Mexico: Human Rights Commission files motion before Supreme Court arguing Veracruz law criminalising 'wilful transmission' of HIV and STIs is unconstitutional

Because the amendment to Article 158 of the Criminal Code of Veracruz, called “contagion” criminalizes the transmission of sexually transmitted infections, and establishes a sentence ranging from 6 months to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to 50 days’ pay for those who “willfully” infecting another person sexually transmitted disease, a contravention of Article 1 of the Constitution of the United States Mexicans, at 24 of the American Convention on Human Rights and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) filed a motion before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.

That article, which provides between these infections to HIV and human papillomavirus, he was published in the Official Journal of Veracruz on 1 December and, according to the CNDH, is discriminatory because it “generates a differentiation unnecessary and unjustified that becomes discriminatory. ”

This, because, argues the CNDH, the new content of the article “generates a discriminatory treatment in Subject to the people, and that criminalize putting willful in danger of disease transmission, generates two assumptions: that it is sexually transmitted infections and cases of serious disease. ”

According to the document, this situation leads to “different treatment for sexually transmitted infections with respect any other illness, by the than is rock specifically the condition health perpetrator when he suffers STDs, generating so a distinction legal between Who suffer a disease acquired by sexually transmitted Y those with any other disease acquired through diverse. ”

In addition, it is emphasized that the amendment does not meet the objective of preventing argued transmission of STIs against women and girls, finding themselves in vulnerable situations, but caused a differentiation based on the condition of true kind from infections, in East case from sexually transmitted, and describe them as serious, a fact that is not real, because not all infections of this court are serious.

Thus, the declaration of unconstitutionality of the article is requested and all those rules than are related.

Thus, the CNDH responded to the request of the Multisectoral Group on HIV / AIDS and STIs of Veracruz and other civil society organizations, which have stated that “the international guidelines on HIV and Human Rights based on evidence scientific point to legislate and punish not prevent new infections or reduce women’s vulnerability and what we do accomplish is a negative impact on public health and human rights. ”

It is expected that in the coming weeks the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation attracts unconstitutionality for discussion and analysis.

Register now for ARASA’s online course on HIV criminalisation; deadline March 8th

Applications are now invited for participation in the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA) 2016 online training course on the criminalisation of HIV transmission, exposure and non-disclosure.

Civil society, policymakers and service providers – including health care providers and law enforcement officials – working in Africa are eligible for the course, which will last for six weeks from 14 March 2016 to 22 April 2016, and require four hours’ commitment per week.

The deadline for applications is 8th March 2016.

More details below and on ARASA’s website.

Download the full announcement here.

ABOUT THE COURSE

The criminalisation of HIV transmission, exposure and non-disclosure, which is often referred to as ‘HIV criminalisation’, is the unjust application of criminal law based solely on HIV status – either by enacting and applying HIV-specific criminal laws, or by applying general criminal laws exclusively or disproportionately against people with HIV.

Law makers who try to enact HIV-specific laws to criminalise HIV transmission are often driven by public pressure to be seen to be doing something about HIV in their country without stopping to consider the effects of HIV criminalisation on the spread of HIV.

Human rights experts argue that most countries already have criminal laws, such as the laws against assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, that can be used to deal with intentional transmission of HIV and therefore there is no need to create new laws to deal specifically with HIV.

This online course will introduce participants to information about the criminalisation of HIV transmission, exposure and non-disclosure, the negative impact it has on the human rights of people living with HIV and key populations and on universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. The focus is on providing knowledge and skills so that participants can identify harmful HIV-specific transmission, exposure and non-disclosure laws and advocate for the removal of these laws.

COURSE OUTCOMES

After taking the course, students will be able to:

Understand what criminalisation of HIV transmission, exposure and non- disclosure is and the difference between transmission, exposure and non- disclosure
Identify the links between human rights, universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, and the negative impact of criminalisation of HIV transmission, exposure and non-disclosure
Understand the disproportionate impact of criminalisation on women and key populations
Understand international and regional guidance on criminalisation of HIV transmission, exposure and non-disclosure and be aware of model laws and other instruments that can be used as advocacy tools to advocate against HIV criminalisation
Advocate for laws that do not criminalise HIV transmission, exposure and non- disclosure and respect the rights of people living with HIV and promote universal access or for the repeal or amendment of laws that do criminalise.

WHO MAY APPLY?

In the selection of participants preference will be given to persons who:

Are staff members of civil society organisations working on HIV, TB and human rights in African countries;
Are fluent in English;
Have existing skills and experience in human rights, TB, HIV and/or Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR);
Have daily access to the internet as well as access to a computer;
Are committed to participating fully in all the elements of the short course and carrying out training and advocacy for increased access to HIV and TB servicesfor prisoners; and
Are committed to promoting a rights-based response to HIV and TB in their own countries and in the region, and to engage in regional collaboration for advocacy.

HOW TO APPLY

Send us:

A one page letter of motivation, setting out why you feel that you would benefit from participating in the short course and outlining how you will use the skills acquired during the course;
Your resume / CV; and
A letter of support from the organisation you are currently working with / affiliated to.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

All applications must be received by no later than close of business 8 March 2016. Kindly note that applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

Application should be submitted by email to courses@arasa.info (and copy Jacob Segale (jacob@arasa.info) and Nthabiseng Mokoena (nthabiseng@arasa.info)). Successful applicants will be notified by no later than 11 March 2016. Should you not receive any feedback from us by 14 March 2016, kindly consider your application to have been unsuccessful.

ABOUT ARASA

Established in 2002, ARASA is a regional partnership of 89 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working together to promote a human rights-based response to HIV and TB in Southern and East Africa, through capacity strengthening and advocacy.

ARASA’s purpose is to promote the rule of law and respect for human rights to safeguard the health status of all, especially of people living with HIV and TB and key populations at higher risk of HIV and TB, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, sex workers, people who use drugs and prisoners. ARASA’s overall objective is to ensure that legal, policy and social environments exist in Southern and East Africa (18 countries) in which people living with HIV and TB and key populations most at risk (prisoners, LGBTI persons, sex workers and people who use drugs) access acceptable, affordable and quality sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV and TB prevention, treatment and care services.

Stop the Prague Public Health Authority’s persecution and intimidation of people living with HIV [Press release]

Pan-European Networks of communities of people living with and affected by HIV, doctors and scientists call upon the Government of the Czech Republic to immediately stop the Prague Public Health Authority’s persecution and intimidation of people living with HIV, and to return to evidence-based and proven practices in HIV prevention, testing and care in the Czech Republic.

Brussels, 19 February 2016 – The signatories of this open letter, representing communities of people living with, and affected by HIV, doctors and scientists addressing HIV and co-infections in Europe, are extremely concerned that the Prague Public Health Authority has initiated a police investigation into the sex lives of 30 men living with HIV on the sole grounds that these men have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (STI).

We understand that the Czech police are currently conducting investigations and are considering pressing charges against these men claiming that they have violated the provisions of Sections 152 and 153 of the Czech Criminal Code.

There is no evidence that punitive approaches to regulating the consensual sexual behaviour of people with living HIV are an effective HIV prevention or public health tool, but there is evidence that such approaches can be counterproductive by further stigmatising people with HIV, sending those in need of testing and treatment underground, harming individual and public health.

In addition, the release of medical information to the police appears to be a grave violation of personal freedoms of individuals living in the Czech Republic. The initiation of criminal prosecution against people living with HIV for alleged intentional gross bodily harm – despite the lack of a single complainant – raises grave concerns regarding the inappropriate application of criminal law to people living with HIV.

We also understand that a number of non-governmental organizations have recently spoken out against the acts of the Prague Public Health Authority and subsequent police investigation and they will approach the Czech liaison at the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Please also note that the responsible UNAIDS representative has already been informed and will receive further briefing from us.

With this letter we express our outrage at these human rights violations, and support the groups within the Czech Republic who initially raised objections and are working to support both people with HIV and the public health of all those living in the country.

Our main objections to the recent development are based on several arguments:

It violates the fundamental human right to personal integrity and privacy (Art 7 Sec. 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms), and breaches the Czech Republic’s international obligations under the existing National HIV/AIDS Strategy;
It is counterproductive to public health, ignoring well established WHO and UNAIDS recommendations on appropriate use of public health and criminal law as it relates to HIV. Evidence shows that criminalisation of HIV non-disclosure, potential or perceived exposure or non-intentional transmission deter people from getting tested and force them to hide their HIV status and/or sexual orientation, thus reducing opportunities for treatment which greatly reduces infectiousness.
There is a substantial body of evidence to show that the overly broad HIV criminalisation, in any form, is harmful for both individuals and society as it leads to increased latency of the epidemic, deters people from getting tested and treated, and thus ultimately contributes to a growing epidemic. We recognize that there has been a constant and alarming increase in the rate of new HIV infections in Europe in the last ten years. However, the active discrimination and violation of the human rights of any group of society will not contribute to the curbing of the epidemic.
The proposed prosecution of people living with HIV for alleged intentional spread of infectious diseases, or in fact the transfer of any health-related data of individual from the health care system to law enforcement organisations is potentially a violation of the European Union’s Data Protection Directive.

We demand that the Government of the Czech Republic adheres to the international principles and treaties, and scientific evidence universally accepted in the practice of HIV prevention, and we also demand that the current level of HIV care in the country is maintained and improved to assure at-risk groups feel that getting tested for HIV is and should be a reasonable decision for them. Nothing is as effective in linking to and retention in care than disseminating the right information, and fighting stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV, or any other groups such as men having sex with men. The active discrimination and legal persecution of people with HIV is in diametrical opposition to this evidence.

The signatories will continue to support local non-governmental organisations and other actors in their efforts to prevent HIV criminalization becoming a public health policy. We call on the Government of Czech Republic to ensure that the Prague Public Health Authority reverses this policy and ends police investigations of people with HIV simply for being diagnosed with an STI and instead relies on good public health practice as the most effective strategy to deal with HIV/AIDS.

Speaking on behalf of millions of people living with and affected by HIV across Europe, as well as experts in HIV science, public health and human rights, the signatories are ready to provide advice, guidance and the collection of good practices relating to HIV prevention to the government.

Contact:

HIV Justice Network: Edwin J Bernard, edwin@hivjustice.net

European AIDS Treatment Group: Tamás Bereczky on tamas.bereczky@eatg.org

Download and share the letter (with references). Also available on the EATG website

Open Letter to Prague Public Health Authority

Footnote: At the request of Czech AIDS Society a number of organisations representing European networks of communities of people living with and affected by HIV, doctors and scientists wrote today to head of Prague’s Public Health Authority to raise our concern about the initiation of a police investigation into the sex lives of 30 men living with HIV on the sole grounds that these men have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (STI).

We hereby would like to stress that disseminating the right information, and fighting stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV, or any other groups such as men having sex with men has proved have proved to be effective in responding to the epidemic, to link to and retain persons in care. The active discrimination and legal persecution of people with HIV is in diametrical opposition to this evidence.

Letter to Dr. Zdeňka Jágrová, Hygienicka, Head of the Prague Public Health Authority

HIV is Not a Crime Training Academy now requesting workshop submissions

The second HIV is Not a Crime meeting, now a Training Academy, will take place between May 17 – 20, 2016 at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

The Training Academy will unite and train advocates living with HIV and allies from North America on laws, policies and practices criminalising people living with and vulnerable to HIV and on strategies and best practices for improving legal environments.

There will be three tracks, focused on

1) Effective and Accountable Leadership,

2) Rights, Policy and Justice, and

3) Campaign Planning, Strategy and Messaging.

Workshops will help advance informed and effective grassroots organising and coalition-building, providing participants with concrete tools and resources to work on state-level strategies when they return home.

Advocates working on HIV criminalisation in the United States, Canada or Mexico are encouraged to submit an application to conduct a workshop at the Training Academy and contribute to this growing and important movement.

Deadline for submissions is Friday, February 26, 2016 by 5:00 pm CST (6:00 pm EST, 3:00 PST).

Descriptions of workshop tracks are below:

Effective and Accountable Leadership

This track will focus on building relevant and current leadership skills for an effective and intersectional criminalisation movement.

Sessions considered may include coalition-building, development of individual leadership skills or emphasise disproportionately impacted communities.

Rights, Policy, and Justice

This track will focus on policy issues, criminal justice, and advocacy strategies relevant to disproportionately criminalized communities.

Submissions on issues specific to communities targeted by policing practices due to race, gender identity, sexual orientation, substance use, immigration status, and other forms of discrimination are encouraged.

Campaign Planning, Strategy and Messaging

This track will provide resources, tools and skills advocates need to successfully develop and implement a state-level campaign to repeal or modernize criminalization laws.

Submissions may focus on the “nuts-and-bolts” required for organizing, including messaging research and positioning, how to best utilize research to persuade media, policy leaders and legislators and creation and execution of a campaign plan.

After reviewing proposals, conference organizers may invite session organizers to collaborate on a session. All presenters are required to register for the conference. Acceptance of a proposal does not guarantee a scholarship or coverage of any of the necessary registration or travel expenses.

We expect to receive more breakout session proposals than we can actually accommodate. When making selection decisions, we have many considerations to balance, including our desire to elevate diverse leadership and new organizations and voices into the mix at each Training Academy. Please read the criteria below for what we are and are not looking for.

Proposals that meet all or most of these criteria will be given the most favorable consideration:

Participatory: Proposed session is interactive, with lots of two-way communication between participants and presenters and hands-on engaging activities.
Timely: Proposal demonstrates an understanding of current criminal justice, policing, and criminalization environment
Intersectional: Proposal demonstrates an intersectional analysis
Practical: Session proposes to leave participants with useful tools, including innovative strategies, exemplary models, powerful narratives, and accessible artistic and cultural expressions.
Action-Oriented: Session connects to active issue campaigns, grassroots community organizing, and current struggles and/or movement building efforts.
Intergenerational: The content is relevant to, and encouraging of, the participation of youth and young people, as well as multi-generational strategies.
Geographic Diversity: For national audience, we want the content and facilitators to relate to different geographic areas, especially the South.
Multiracial: Sessions include a multiracial and intersectional analysis and approach — even if there is a mono-racial emphasis. A multiracial team of facilitators is also encouraged.

Breakout Sessions should not consist of:

Lectures, presentations of academic papers or mostly theory, or panels that primarily involve people talking at others.
Sessions that do not have a connection to people working in local communities.
Sessions that focus primarily on a problem, without equal or greater attention to proposed solutions.
Sessions by individuals not engaged with, connected or accountable to social justice organizations or communities.

Important Notes:

The deadline for submission is Friday, February 26, 2016 by 5:00 pm CST (6:00 pm EST, 3:00 PST). You will receive notice of acceptance on Friday, April 1, 2016.

Applicants may submit up to two workshops for consideration. For each 90-minute workshop, applicants should follow the suggested format below. Workshops submissions must be one page in length and be in a font 11 point or over but not smaller. Your submission will not be reviewed if it is more than one page (8.5 x 11) in length or if the font is smaller than 11 point. There is no limit to the number of total presenters on a workshop.

Workshop submissions will be reviewed and evaluated by a volunteer Program Work Group on the following criteria: 1) alignment with track description, SERO and PWN-USA values, and Training Academy goals 2) clarity of description 3) appropriateness of suggested format.

We strongly encourage applicants to consider formats that engage participants, rather than simply presenting information. In addition, the program committee will review overall workshop acceptances with an eye towards diversity of presenters, particularly in demographics, geography, skills, and expertise.

Every proposal must include:

FIRST, LAST NAME OF LEAD PRESENTER(S):
FIRST, LAST NAME(S) OF ADDITIONAL PRESENTER(S):
EMAIL ADDRESS/PHONE NUMBER FOR LEAD PRESENTER:
TITLE & ORGANIZATIONAL AFFILIATION FOR ALL PRESENTERS:
WORKSHOP TRACK: 1) Effective and Accountable Leadership 2) Rights, Policy & Justice; 3) Campaign Planning, Strategy and Messaging
PROPOSED WORKSHOP TITLE:
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
WORKSHOP OBJECTIVE(S):
FORMAT OF WORKSHOP: Describe how you and/or presenter(s) will conduct the workshop, i.e. presentation style, opportunity for discussion and/or interactive activities/exercises.

Email workshop submissions by Friday, February 26, 2016 to: conference@seroproject.com

All other questions regarding the Summit should be emailed to Tami Haught at: tami.haught@seroproject.com

Czech Officials Launch Criminal Investigation Into 30 Gay Men Over HIV Exposure

Kenya: KELIN to challenge President Kenyatta's plan to keep a list of every child and breastfeeding/expectant mothers living with HIV

Czech Republic: Prague Public Health Authority initiates criminal prosecutions of 30 gay men living with HIV following an STI diagnosis

Late last month, Prague’s Public Health Authority initiated criminal investigations against 30 gay men living with HIV that had been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (STI) during the previous year.

The Public Health Authority appear to believe that since these men acquired an STI this is proof that they must have practiced condomless sex and have therefore violated Sections 152 and 153 of the Czech Criminal Code, which a 2005 Supreme Court ruling confirmed could be used to prosecute any act of condomless sex (including oral sex) by a person living with HIV as “spread of infectious diseases”.

There are no individual complainants in these cases.

The Czech AIDS Society responded to the publication of initial media reports on January 26th, with a press release that highlighted:

They have already begun to provide legal counseling to several of these men.
Most of them have an undetectable viral load and/or only have sex only with other men living with HIV (known as ‘serosorting’).
Being diagnosed with an STI does not, in and of itself, prove that condomless sex took place because most STIs can be acquired even when condoms are used.
Fear of punishment will lead to people living with HIV and at risk of a sexually transmitted infection not getting tested or treated.

“Czech AIDS Society has long struggled against the criminalisation of the private life of people living with HIV in cases where there is no HIV transmission. We believe that the HIV epidemic must be fought not through repression, but through the treatment which, in most cases, reduces the viral load of HIV-positive patients to undetectable levels thus eliminating the risk of transmission.”

They went on to make a number of media appearances pointing out that applying criminal law to potential HIV exposure does not reduce the spread of HIV, undermines HIV prevention efforts, promotes fear and stigma, punishes behaviour that is not blameworthy and ignores the real challenges of HIV prevention in the Czech Republic.

They also published a second press release, entitled “Professional failure of public health officials” on February 10th that was strongly critical of the actions of Prague’s Public Health Authority, noting that they have greatly undermined trust in the confidentiality of the public health system which will likely lead to an increase in new HIV infections.

On February 12th, the head of Prague’s Public Health Authority, Ms. Zdenka Jagrova (pictured above), issued a statement in response, suggesting that the Authority is legally obliged to initiate such criminal complaints and that “it would be a professional failure if [we] did not do so…

[We] did not check sexual orientation of HIV-positive people who got infected with another contagious, sexually transmitted disease. It is not an attack on the gay community, but in 2014 no HIV-positive woman in Prague was diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease. A public health authority is obliged to protect the public health of the population and must act in the same manner as in case of other infectious diseases, for instance TB….This campaign aiming at questioning our practices is clearly intended to assert alleged rights of a minority at the expense of the rights of the majority, i.e. in particular the right to health, irrespective of who and how threatens the health. We consider attempts to create a privileged group that would be excluded from generally defined responsibilities very dangerous.”

A number of organisations representing communities of people living with and affected by HIV are now working together with UNAIDS to support the Czech AIDS Society, including the circulation of a Change.org petition.

It appears that none of the cases have yet been passed to the Public Prosecution office for formal prosecution. However, the investigation has set a dangerous precedent and we understand that public health departments in other regions of the Czech Republic are now considering following the Prague example.

US: Lambda Legal’s Fair Courts Project provides training for judges, court staff and attorneys nationwide on LGBT cultural competency and bias related to gender, sexuality and HIV

Through Lambda Legal’s Fair Courts Project, we provide training for judges, court staff and attorneys nationwide on LGBT cultural competency and bias related to gender and sexuality. These trainings are part of our work to increase access to justice; and we have evidence that they are making a difference in the lives of those working in the courts and those interfacing with the courts as defendants, plaintiffs, jurors and witnesses.

Here are 3 reasons we are training judges, court staff and attorneys nationwide:

1.      Cultural competency and anti-bias education affirms the dignity of LGBT court users and court users living with HIV. Most judges, attorneys and court staff want to treat every court user with respect and dignity, and all court officers have an ethical duty to treat everyone in the courtroom fairly and respectfully, but many lack the knowledge to do so. Others may treat court users with disrespect or discrimination because of deeply held, but often unconscious biases. Still others may feel justified in their explicit bias towards LGBT people or people living with HIV. Our trainings create a more fair, respectful and just court experience for litigants, jurors and witnesses by educating judges, attorneys and court staff on how to address individuals with correct names and pronouns, how to question, examine and interrupt some of their biases about gender and sexuality, and how to relate others’ identities and experiences which may be very different from their own to their common shared humanity.

2.      Cultural competency and anti-bias education improves the lives and work environments of judges, court staff and attorneys. When bias is reduced in the courthouse, working conditions are improved for judges, court staff and attorneys who are LGBT, intersex, or living with HIV. We also address intersecting forms of discrimination that affect people of color, indigenous people and people with disabilities. Our trainings can also impact participants’ lives on a personal level. After a recent training for criminal court judges and staff, an older participant told us that she had always felt as if she was an “alien” and that there was no one else in the world like her until the day of the training when she learned the word “intersex” and realized that word described her and others like her. She went on to say that this one training had changed her life and ended decades of shame, confusion and secrecy. Many other participants have said that our trainings helped them to understand and respectfully relate to LGBT family, friends and co-workers.

3.      Cultural competency and anti-bias education strengthens the judicial system. Lambda Legal’s 2015 survey of the experiences of LGBT people and people living with HIV in court, Protected and Served?, found that only 27% of transgender people and 33% of LGBT people of color who responded said they “trust the courts.” One likely reason for mistrust of the judicial system is the implicit and explicit bias of judges, attorneys and court staff that negatively impacts the experience of court users in myriad ways. Bias and lack of cultural competency (“cultural competency” is a term meaning reasonable familiarity with the experiences, language and norms of a cultural group) can lead to improper assumptions and stereotypes, disrespectful and discriminatory conduct. Our training programs educate court personnel about LGBT people and people living with HIV in order to reduce harmful bias, thereby increasing access to justice in the courts and improving public confidence because of more respectful, humane and fair treatment.

The Fair Courts Project is excited to organize trainings of trainers in cities around the U.S. in 2016 in order to replicate our judicial trainings in many more jurisdictions.

For more information on Lambda Legal’s Fair Courts Project please click here. To learn about your rights in court visit our new Know Your Rights in Court hub here. If you have experienced discrimination as a court user please contact our Help Desk at 866-542-8336.

US: Second HIV Is Not a Crime Conference, ‘a national training academy’ for HIV criminalisation advocates, announced for June 2016 (Press Release)

After a very successful inaugural HIV Is Not a Crime National Conference last year, the SERO Project and Positive Women’s Network-USA are pleased to announce that the planning process is underway for a second national conference to support repeal and modernization of laws criminalizing HIV non-disclosure, perceived or potential exposure and transmission, to be held in June 2016.

HIV is Not a Crime II, to be held in June 2016, will unite and train advocates living with HIV and allies from across the country on laws criminalizing people living with HIV and on strategies and best practices for repealing such laws. Skills-building training, 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.

For this training academy, organizers will also emphasize movement building with other decriminalization and criminal justice reform groups. “It’s time to look at the whole context of mass incarceration, racist policing practices, drug policy, sex work policies, and the ways that LGBT and immigrant folks are disproportionately vulnerable in criminalization proceedings, as we consider strategies for repeal and modernization,” says Naina Khanna, executive director of Positive Women’s Network – USA.

Advocates say last year’s conference invigorated on the ground rights-based advocacy led by communities living with and impacted by HIV. “Last year’s HIV is Not a Crime Conference was great because it brought together advocates and people working on changing HIV criminalization laws to brainstorm best practices for people to take home to implement a plan for their state. This was incredibly helpful for us in Tennessee, and really gave us the boost we needed to work on our plan to change the laws here,” states Larry Frampton of Tennessee AIDS Advocacy Network.

“The HIV Prevention Justice Alliance is thrilled to be part of this process again that prioritizes PLHIV, builds power, and ultimately pushes the momentum from the first HIV is Not a Crime conference and this past year in a concerted organizing effort to end these laws across the U.S. in 2016,” says Suraj Madoori, manager of the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance.

“I thought last year’s conference was one of the best discussions in HIV in a long time. It was very powerful to participate in a conference organized by people living with HIV and to hear about their personal experiences around disclosure, prosecution and criminalization,” commented Marsha Martin, Director of the Urban Coalition for HIV/AIDS Prevention Services (UCHAPS). “We have to take on criminalization if we are going to bring about an end to the epidemic. That’s why continuing conferences like this one is so important–and necessary.”

“HIV is Not a Crime II will provide an opportunity for people living with HIV and their closest allies to define their priorities and agenda, educate and mobilize each other and their communities, and further strengthen the community of PLHIV advocates. Michael Callen, one of the authors of the Denver Principles, used to say there was a ‘special magic’ when people with HIV worked together to organize and that is as true today as it was 30 years ago.” states Sean Strub, Executive Director of SERO Project.

Get involved in making HIV is Not a Crime a success!

The planning partners are currently seeking volunteers for five workgroups, as well as financial support for the conference. To read about and join a working group, click here.

Are you interested in providing financial support for this important event? Please contact Sean Strub, SERO Project or Naina Khanna at Positive Women’s Network – USA for more information.

Questions? Please contact Tami Haught, SERO Organizer and Training Coordinator.

UK: Law Commission considers HIV criminalisation in great depth, but recommends no change for HIV/STI prosecutions in England & Wales, pending a wider review

Following a scoping consultation which ran from autumn 2014 to spring 2015, the Law Commission (of England and Wales) has now published its report containing their final recommendations to the UK Government.

It recommends the adoption of a modified version of a 1998 draft Bill to replace the outdated Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

However, whereas the 1998 Bill only criminalised intentional disease transmission, their recommendation is to keep the existing law relating to HIV and other serious diseases ((based on Dica and Konzani and clarified through prosecutorial policy and guidelines) which criminalises reckless as well as intentional disease transmission, pending a wider review.

Both in the scoping consultation paper and in this report, we have considered the criminalisation of disease transmission at great length. Many consultees supported fundamental reform of the law in this area. However, we conclude that the issues were more complex than time or space allowed without delaying the main aim of reforming the law of offences against the person. For this reason, we suggest modifications to the draft Bill to preserve the present position pending a wider review involving more input from healthcare professionals and bodies.

The full report, (chapter six: ‘transmission of disease’ is excerpted in full below), includes a detailed discussion of their proposals and the responses of 35 concerned stakeholders (most of them experts in law, public health and human rights. The HIV Justice Network was one of them, and our opinions are quoted throughout.)

The entire report is of interest not just to those working on this issue in England & Wales, but globally. It rehearses, in great detail, nearly all of the arguments for and against HIV (and other STI) prosecutions, and finds that “there is a strong body of opinion, especially in the medical profession and groups concerned with HIV and sexually transmissible infections, that the transmission of these diseases should never be criminal unless done intentionally.”

The report helpfully summarises the five main arguments against overly broad HIV criminalisation:

(1) an offence of reckless transmission encourages people to choose not to be tested, so as not to have the awareness of risk that might constitute recklessness;

(2) it discourages openness with (and by) medical professionals, because they may have to give evidence against their patients;

(3) it encourages people to think that disclosure of HIV status is always a duty, and that if a potential partner has not mentioned his or her status then he or she is not infected;

(4) because of the difficulty of proving transmission, the existence of the offence leads to very wide-ranging and intrusive investigations affecting a great many people, out of all proportion to the small number who will be found deserving of prosecution; and

(5) the whole topic of HIV/AIDS is affected by an atmosphere of fear (often irrationally so), and there is still an undesirable stigma against people.

Nevertheless, although the report states that “it would be preferable to revert to the law as it stood in 1998” when prosecutions were not possible and to use the draft 1998 Bill as it stands (which would only criminalise the intentional transmisison of disease), it comes to a more conservative conclusion.

The discussion of this issue has almost exclusively concerned the transmission of disease by consensual sexual intercourse, and the transmission of HIV in particular. (Also, most of the evidence for the harmful effects of criminalisation is drawn from countries where there are specific offences concerned with HIV and STIs, and may not be relevant to the use of general offences of causing injury.) The same reasoning may well not apply to other diseases and other means of transmitting them, but the draft Bill excludes disease as a whole.

For these reasons, on the evidence we have we do not feel justified in recommending a change to the position in existing law, in which the reckless transmission of disease is in principle included in an offence of causing harm. If there is to be a change, this should follow a wider review which compares the position in different countries and gives full consideration to the transmission of diseases other than by sexual means.

Of note, and of global relevance, following a great deal of discussion (and a broad range of consultation responses) regarding whether not to create an HIV/STI-specific law and/or broaden the scope of the current law to include non-disclosure and/or potential or perceived exposure, the Law Commission is clear.

We do not recommend the creation of specific offences concerned with disease transmission, either in relation to disease in general or in relation to HIV and STIs in particular: this too would require a wider review of all the available evidence. Nor do we recommend an offence of putting a person in danger of contracting a disease, or an offence of failing to disclose an infection to a sexual partner.

Law Commission Scoping Report: TRANSMISSION OF DISEASE (November 2015)