On Zero Discrimination Day:
law reform is not easy, but it’s possible

Today, on On Zero Discrimination Day, HJN was delighted to participate in a webinar — co-hosted with the Global Partnership to end HIV-related Stigma and Discrimination and the Not A Criminal Campaign — that explored how law reform is possible.

You can watch the entire webinar here: https://fb.watch/i-79fP5bYV/

I was asked to provide some closing remarks.  As we were running late, I had to cut some of my prepared remarks, which are included here in square brackets [ ].  Here they are in full.

We all know decriminalisation is possible. But it’s not easy.  Still, it can and does happen. 

It can happen thanks to the strong commitment of the three most important pillars that make change possible:
  • It starts with community leadership
  • It ends with government commitment and political will
  • And it happens with the support of the broader UN family (co-ordinated by UNAIDS) working closely with partners like the Global Fund and PEPFAR. 
This is why the Global Partnership is the ideal mechanism to cement those three pillars together.
 
But what does it actually take to change laws?  Successful strategic litigation or law reform doesn’t happen in a vacuum. That means not only funding the legal or human rights organisations challenging the laws, but also (a non-exhaustive list):
  • Funding the communities impacted by those laws, supporting people to know their rights;
  • Funding the community-based paralegals to help frightened and vulnerable people navigate the harsh realities of criminal legal system;
  • Funding community-based organisations to monitor rights violations, produce shadow reports, and document the evidence of the harms of criminalisation;
  • Funding community-led training and sensitisation of police, prosecutors and judges, and law-and policy-makers;  and
  • Funding the community-based  organisations supporting and co-ordinating the work regionally and globally, creating tools for challenge including working with the media where so much of the stigma created by these harmful laws is perpetuated, but can be also where hearts and minds can be changed.
So it takes a (global) village. 
 
And time – which we don’t have much of if we are to reach those ambitious 10-10-10 targets by 2025, or 2030. 
 
And money – which we never seem to have enough of. 
 
But it is possible, and it can happen. 
 
We’ve heard today about various forms of decriminalisation.  And you all saw the map that Tinashe shared earlier showing that HIV criminalisation laws have been reformed or repealed in 15 countries over the past decade, but there’s still another 129 countries to go!
 
And although we didn’t get to hear today from our colleagues working with people who use drugs, and in drug policy, over 30 countries around the world have adopted legal reforms to remove the criminalisation of certain activities related to drug use.
 
But we also heard about the many challenges that remain.
 
Yesterday was the 2nd ‘HIV is not a crime day‘ in the US. It was fantastic to see so many activities and events raise awareness of an issue that is so close to my heart and which for too long has been underfunded and overlooked. In fact yesterday Funders Concerned About AIDS highlighted that in 2020 only around 0.5% of all philanthropic funding supported HIV decriminalisation work globally.  Today, the HIV Justice Network and the HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE coalition is grateful to the Robert Carr Fund for civil society networks, to allow us to ensure that the message that ‘HIV is not a crime’ is heard, understood, and acted upon globally.  But this work, like all decriminalisation work, needs more resources.
 
[This work is sometimes really hard and sometimes doesn’t always lead to success – at least the first time around. Despite the best efforts of our colleagues at KELIN and UGANET, we were disappointed to learn at the end of 2022 that constitutional challenges to Kenya’s and Uganda’s HIV-specific criminal laws were unsuccessful. Nevertheless, both will appeal these retrograde rulings, because they – and we – are on the right side of history. After all, Zimbabwe repealed their HIV-specific criminal law last year following years of advocacy following unsuccessful strategic litigation.
 
We know that HIV criminalisation mostly serves as a proxy for other kinds of discrimination – discrimination based on class, ethnicity, gender identity, migrant status, race, sex, sexual orientation, and other potential markers of social vulnerability.
 
And we know that most aggressive push to criminalise people living with HIV tends to occur at the intersection of several stigmatised or criminalised identities.
 
And so we firmly believe that this work must be intersectional and collaborative.]
 
We also know that decriminalisation alone will not address the full complexity of the intersecting stigmas behind these laws and their enforcement. As with other manifestations of discrimination, the ultimate solution lies in equality and empowerment. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and dismantling systems that have been built over decades and that oppress people living with HIV and key populations takes time.
 
We heard today from the South African Deputy Minister of Justice about the Sex Work Decriminalisation Bill.  We, and many others in our global network have written letters of support to the South African government welcoming this change.  This Friday, 3rd March, is International Sex Workers Rights Day. Let’s make sure South Africa knows the world is watching and that South African sex workers  know we have their back.
 
HIV is not a crime, and sex work shouldn’t be a crime, either!
 
Let’s use our collective power across all social media and and on #ZeroDiscrimination Day use the hashtags  #SexWorkIsWork and #HIVIsNotACrime.

Two significant days in the HIV justice calendar

28th February marks the second HIV is Not a Crime Awareness Day. Launched by the Sero Project — our US partners in the HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE coalition — in collaboration with The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, ­ the day has four overarching aims: to STRENGTHEN the movement by committing to ENGAGE with networks of people living with HIV and our allies working to REFORM HIV criminalisation so we can OVERCOME over-policing and targeting of people with HIV, understanding the intersection with racial, gender and sexual and reproductive justice.

The choice of date is the bridge that connects two other important US awareness days: National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (7th February) and National Women & Girls’ HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (10th March). Black and Brown communities — including Black and Brown women and women of trans experience — are most impacted by HIV criminalisation in the US. This date is also a symbolic nod to the legacy of the late Hollywood icon and notable AIDS activist, Elizabeth Taylor, in celebration of her birthday on 27th February.

You can find events taking place all over the United States on the HINAC Day Facebook page or by following the hashtag #HINACDay. If you would like to sign on as an individual and/or organisation in support of the US movement to end HIV criminalisation, click here.

The following day, 1st March, sees an important global event, Zero Discrimination Day, first established by UNAIDS in 2014. Zero Discrimination Day is a global solidarity movement that celebrates the right of everyone to live a full and productive life with dignity. It highlights how people can become informed about and promote inclusion, compassion, peace and, above all, a movement for change.

Each year has a specific theme. This year’s theme is Save lives: Decriminalise. With this theme, UNAIDS is highlighting how the human rights goals of decriminalisation of people living with HIV and key populations could have a major impact on health and wellbeing — as well as help advance the end of AIDS a public health threat. 

In 2021, the world set ambitious law reform targets to remove criminal laws that are undermining the HIV response and leaving criminalised populations behind. Recognising decriminalisation as a critical element in the response, countries made a commitment that by 2025 fewer than 10% of countries would have punitive legal and policy environments that affect the HIV response, including HIV criminalisation.

Unfortunately, we’re far from those targets, but there is hope. You can find events taking place all over the world by following the hashtag #ZeroDiscrimination. On Zero Discrimination Day, we’re delighted to participate in a webinar — co-hosted by the HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE coalition, the Not A Criminal Campaign, and the Global Partnership to end HIV-related Stigma and Discrimination — from 12pm Central European Time that will explore how law reform is possible. Register at: http://bit.ly/3K5UJVd

 

HIV criminalisation highlights at AIDS 2022

The 24th international AIDS conference (AIDS 2022) held in Montreal and virtually between 29 July and 2 August integrated HIV criminalisation throughout multiple sessions – both in the main conference and during pre-conferences, satellites and in the Global Village.

Australian activist, lawyer, Track F rapporteur – and HJN Supervisory Board member – Paul Kidd has provided a thorough overview of many of these sessions in this Twitter thread, which can also be read as a single blog entry here.

Two major campaigns were launched at the conference – one global, and one focused on Canada.

GNP+ and HJN joined with networks representing young people, women, the LGBTI+ community, sex workers and people who use drugs to launch the “Not A Criminal” Campaign to decriminalise HIV non-disclosure, exposure and transmission; same-sex relationships; sex work and drug use. 

As part of the “Not A Criminal” Campaign, we are demanding countries remove bad laws and replace them with evidence-based legislation to protect our communities from criminalisation, discrimination and gender-based violence, and support the creation of independent human rights institutions. Additionally, the campaign calls on United Nations agencies and donors to develop strong, coordinated, and high-profile mechanisms to monitor progress on these member states’ commitments.

“Far from being a legitimate public health tool, criminalisation of our behaviours, choices and identities is about the enforcement of an oppressive morality through policing our bodily autonomy,” HIV Justice Network’s Executive Director Edwin J Bernard said in a press release announcing the campaign. “This punishment of our vulnerability also means we won’t be able to end the HIV epidemic by 2030.” 

The Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization (CCRHC) made the most of the spotlight on Canada during the conference and launched its second Community Consensus Statement.  This Statement calls on the Canadian government to change the Criminal Code to limit HIV criminalisation only to very rare cases of intentional transmission using appropriate existing criminal statutes. Canada’s Justice Minister, David Lametti has since announced plans to launch a consultation this October on the criminal legal system’s overly draconian response to HIV non-disclosure.

However, the biggest – and most welcome – surprise of the conference was the recipient of the Elizabeth Taylor Legacy Award which was presented during Saturday’s prime session on HIV and Human Rights. Previous recipients have included Nancy Pelosi, Sharon Stone, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Jackson and Elton John.

This year’s Elizabeth Taylor Legacy Award was presented posthumously to the late Rosemary Namubiru – recognising her extraordinary contribution to raising awareness of the injustice of HIV criminalisation.

Lillian Mworeko of the International Community of Women Living with HIV – East Africa (ICW-EA) received the award on behalf of Rosemary’s family. Rosemary’s daughter had planned to be there, but – like many Africans – was denied a visa.

It’s HIV Justice Network’s 10th Anniversary

Our founding document, the Oslo Declaration, was created 10 years ago this week

On February 13, 2012, a group of individuals from civil society around the world, concerned about the inappropriate and overly broad use of the criminal law to regulate and punish people living with HIV for behaviour that in any other circumstance would be considered lawful, came together in Oslo to create the Oslo Declaration on HIV Criminalisation.

The Oslo Declaration, published on the brand new hivjustice.net website on February 22, 2012, became the founding document of the HIV Justice Network (HJN). Within weeks, more than 1700 supporters from more than 115 countries had signed up to the Declaration, creating a network of diverse activists, all fighting for HIV justice.

HJN was formed due to a growing concern over increasingly punitive approaches to HIV prevention: in particular, the inappropriate use of criminal law, even though HIV criminalisation is discredited as a public health response. We have grown in size, capacity, and impact in the intervening decade thanks to our funders – the Monument Trust, the Robert Carr Fund for civil society networks, the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and UNAIDS – our small-but-dedicated HJN team, our Supervisory Board, our Global Advisory Panel and our HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE partners.

Today, we collate authoritative data and information to build the evidence base against the unjust criminalisation of people living with HIV. We also raise awareness of the harms of this approach in critical arenas including among the scientific, medical, policy, advocacy, and donor communities.

Most importantly, we galvanise and nurture the global movement against HIV criminalisation, by providing an advocacy hub to bring individuals, national, regional, and global networks and organisations together to catalyse change.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the organisation on our journey so far. We couldn’t have done it without our funders and partners but, most importantly, we wouldn’t have achieved so much without the courage and commitment of the growing number of advocates around the world who are challenging laws, policies and practices that inappropriately regulate and punish people living with HIV.

Watch HIV Justice Live! which explores the history behind, and impact of, the Oslo Declaration on HIV Criminalisation. Hosted by HJN’s founder and Executive Director, Edwin J Bernard, the show, From Moment to Movement, featured some of the advocates who were behind the Oslo Declaration: Kim Fangen, Patrick Eba, Michaela Clayton, Ralf Jürgens and Susan Timberlake.

 

New Breastfeeding Defence Toolkit
launched at Beyond Blame 2021

Criminal prosecutions related to presumed HIV exposure via breastfeeding are all-too-often driven by stigma, misinformation, and the desire to protect a child from exaggerated risk.  People living with HIV require a vigorous defence based on principles of justice and human rights, good public policy, and accurate science.

Which is why this week we have launched the Breastfeeding Defence Toolkit as a new section of our HIV Justice Tookit.

The Breastfeeding Defence Toolkit provides materials to support lawyers and advocates supporting people living with HIV who face criminal charges or other punitive measures for breastfeeding, chestfeeding, or comfort nursing.

Although the Breastfeeding Defence Toolkit is currently only available in English, we are working on French, Russian and Spanish versions.  In addition, new resources will be added to the Toolkit as they become available.

The Breastfeeding Defence Toolkit was launched at Beyond Blame: Challenging Criminalisation for HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE on Tuesday 30 November 2021.  Watch the 10 minute segment below.

Background

In 1986, it was discovered that HIV could be transmitted from a woman to a child through 
breastfeeding. Since this time, women living with HIV have borne the weight of the 
responsibility of preventing HIV transmission to their offspring. This responsibility has been 
used to justify surveillance, judgement, and limitations on autonomy and decision-making for 
women living with HIV.

Some women living with HIV have faced criminal prosecution for exposing fetuses and/or 
infants to a risk of HIV infection, especially through breastfeeding. These numbers may be small 
compared to the number who have faced criminal charges with respect to HIV non-disclosure, 
exposure and transmission in sexual contexts, but cases are increasing.

The HIV Justice Network 
is aware of at least 13 such cases in the past decade, with a growing number of criminal prosecutions taking place 
across the African continent as well as in Russia since 2018. We are also aware of several cases 
that took place in North America and Europe between 2005 – 2012.

These cases include charges laid against mothers, community members and domestic 
employees. Various criminal charges have been used in these cases, including failure to provide 
the necessaries of life, grievous bodily harm, unlawfully doing an act likely to spread a 
dangerous disease, and deliberately infecting another with HIV.

In addition to these criminal 
cases, many more women have experienced punitive responses from service providers, public 
health, and child welfare authorities.

Criminal prosecutions and other punitive responses to breastfeeding by women living with HIV 
pose significant harms to both the accused and the child. HIV criminalisation threatens the 
health and well-being of people living with HIV and jeopardises the goals of ending HIV 
discrimination and, ultimately, the epidemic. Not only do punitive laws targeting people living with HIV lack a scientific evidence base they also serve as barriers to HIV prevention, treatment, 
and care, and perpetuate stigma.

Infant feeding choices should not be a criminal issue. Parents should be provided with full 
information to make the best choices for their families and infant feeding should be managed 
through clinical support. Science supports that the best outcomes for a mother and a child 
result from proper medical care, access to treatment and openness. Criminalising maternal and 
child health issues generally risks worse outcomes for the infant.

UPDATE: Speakers now confirmed for #BeyondBlame2021!

REGISTER HERE

Beyond Blame, our flagship meeting for activists, human rights defenders, criminal legal system and public health system actors, healthcare professionals, researchers, and anyone else working to end HIV criminalisation, is returning for a special eve-of-World AIDS Day edition.

Following the success of last year’s Beyond Blame @ HIV2020, which was reimagined as a two-hour web show, the HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE coalition is delighted to announce that Beyond Blame: Challenging Criminalisation for HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE will take place on Tuesday, November 30, 2021, from 6-8 PM Central European Time. Check this link to find the event in your local time.

REGISTER HERE

Beyond Blame is a unique opportunity to learn why HIV criminalisation matters, as well as hear about the wide range of initiatives and strategies that have been used by activists, lawyers, networks, and organisations around the world to work towards ending the inappropriate use of criminal law to regulate and punish people living with HIV.

We will be highlighting some of the successes and challenges of the global movement to end HIV criminalisation over the past year, including work on ending the criminalisation of women living with HIV for breastfeeding, exploring whether scientific advances, such as the prevention benefit of treatment (U=U) and Molecular HIV Surveillance, help or hinder our movement and much, much more.

Beyond Blame will take place in English, with interpretation available in French, Russian and Spanish.

Follow the conversation on Twitter via #BeyondBlame2021 #HIVJustice

REGISTER HERE

September 14 is Sex Worker Pride!

HJN stands in solidarity with sex workers and asks everyone to support the upcoming Sex Worker Pride Day (September 14) that aims to increase the visibility of sex workers and their activism.

Sex Worker Pride is an opportunity to celebrate and share stories of sex workers’ self-determination and the achievements of the sex worker rights movement, according to the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) which began the day in 2019. NSWP upholds the voice of sex workers globally and connects regional networks advocating for the rights of female, male, and transgender sex workers.

NSWP states that Sex Worker Pride “extends to all marginalised by criminalisation, discrimination, and stigma across the sex worker movement and celebrates the diversity within our community during International Sex Worker Pride.”

Edwin J Bernard, HJN’s Executive Director says: “We stand in solidarity with all sex workers. Sex work is work. We oppose all forms of criminalisation and other legal oppression of sex work, including sex workers, clients, third parties, families, partners, and friends.”

Sex Worker Pride is one of four international sex worker rights days observed every year: 3rd March (International Sex Workers Rights Day), 2nd June (International Sex Workers Day), and 17th December (International Day to end violence against sex workers)

To show solidarity, please join the conversation and organising on social media using the hashtag #SexWorkerPride.

HJN proudly joins the Support.Don’t Punish campaign

The HIV Justice Network is a proud supporter of the Support. Don’t Punish campaign now in its ninth year. Tomorrow, Saturday 26 June, is the campaign’s yearly high point, the Global Day of Action.

According to the campaign’s website, “Support.Don’t Punish is a global grassroots-centred initiative in support of harm reduction and drug policies that prioritise public health and human rights. The campaign seeks to put harm reduction on the political agenda by strengthening the mobilisation capacity of communities targeted by the “war on drugs” and their allies, opening dialogue with policy makers, and raising awareness among the media and the public.”

The theme for this year’s Global Day of Action is “Undoing the ‘war’, building the future that our communities have always deserved”. The date, 26th June is symbolic as it is used by most governments to commemorate the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking to highlight their so-called ‘achievements’ in “the war on drugs.”

The Support. Don’t Punish campaign aligns with the following key messages:

  • The drug control system is broken and in need of reform.
  • People who use drugs should no longer be criminalised.
  • People involved in the drug trade should not face harsh or disproportionate punishments, where retained.
  • The death penalty should never be imposed for drug offences.
  • Drug policy should focus on health, well-being, and harm reduction.
  • Drug policy budgets need rebalancing to ensure health and harm reduction-based responses are adequately financed.

Last year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Day of Action saw 288 events in 239 participating cities in 90 countries. The activities organised were incredibly varied and involved over 150 community representatives. In twelve of the regions, networks of people who use drugs were joined by initiatives from convergent movements (including people living with HIV, sex workers, and service providers), strengthening a solidarity block against criminalisation.

This year, we urge you to join the Support.Don’t Punish Global Day of Action. Visit their homepage to check out where activities are taking place near you, and use these resources to amplify the campaign’s messages on social media, including on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Honouring Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31)

Honouring Transgender Day of Visibility

The International Transgender Day of Visibility is held annually on March 31 to celebrate trans-diverse people globally and honour their courage and visibility to live openly and authentically.

This year’s 12th annual celebration is a day to also raise awareness around the stigma and discrimination that trans people still face, especially young transgender people, trans people living with HIV, trans people who are currently transitioning and are therefore more likely to be identified as transgender, and transgender sex workers.

We also acknowledge there are too many invisibilities around the impact of HIV criminalisation on trans persons. Cecilia Chung, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Evaluation of the Transgender Law Center, who is also a member of our Global Advisory Panel told our Beyond Blame @HIV2020 webinar that there is not enough data on the impact of HIV criminalisation laws on transgender persons. She said such data are not “uniformly collected across the world… The numbers still remain invisible even though we know for sure there are [HIV criminalisation] cases.”

Although this day primarily serves to celebrate and honour trans-diverse persons, it also offers allies an opportunity to contribute to supportive legislation, policy and financial commitment of trans-diverse communities globally.

HJN also celebrates trans-diverse people globally and we honour their courage and visibility to live openly and authentically. We also call for more visibility for trans people in data collection, including our own, as well as reforms of HIV-related criminal laws and their enforcement that disproportionately target trans-diverse people.

WATCH! From Moment to Movement: HIV Justice Live! Ep 3 – Oslo Declaration 9th Anniversary

From Moment to Movement: HIV Justice Live! celebrates the Oslo Declaration on HIV Criminalisation

The 3rd episode of HIV Justice Live! aired on Wednesday, February 17, to celebrate nine years since the publication of the historic Oslo Declaration on HIV Criminalisation. Hosted by HIV Justice Network’s Edwin J Bernard, the show featured some of the advocates who were behind the Oslo Declaration.

Kim Fangen, co-organiser of the side-meeting that finalised the Oslo Declaration, and who was the only person openly living with HIV on the Norwegian Law Commission, revealed that the Declaration was initially conceived as an advocacy tool to influence policy discussions in Norway as well as neighbouring Nordic countries.

Patrick Eba, now UNAIDS Country Director in the Central African Republic, explained that the reason the meeting took place in Oslo was because the Norwegian Government had supported UNAIDS to produce detailed guidance on how countries should deal with the overly broad use of the criminal law to HIV non-disclosure, exposure and transmission, by examining scientific, medical and legal issues.

Former ARASA ED, Michaela Clayton, now a member of HJN’s Supervisory Board, said the Oslo Declaration was the first time there was a coming together of activists from both the global north and south around HIV criminalisation. She noted that although there had been some work done regionally and in-country, this was the first global solidarity statement around HIV criminalisation.

Ralf Jürgens, now Senior Coordinator of Human Rights at The Global Fund, who attended the Oslo meeting in an advisory capacity, spoke about his relief and delight that the work that he and others had done as part of the ‘first-wave’ of advocacy against HIV criminalisation was now being undertaken by the HIV Justice Network. Jürgens currently oversees the innovative Global Fund initiative, Breaking Down Barriers, which supports 20 countries to remove human rights-related barriers to health services for HIV, TB malaria, and COVID-19. He said the Global Fund has invested resources to fight laws and policies and discrimination overall and ensure access to justice. He added that the HIV Justice Worldwide movement now plays an “incredibly important” part in this work by providing global leadership and a wide range of advocacy resources.

There was a surprise appearance by Susan Timberlake, who was UNAIDS’ Senior Human Rights Advisor when the Oslo meetings took place. She recognised the Oslo Declaration as the moment that the global movement around HIV criminalisation began. Susan recalled the main meeting fell on Valentine’s Day and participants made posters with “make love, not criminal laws” messaging.

Our regular Mind the Gap segment featured Ellie Ballan, a member of our Global Advisory Panel, who is based in Lebanon. He was interviewed by Julian Hows, HJN’s Partnerships and Governance Co-ordinator.

The Oslo Declaration, has so far, garnered over 1750 signatories from more than 115 countries and been translated into nine different languages, the most recent being Latvian and Turkish. It was also the template for the Mexican Declaration in 2017.  Pozitif Dayanışma, an HIV organisation based in Turkey recently translated the Declaration into Turkish, as well as producing an accompanying info-graphic and social media pack.

Further, the Oslo Declaration has been referred to as key guidance on HIV criminalisation from global organisations such as UNAIDS, Amnesty International, and PEPFAR/USAID, cited in several peer-reviewed journals and used as a strategic planning and advocacy tool all over the world. The Declaration has also been featured in high-profile media, such as the New York Times, the Huffington Post, and POZ magazine.