urgent. Punitive, discriminatory, outdated laws and policies continue to undermine public health efforts, fuel stigma, and violate human rights. The repeal of Zimbabwe’s HIV criminalisation law is a powerful reminder that change is possible, but it does not happen in isolation. It requires sustained, co-ordinated efforts – exactly the kind of work that HJN has championed for years.

The Zimbabwean victory is a beacon of hope, but it also serves as a call to action. We must not allow financial constraints to derail the progress we have fought so hard to achieve. Now, more than ever, we need to stand together to ensure that HIV criminalisation becomes a relic of the past. The future of HIV justice – and, therefore, the HIV response itself – depends on it.

US: The fight Against HIV criminalisation faces new hurdles under Trump

Activists fighting HIV criminalization laws say they’ve lost federal government as partner

The Biden administration sued Tennessee over targeting people living with HIV, most of whom were Black, but Trump has canceled potential future efforts in other states.

A year after the Biden administration laid a blueprint for the federal government to take aim at state laws that criminalize the transmission of HIV, activists say that with the Trump administration, they’ve lost a crucial ally in challenging these outdated, racist, and homophobic laws.

Last year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) under President Joe Biden filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit alleging that Tennessee’s aggravated prostitution statute, which made it a felony to perform sex work while living with HIV, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). For people in the state who do not live with HIV, prostitution is ordinarily a misdemeanor.

Along with the elevated severity of the charge, an aggravated prostitution conviction in the state until last year also came with a lifetime registration as a “violent sex offender” and the onerous requirements and restrictions that accompany such a designation.

While the DOJ settled with Shelby County, Tennessee, which had the most charges filed under the law in the state, in May 2024, a separate private suit brought by OUTMemphis against Tennessee’s governor and attorney general is still making its way through the court.

Courts have repeatedly interpreted the ADA to include HIV. While the DOJ’s suit was seen as a landmark use of the ADA to challenge these laws, President Donald Trump has signaled the opposite approach. Just days after Trump’s inauguration in January, DOJ leadership ordered attorneys in the agency’s Civil Rights Division, which settled the case against Shelby County, to freeze new and ongoing civil rights cases.

That loss not only drains resources from the fight against HIV criminalization laws, but also eliminates a powerful incentive for states to reach favorable agreements, like the one reached with Shelby County.

“The ability for the federal government to bring litigation, or the threat of litigation, is very powerful,” said Sean McCormick, staff attorney at the New York City-based Center for HIV Law and Policy. “I think many state and local actors are motivated by either the financial expense—the logistical cost of pursuing litigation—so the DOJ is able to leverage that to push local actors to enter into these settlements across the board when it comes to the rights of people living with disabilities.”

HIV criminalization laws are a draconian reaction to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and purportedly target people alleged to have intentionally spread the virus. According to Community Health Law Project, as of February, 32 states criminalize people living with HIV, and 28 states have penalty enhancements that are based on someone’s knowledge of their HIV status. But academic research and journalistic scrutiny have repeatedly shown that these laws disproportionately target Black people, particularly Black trans women.

According to the DOJ’s findings letter that preceded its lawsuit, Shelby County was home to two-thirds of people on the state’s sex offender registry for aggravated prostitution, and nine out of 10 people arrested in the county under the law were Black.

Additionally, an investigation by the Chicago Reader from June 2021 found that of roughly 60 charges in Cook County, Illinois, filed under the state’s now-repealed law that made it a felony to expose someone to HIV without their knowledge, 75% were Black. The investigation also found that charges were repeatedly filed for actions that do not transmit HIV, namely when people had spit on or bit police officers.

Illinois became the second state, after Texas, to repeal its HIV criminalization law that July, followed by New Jersey in 2022. A bill to remove similar criminal penalties in Maryland is making its way swiftly through the state legislature with bipartisan support.

Alongside arguments that the laws violate the ADA by targeting people living with HIV, public health experts have also said for years that HIV criminalization laws discourage seeking testing and treatment under the logic that if people don’t know they’re living with HIV, they can’t be accused of intentionally exposing someone to the virus.

Besides the freeze on civil rights cases, the new Trump administration has also taken other steps to hamper the work of those challenging these laws. For instance, in January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website was scrubbed of content related to gender identity and sexual orientation. HIV-related pages were caught up in the mix, including references to the CDC’s position against HIV-related laws.

“The CDC took an affirmative stance that they oppose punitive forms of HIV [criminalization]. That’s gone,” said Jose Abrigo, the HIV Project Director for national LGBTQIA+ legal advocacy group Lambda Legal. “And so that lack of a federal position against HIV criminalization will have an effect on HIV decriminalization.”

Abrigo added that research into HIV decriminalization is also likely to be impacted by Trump policies, namely a freeze on grants through the National Institutes of Health that have held up more than $1 billion in medical research funding.

“So it’s really just the larger collateral effects of his really harmful policies that’s going to affect HIV decriminalization efforts,” Abrigo said.

Still, experts are quick to point out that the DOJ’s role in challenging these laws was effective, with the Shelby County settlement as the first and only one of its kind. Even before the Trump administration’s rollback of civil rights enforcement, activists and advocates alike said it is up to local coalitions to challenge the laws and seek justice for people living with HIV throughout the country.

Kenyon Farrow, the board president of the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland, is a longtime activist against HIV laws and for equitable access to HIV treatment and prevention. In his view, the rollback of the federal government’s attention changes little about how these laws must be challenged and ideally repealed. Farrow said he believed most local advocates would continue focusing on the state level, where most of the harmful laws exist.

“That’s probably where a lot of the work is going to start to happen to try to push for more states to reform those laws, regardless of what the federal government does,” Farrow said.

New case study and documentary examines how Zimbabwe repealed its HIV criminalisation law

Today, the HIV Justice Network (HJN), supported by the International AIDS Society (IAS), released a video documentary, “It is Time!” – How Zimbabwe Decriminalised HIV, along with a case study report examining Zimbabwe’s successful repeal of its HIV-specific criminal law.

The report, Reforming the Criminal Law in Zimbabwe: A Case Study, explores how advocates, legal experts, and community leaders worked together to repeal Section 79 of Zimbabwe’s Criminal Code, which criminalised HIV non-disclosure, exposure, or transmission. It outlines key strategies used in the campaign and lessons for other countries seeking to end HIV criminalisation.

The 24-minute documentary “It is Time!” brings this story to life through interviews with those involved in the multi-year effort. It also explores how advocates responded when a new law threatened to reintroduce HIV criminalisation.

Zimbabwe’s experience highlights several key strategies:

  • Coalition-building: Bringing together civil society, legal experts, and policymakers strengthened the advocacy effort.
  • Public health and human rights messaging: Advocates demonstrated how criminalisation undermined Zimbabwe’s HIV response.
  • Scientific evidence: Expert testimony helped policymakers understand the realities of HIV transmission.
  • Legislative strategy: Repealing Section 79 as part of a broader legal reform helped ensure success.

The documentary “It is Time!” is now available on the HIV Justice Network YouTube channel.

Reforming the Criminal Law in Zimbabwe: A Case Study (English, pdf, 9 pages) can be downloaded here.

The documentary and case study will also be added to the HIV Criminalisation Online Course, available for free as part of the HIV Justice Academy.

The case study and video were launched during a webinar co-hosted by HJN and IAS, featuring discussions on the significance of Zimbabwe’s law reform for the global movement against HIV criminalisation from:

  • Marlène​​​​ Bras, Director of HIV Programmes at the IAS;
  • Dr Ruth Labode, former legislator, and chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health in Zimbabwe;
  • Immaculate Owomugisha, a Ugandan lawyer and human rights activist who also sits on HJN’s Supervisory Board; and
  • HJN’s Senior Policy Analyst, Alison Symington.

A recording of webinar can now be viewed in English and in French on the IAS+ website.

HIV Is Not a Crime Awareness Day:
A Call to Action in a Time of Crisis

Today, on HIV Is Not a Crime Awareness Day, we stand in solidarity with people living with HIV and our allies who not only continue to fight criminalisation, discrimination, and stigma, but also the sudden loss of funding amongst rising political opposition. This year, the urgency of our fight has never been clearer. As the devastating consequences of US policy shifts ripple across the world, we are not just advocating for change – we are fighting for our lives.

Last Wednesday, at the UK Parliament, we brought together key stakeholders to highlight how unjust HIV criminalisation laws, arrests and prosecutions persist in the UK and across the Commonwealth. Similar events are taking place globally, reinforcing that this issue transcends borders.

With Zero Discrimination Day tomorrow spotlighting the power of communities in the HIV response, #WeStandTogether – today and every day – to end the unjust laws and policies that punish people not only for living with HIV, but also because of who they are, who they love, or how they make a living. In a world where stigma still shackles and injustice still reigns, HIV Is Not a Crime Awareness Day is not just necessary – it’s urgent.

The fight for justice also brings hope. On Wednesday, 5 March at 9am EST / 3pm CET / 4pm CAT / 5pm EAT, join us for a special webinar with the International AIDS Society’s Heart of Stigma programme (register here), where we will premiere a powerful new documentary and toolkit on Zimbabwe’s successful decriminalisation of HIV. Zimbabwe’s victory proves that change is possible even in challenging political environments.

This is not just a moment. It’s a movement. The time for action is now.