The Anti-Rights Movement is Organised. Are We?

AIDS 2026, the biennial global conference on all things HIV, closed on July 31 after a week of presentations on scientific advances (including twice-yearly lenacapavir and long-acting cabotegravir plus rilpivirine; advances in cure and vaccine research, with reports of sustained remission in the “Kansas City Patient”) and ongoing funding crises and key populations under threat, with anti-LGBTQ legislation in Uganda, Ghana, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire.

During the week, I attended more than a dozen sessions. As always, the most important conversations took place not only in formal sessions, but in the Global Village, in corridors, at community events, and over coffee. By the end of the week, I realised they all revolved around the same question: How do we build a movement capable of confronting an increasingly organised anti-rights agenda?

The question first crystallised for me during Wednesday’s session, Law, Power and Access: Overcoming barriers to HIV services. During the discussion I asked how we can overcome what increasingly feels like a successful “divide and rule” strategy. Across the world, the forces seeking to roll back human rights appear remarkably coordinated. They target communities already facing marginalisation—including people living with HIV, LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants, sex workers, and people who use drugs—as they always have. Reproductive rights, civil society, and scientific evidence are under fire as well, not as separate issues, but as part of a broader political project.

Meanwhile, those of us working to defend rights too often continue to organise ourselves in silos.

The same theme emerged again later that day during a conversation between Georgetown University’s Matthew Kavanagh and Mariângela Simão, who begins her role next week as the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health. Simão spoke of the growing cohesion of anti-rights forces internationally, while Kavanagh posed what may be the defining question for the years ahead: what would it take to build an equally effective pro-rights force?

It struck me that this wasn’t simply another conference discussion; it was the thread connecting so many conversations throughout AIDS 2026.

The HIV movement knows better than most that progress has never come from science alone. Scientific breakthroughs have transformed HIV from a life-threatening diagnosis into a manageable condition and have given us extraordinary tools to prevent transmission. But while HIV itself may no longer be life-threatening for most people with access to treatment, the political environment has become increasingly rights-threatening. Evidence alone has never guaranteed equitable access, ended stigma or repealed punitive laws. Those achievements have always depended on organised communities, strategic advocacy, political leadership, and solidarity.

Throughout AIDS 2026 there were outstanding sessions on criminalisation, gender equality, community leadership, access to medicines, funding, and shrinking civic space. Each highlighted a different piece of the puzzle. Yet we still too often approach these as separate struggles, competing for scarce funding and political attention. Our opponents do not.

Anti-rights alliances reinforce each other

The anti-rights movement has spent decades building alliances across countries and political movements. It understands that attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality, migrant rights, civil society, and science reinforce one another. Divide and rule is effective precisely because those defending rights are so often divided.

Another session that stayed with me was No retreat, no surrender: The future of philanthropy in HIV. Richard Borain of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) argued that philanthropy’s greatest contribution is not simply funding projects but strengthening the “connective tissue” that brings together governments, communities, donors, and civil society around shared goals.

That phrase resonated with me. We have become very good at investing in programs, but less intentional about investing in the relationships, trust, and collaboration that allow organisations and movements to reinforce one another.

I was reminded of this again at the Robert Carr Fund’s celebration of 15 years of supporting global HIV and health movements. At a time when the Fund has faced an uncertain future following the withdrawal of support from both the United States and the Netherlands, there was welcome news: CIFF has joined as a new donor, while ViiV Healthcare announced a further year of support.

For more than a decade, the Robert Carr Fund has demonstrated a different model of philanthropy—trust-based, multi-year, flexible core funding combined with peer learning and movement building. The HIV Justice Global Consortium, which first united regional and global HIV criminalisation networks, was made possible through Robert Carr Fund support, and the HIV Justice Network remains proud to be one of its grantees.

Yet even within the Robert Carr Fund family there is greater potential to work across movements and constituencies. That is not a criticism of the Fund; rather, it reflects how deeply siloed our sector has become. If organisations already committed to rights-based approaches can collaborate more intentionally, imagine what could be achieved with greater investment in those connections.

The anti-rights movement invests in networks, long-term relationships, shared strategies, and patient coalition-building. We need to become equally serious about investing in the infrastructure of solidarity. AIDS 2026 made clear: our greatest challenge is no longer simply defending individual rights. It is building a movement capable of defending them together.

Edwin J Bernard is Executive Director of the HIV Justice Network and a global advocate for human rights and HIV justice.

Email:edwin@hivjustice.net

Image: Rogério von Krüger / IAS

US: Pennsylvania’s HIV Decriminalization Law comes under fire from activists

“Profound Disappointment” at Pennsylvania’s Updated HIV Crime Law

UPDATE: Pennsylvania just passed a law to decriminalize being HIV positive, but AIDS activists say it harms another marginalized group.

UPDATE: As we reported earlier this week, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed Senate Bill 45 (SB45) into law on July 20. The legislation eliminates harsher legal penalties for people simply because they are HIV positive, referred to as HIV criminalization. The law was promoted as a victory for HIV activists.

But now several HIV organizations are speaking out against aspects of the law. They point out that it targets sex workers. What’s more, the HIV advocacy groups clarify that they were not consulted in drafting the Pennsylvania legislation.

A Facebook post by HIV activist Waheeda Shabazz-El and several advocacy groups begins by stating:

The Pennsylvania HIV Justice Alliance goes on record expressing our profound disappointment with the passage of PA Senate Bill 45.

While the legislation modernizes portions of Pennsylvania’s criminal code related to HIV, it does so at the dangerously unacceptable expense of sex workers, who will face increased criminalization and harm under this law. Progress for one marginalized community should never come at the cost of another. Our celebration is tempered by the reality that this progress came at a devastating cost.

You can read the entire statement on Facebook:

In addition, an open letter was penned by CHLP (The Center for HIV Law and Policy), Positive Women’s Network–USA and the Sero Project. It reads in part:

SB45 was ultimately an overhaul of the Pennsylvania criminal code pertaining to “prostitution.” It transfers most “prostitution” related offenses out of the “public indecency” section and into the “human trafficking” section of the criminal code. It also reduces some criminal charges while increasing others.…

SB45 achieves important, positive outcomes. SB45 removed the HIV felony sentence for sex workers living with HIV. Previously, if a person living with HIV was convicted of “prostitution,” their penalty was upgraded to a felony simply because of their HIV status. It was HIV discrimination written into the Pennsylvania criminal code, and we are thrilled it was removed.…

SB45 shifts prosecutorial authority and conflates sex work and trafficking.…

SB45 increases penalties for “promoters” or “patronizers,” which can harm trafficking survivors or people in the sex trades.…

Our organizations have been involved in coalitions fighting HIV criminalization in Pennsylvania for years and we support, alongside others, the standalone HIV decriminalization bills, HB632 and SB647. SB45, however, is a substantially different piece of legislation. We were not included in the legislative process nor did any of our organizations endorse SB45. Some of our organizations have, nevertheless, been associated with the bill because of the HIV decriminalization components. SB45 has also been touted as a win for the HIV decriminalization movement in the Commonwealth and in the media. For all of these reasons, it is important to make our stance public: We believe a more nuanced perspective is needed.

To reiterate and celebrate: this bill achieves hard fought wins. People living with HIV and HIV advocates have worked for years to introduce legislation that would eliminate the HIV sentence enhancement from the Pennsylvania criminal code. In the past, we have worked alongside powerful HIV decriminalization coalitions and organizations in Pennsylvania, including the Pennsylvania HIV Justice Alliance, the AIDS Law Project, Positive Women’s Network-PA, Girl U Can Do It Inc., Philadelphia FIGHT and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. We celebrate this legacy and work.

We remain deeply concerned, however, about how SB45 will make it harder for sex workers and trafficking survivors to survive by further criminalizing their networks of support. SB45 adopts key features associated with the End Demand model of sex work criminalization. This approach focuses on criminalizing the purchase and promotion of sex work – the “demand” side of the sex trades. It frames all people in the sex trades as “victims”, denies bodily autonomy, and ignores that people can consensually choose to engage in sex work. Ultimately, it aims to end sex work itself by policing and criminalizing people who support or pay sex workers and offers no economic alternative for sex workers. Research shows, however, criminalizing demand does not decrease demand. Instead it forces sex workers further into unsafe conditions, increasing sexual violence, exploitation, and decreasing access to support services.

Below is our original July 30 article about Governor Josh Shapiro’s signing Senate Bill 45 into law and eliminating harsher penalties for people living with HIV:

On July 20, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed Senate Bill 45 (SB45) into law, eliminating felony charges for people arrested for prostitution while being HIV positive and removing HIV from the criminal code in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

 

Before the signing of SB45, when charged with a crime in Pennsylvania, people living with HIV—especially sex workers—could face harsher penalties because of their HIV status. In Pennsylvania, prostitution is classified as a misdemeanor, but people living with HIV could be charged with a felony and face up to seven years in prison, even when HIV transmission is not possible.

“Living with HIV is not a crime, and HIV criminalization laws have been proven, time and again, not to work for the benefit of the community or in the service of justice,” said Kathleen A. Brady, MD, director of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s Division of HIV Health, in a press release. “In fact, such laws prevent public health agencies from responding effectively to the HIV epidemic by perpetuating stigma, racism, xenophobia, social and economic injustice—while reducing willingness for people to participate in HIV prevention, testing and care.”

HIV criminalization refers to the use of unfair laws to target people who have HIV—notably, African-Americans, Latinos, LGBTQ people, and women—and to punish them because of their HIV status, not because of their actions. Under outdated laws, people with HIV can be sentenced to prison in cases where HIV was not transmitted and their only crime was allegedly not disclosing their status.

It should be noted that repealing HIV laws does not mean that people can’t be held accountable for intentionally transmitting HIV. Other laws may apply to the situation.

Many HIV laws were passed in the early days of the epidemic, when fear and lack of scientific knowledge about the virus reigned. Fast-forward four decades, and today we know, for instance, that people with HIV who take their meds and maintain an undetectable viral load do not transmit the virus sexually, a fact referred to as Undetectable Equals Untransmittable, or U=U.

In recent years, New Jersey modernized its HIV crime laws. And in 2021, Illinois became the second state to completely repeal its discriminatory HIV crime laws (California did so in 2017). Lawmakers in Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada and Virginia have also updated similar laws. For related articles, see “Breaking HIV Laws: A Roundup of Efforts to Decriminalize HIV,” and “HIV Is Not a Crime Awareness Day 2026.”

“Criminal penalties for living with HIV have never served an effective law enforcement purpose,” Ronda Goldfein, executive director of the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, told Pennsylvania Capital Star. “No credible research has ever linked penalties with reduction in HIV transmission.”

“The signing of SB 45 is an important step toward ending outdated policies rooted in fear and stigma rather than science,” said attorney Tito Valdes, director of LGBTQ+ Affairs for the City of Philadelphia, in a press release. “No one should face harsher treatment under the law because they are living with HIV. We applaud Governor Shapiro and the advocates who worked for years to make this change possible and remain committed to advancing policies that promote dignity, equity and public health for all Philadelphians.”

The next phase of HIV decriminalisation: closing the translation gap

Last month, I wrote about the limits of relying on “U=U” as the primary message for HIV decriminalisation. In doing so, I also reflected on how “U=U” has transformed the lives of people living with HIV. Grounded in compelling science and amplified through years of advocacy, it has become a powerful message of hope, dignity and self-acceptance. Its success also demonstrates something broader: science changes lives only when it is translated into policy, practice and public understanding.

HIV criminalisation reminds us that translating science into justice remains unfinished. Forty-five years into the HIV epidemic, advances in HIV science have fundamentally transformed our understanding of transmission, treatment and prognosis. Yet people living with HIV continue to be investigated, prosecuted and imprisoned based on outdated assumptions about risk and harm.

This contradiction formed the basis of my presentation yesterday at AIDS 2026, the 26th International AIDS Conference in Rio de Janeiro. The question I posed was simple: Why does HIV criminalisation persist despite contemporary HIV science? The answer, I argued, lies in what I call the translation gap: the persistent failure – or refusal – to translate contemporary HIV science into law, policy and practice.
 
Scientific evidence does not change society on its own. It changes society only when institutions choose to translate it into legal standards, public policy and everyday practice. That process is never purely technical; it is shaped by politics, power and values.
 
The evidence for this is clear. Over the past decade, 50 jurisdictions across 28 countries have moved towards HIV decriminalisation through legislative reform, constitutional and supreme court decisions, and updated prosecutorial guidance. Together, these reforms demonstrate that when contemporary HIV science is effectively translated into law and policy, legal systems do change.
 
But progress has been highly uneven. In some parts of the world, reform has accelerated. In others, it has barely begun. At the same time, the HIV Justice Network’s Global HIV Criminalisation Database continues to document new prosecutions around the world, suggesting that the pace of reform has slowed.
 
The challenge facing the HIV justice movement has therefore evolved. In many countries, the problem is no longer simply HIV-specific criminal laws. Increasingly, criminalisation is sustained through the interaction of criminal law, public health systems, policing, politics, and stigma.
 
Our recent research illustrates this shift. In Uzbekistan, for example, HIV criminalisation often begins long before anyone enters a courtroom. Mandatory registration, public health surveillance, referrals from healthcare providers to law enforcement, and the use of medical records as evidence all demonstrate how healthcare systems themselves can become part of the machinery of criminalisation.
 
Recognising this changes what justice requires. Contemporary HIV science requires greater legal precision. Non-disclosure is not the same as intent. Perceived risk is not the same as actual risk. An allegation of HIV transmission is not proof of who transmitted HIV, and establishing the direction of transmission often requires scientific evidence that courts fail to consider or misinterpret. Even where harm has occurred, criminal punishment is not automatically the appropriate response.
 
But science alone cannot produce these changes. Translation depends on institutions that value evidence, independent courts, governments willing to act and civil society organisations able to advocate for reform. Increasingly, these conditions are being undermined by broader attacks on public health, human rights and democratic institutions.
 
This is where structural violence helps explain why the translation gap persists. Scientific evidence alone is insufficient because law does not operate independently of politics or power. Organised anti-rights movements have become increasingly influential in reshaping the political environments in which legal reform takes place. As civic space shrinks and scientific expertise is challenged, translating contemporary HIV science into law becomes increasingly difficult.
 
Yet communities continue to create pathways to justice. Even where legal reform is blocked, advocates document prosecutions, provide legal literacy and paralegal support, engage international human rights mechanisms, influence global health policy and support those living under punitive laws. Communities do not simply wait for the law to change; they continue creating opportunities for justice despite the obstacles they face.
 
That is why the next phase of HIV decriminalisation is not simply about changing more laws. It is about closing the translation gap. Yesterday we launched the Guidance on Good Practices in HIV Decriminalisation. The Guidance brings together contemporary HIV science, legal expertise and the experience of communities around the world to support countries wherever they are on the journey towards HIV decriminalisation.
 
Closing the translation gap requires more than scientific evidence. It requires practical tools that help governments, courts, advocates and communities translate that evidence into action. The Guidance is designed to be one of those tools.
 
The success of “U=U” demonstrates what is possible when science is translated into practice. The persistence of HIV criminalisation demonstrates what happens when the translation of science into justice is resisted. Closing that translation gap is now the central challenge for HIV justice. The new Guidance is intended to help meet that challenge by helping ensure that science is translated into justice.

New global Guidance on HIV decriminalisation launched at AIDS 2026

Community-led resource distils more than 30 years of global experience into practical action for advocates, policymakers and justice systems

Download the Guidance here

The HIV Justice Network (HJN), on behalf of HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE (HJWW) and the Global Partnership for Action to Eliminate All Forms of HIV-related Stigma and Discrimination, today launched the Guidance on Good Practices in HIV Decriminalisation during a packed Global Village session at the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) in Rio de Janeiro.

Supported by UNAIDS, the Guidance is the first practical global resource to bring together more than three decades of community leadership, human rights standards, contemporary HIV science and real-world experience of advocacy, litigation and law reform into a single framework for action.

Opening the session, HJN Executive Director Edwin J Bernard described the Guidance as “a practical resource that we hope communities, advocates, lawyers, judges, policymakers and public health officials will actually use.”

Rather than presenting the publication chapter by chapter, the session demonstrated how it can support change in diverse legal and political contexts around the world.

Speakers included Janet Butler McPhee (HIV Legal Network), Svitlana Moroz (Eurasian Women’s Network on AIDS), Immaculate Owomugisha Bazare (Centre for Women Justice Uganda) and Sofía Várguez Villanueva (HIV Justice Network), who shared examples of community advocacy, legal reform, strategic litigation, work in restrictive legal environments and practical advocacy tools.

Although more than 80 countries continue to maintain HIV-specific criminal laws and prosecutions also occur under general criminal laws, the Guidance reflects growing evidence that communities can successfully challenge punitive approaches. Around the world, advocates have helped repeal or modernise laws, influenced courts and prosecutors to apply contemporary HIV science, and promoted rights-based public health responses.

“The HIV justice movement has reached an important milestone,” Bernard said. “For the first time, we’ve accumulated enough experience from around the world to identify what good practice actually looks like. This Guidance brings together what communities have learned over decades, so others don’t have to start from scratch.”

Designed for advocates, lawyers, judges, prosecutors, policymakers, public health officials and community organisations, the Guidance recognises that every country starts from a different place and that reform is rarely linear. Rather than prescribing a single model, it offers practical approaches that can be adapted to different legal, political and cultural contexts.

 

Mexico: Campaigners press Baja California to vote on HIV law reform

LGBTQ+ collective seeks progress in reform to eliminate crime that criminalizes people with HIV in Baja California

The group called on the State Congress’s Diversity Committee to put the bill seeking to repeal the offence of “risk of transmission” to a vote.

Mexicali, B.C.–The reform to remove the offence of “risk of transmission” from the Baja California Penal Code has been stalled for almost a year, denounced the Arcoíris Collective, which is calling on the State Congress to put it to a vote, arguing that the current legislation criminalises people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Javier Russell, leader of the Colectivo Arcoíris, explained that the amendment was tabled last year and has already gone through the relevant legislative process; however, he stated that it only remains to be brought before the plenary session for a vote, and therefore called on members of the State Congress to stop keeping it “on ice”.

“It is essentially a request to the Baja California Congress’s Diversity Committee to put the bill repealing the ‘risk of contagion’ provision to a vote; this bill was tabled last year and has already gone through the legislative process; all that remains is for it to be voted on,” said the collective’s leader.

Russell pointed out that Article 160 of the State’s Criminal Code penalises people with infectious diseases, a provision which, he asserted, has been rendered obsolete by scientific advances and constitutes a form of discrimination against those living with HIV.

The group’s leader indicated that treatments are now available that enable a person with HIV to achieve an undetectable viral load, thereby reducing the risk of transmission; he therefore considered that maintaining such regulations contradicts scientific knowledge and human rights.

Similarly, Russell recalled that Mexico has made international commitments under the 2030 Agenda to achieve the 95-95-95 target, which aims for 95 per cent of people living with HIV to know their status, for 95 per cent of them to receive treatment, and for 95 per cent of those on treatment to achieve an undetectable viral load.

The activist pointed out that retaining the current laws criminalises people on the basis of their health status and runs counter to these objectives and to the national policies promoted to combat stigma and discrimination.

Finally, Javier Russell reiterated his call to the members of the Diversity Commission to ensure that the bill is debated and put to a vote, given that its approval would bring state legislation into line with scientific advances and the country’s commitments regarding health and human rights.

New data presented at AIDS 2026 reveal renewed rise in HIV criminalisation amid global anti-rights backlash

HIV criminalisation is increasing again after several years of decline, with prosecutions continuing to ignore established scientific evidence and disproportionately targeting already marginalised communities, according to new research presented today at the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026).

The analysis examined 115 database entries covering 150 reported HIV criminalisation cases documented between 1 June 2025 and 15 June 2026. We conclude that these findings reflect not only failures to apply contemporary HIV science but also a broader global resurgence of anti-science and anti-rights politics.

The data show a clear upward trend in reported cases since 2022. By mid-June 2026, 93 reported cases had already been documented, exceeding the total annual cases recorded during both 2023 (70) and 2024 (86), although still below pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.

“Our findings suggest that science, rights and HIV are increasingly being put on trial together,” said Edwin J Bernard, Executive Director of the HIV Justice Network, who presented the findings on behalf of his co-authors, Sylvie Beaumont, Alison Symington and Sofia Varguez. “When courts continue to prosecute people for acts that science tells us pose no possibility of HIV transmission, this is no longer a scientific problem. It is a political and legal one.”

Uzbekistan and Senegal dominate reported cases

Uzbekistan accounted for 60 of the reported cases during the study period – around 40% of all documented cases. Many involved allegations of HIV “exposure” without evidence of transmission, prosecutions involving intimate partners, and cases against women whose partners were aware of their HIV status or who were receiving effective treatment.

We also highlight a major escalation in Senegal, where a broader crackdown on LGBTIQ+ communities led to more than 200 arrests. By mid-June at least 39 people were prosecuted in relation to their HIV status, often alongside charges linked to same-sex conduct. (See this report for the most recent numbers, which increase on a daily basis.)  The poster documents reports of forced HIV testing, public disclosure of HIV status, and the use of condom possession as evidence of criminal conduct.

Other countries with multiple reported cases included the United States (19), the Russian Federation (eight), France (three), the United Kingdom (three), Kazakhstan (two) and Zimbabwe (two).

Courts continue to disregard HIV science

We found that prosecutions continue to involve conduct for which there is either no possibility or only negligible possibility of HIV transmission, despite overwhelming scientific consensus.

Cases involving people with sustained undetectable viral loads continued to be prosecuted, with courts often failing even to consider viral load evidence. Prosecutions for spitting also persisted in both North America and Europe, despite scientific consensus that HIV cannot be transmitted this way.

These prosecutions stand in stark contrast to the 2018 Expert Consensus Statement on the Science of HIV in the Context of Criminal Law, which concluded that effective HIV treatment eliminates the possibility of sexual HIV transmission, condoms are highly effective prevention tools, and acts such as spitting cannot transmit HIV.

Criminalisation increasingly shifts into general criminal law

We also identified an important legal trend: HIV criminalisation increasingly continues through general criminal laws even where HIV-specific criminal statutes have been repealed or modernised.

Our data show that prosecutions increasingly rely on offences such as assault, sexual offences, public health legislation and child protection laws, suggesting that reforming HIV-specific statutes alone is insufficient unless broader criminal law and prosecutorial practices also change.

Structural inequalities reinforced

We argue that HIV criminalisation functions as a mechanism reinforcing wider systems of social control rather than protecting public health.

Women, migrants, sex workers, LGBTIQ+ people and economically marginalised communities continued to experience disproportionate enforcement. Many prosecutions occurred despite evidence of partner awareness, coercive circumstances or negligible possibility of transmission.

We conclude that HIV criminalisation increasingly operates within political environments characterised by hostility towards science, human rights, gender equality and community-led public health responses.

Positive developments offer a roadmap

Despite these concerns, we also identified encouraging developments.

Courts in Canada, France, Italy, Türkiye and the United States increasingly engaged with contemporary HIV science, while acquittals, successful legal challenges and improved judicial reasoning demonstrated that evidence-based approaches remain possible.

These examples are reflected in the newly launched Guidance on Good Practices in HIV Decriminalisation, developed by the HIV Justice Network with support from UNAIDS, which recommends:

  • recognising contemporary HIV science in criminal proceedings;
  • limiting prosecutorial discretion and overcharging;
  • requiring proof of actual intent and significant harm;
  • prohibiting criminalisation related to pregnancy, infant feeding and vertical transmission; and
  • strengthening community-led monitoring, legal support and accountability.

“The evidence increasingly shows what works,” Bernard said. “Where legal systems engage with science, require evidence of genuine harm and respect human rights, prosecutions decline and justice improves. But sustainable change also requires confronting the stigma and political narratives that continue to portray people living with HIV as dangerous.”

Download E J Bernard et al. WEPEF620, Science, rights, and HIV on trial: Is rising HIV criminalisation part of a global anti-science / anti-rights resurgence?

New research identifies how healthcare systems become gateways to HIV criminalisation

Healthcare should be a place of care, trust and confidentiality. But our new research presented at the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) shows that, in many countries, routine interactions with healthcare providers and public health systems instead become the starting point for criminal investigations against people living with HIV.

Our poster, From the doctor’s office to the jail cell: System reforms to protect care, confidentiality, and prevention in the context of HIV criminalisation, examines how healthcare systems contribute to HIV criminalisation and identifies practical reforms that can better protect both public health and human rights.

Most discussions about HIV criminalisation focus on criminal laws themselves. We wanted to understand something that receives far less attention: how cases reach police and prosecutors in the first place.

Drawing on documented cases from our Global HIV Criminalisation Database, alongside legal and clinical guidance from multiple countries, we identified three recurring pathways through which healthcare systems contribute to criminalisation.

The first involves state-driven referral systems. In countries with centralised HIV registration, mandatory legal warnings, and ongoing monitoring of people living with HIV, health authorities can initiate criminal investigations without any complaint from a partner. Uzbekistan provides perhaps the clearest example, where HIV diagnosis, registration and routine public health monitoring create a direct pathway to prosecution.

The second pathway is discretionary reporting by healthcare workers or institutions. Our analysis documents cases where clinicians or health authorities contacted police based on misunderstanding of the law, perceived ethical obligations or concerns about risk, even where no legal duty existed. Examples include Argentina, where a clinic reported a mother living with HIV to family court for breastfeeding, and Iowa in the United States, where a hospital’s report to police led to a criminal prosecution despite the complainant later saying they had not intended to pursue charges.

The third pathway is compelled disclosure of confidential medical information. Even where healthcare providers do not initiate investigations, criminal procedures often require disclosure of medical records, compel clinicians to testify, or force HIV testing and disclosure. In one Australian case, police warrants resulted not only in the defendant’s records being released, but also the confidential records of sixteen other people living with HIV.

These pathways place healthcare professionals in an impossible position. They are expected to provide confidential, patient-centred care while simultaneously becoming part of systems of surveillance and punishment. This undermines trust in healthcare, discourages HIV testing and treatment, and ultimately weakens public health.

Importantly, our research also highlights examples of good practice. The British HIV Association’s position statement recommends strict confidentiality protections, multidisciplinary review before any disclosure without consent, and explicitly recognises that people with an undetectable viral load pose zero risk of sexual HIV transmission. We also highlight the Beyond Do No Harm initiative developed by Interrupting Criminalization, which provides healthcare workers with practical tools to minimise unnecessary criminalisation while meeting legitimate legal obligations.

Our research also reinforce the recommendations of the HIV BASIC (Building Access to Services through Improved Care) consensus statement, which calls on healthcare professionals to avoid practices that contribute to HIV criminalisation and instead promote confidential, rights-based care. 

“Our findings show that ending HIV criminalisation isn’t only about changing criminal laws,” said Sylvie Beaumont, lead author of the study. “We also need reforms that protect medical confidentiality, support healthcare workers, and clearly separate healthcare from law enforcement.”

Download WEPEF619 From the doctor’s office to the jail cell: system reforms to protect care, confidentiality, and prevention in the context of. HIV criminalisation.

US: Governor signs bill ending HIV-specific criminal penalties in Pennsylvania

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH) applauds the passage of Senate Bill (S.B.) 45, which passed in the Pennsylvania State Assembly last week and was signed into law by Governor Josh Shapiro yesterday. The bill removes HIV from the criminal code in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

For decades, people living with HIV, when charged with a crime in Pennsylvania, have faced potentially harsher penalties because of their HIV status. This disparity has particularly affected sex workers. While prostitution is normally classified as a misdemeanor, offenders who are living with HIV can be charged with a felony, even in situations in which HIV transmission is not possible.

“Living with HIV is not a crime, and HIV criminalization laws have been proven, time and again, not to work for the benefit of the community or in the service of justice,” said Dr. Kathleen A. Brady, Director of PDPH’s Division of HIV Health. “In fact, such laws prevent public health agencies from responding effectively to the HIV epidemic by perpetuating stigma, racism, xenophobia, social and economic injustice — while reducing willingness for people to participate in HIV prevention, testing, and care.”

“The signing of SB 45 is an important step toward ending outdated policies rooted in fear and stigma rather than science,” said Tito Valdes, Esq., Director of LGBTQ+ Affairs. “No one should face harsher treatment under the law because they are living with HIV. We applaud Governor Shapiro and the advocates who worked for years to make this change possible, and remain committed to advancing policies that promote dignity, equity, and public health for all Philadelphians.”

For HIV-related services within the city of Philadelphia, please visit PDPH’s HIV Resource Finder. For access to services and information on all of the Health Department’s efforts to end the HIV epidemic, visit Philly Keep on Loving.

HIV Justice Network at AIDS 2026: new research, practical tools and global advocacy for HIV justice

The HIV Justice Network (HJN) team will be participating in the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where we will showcase new research, launch an important new global resource, facilitate community dialogue, and connect with partners from around the world.

Throughout the conference, visit us in the Global Village to explore our work, meet the team, and discover practical tools supporting HIV justice.

Visit the HIV Justice Network booth

Global Village | Monday 27 – Thursday 30 July

Our interactive booth will feature:

  • the Global HIV Criminalisation Database
  • the HIV Justice Academy
  • Positive Destinations, our platform addressing HIV-related travel and migration restrictions
  • practical tools and resources to support advocacy, legal reform and community action against HIV criminalisation

Meet members of the HIV Justice Network team, learn about our latest projects, and discover how you can contribute to global efforts to end HIV criminalisation and HIV-related travel restrictions.

Whether you are an activist, researcher, lawyer, healthcare provider, policymaker or funder, we would love to meet you and discuss opportunities for collaboration.

Launching the Guidance on Good Practices in HIV Decriminalisation

Thursday 30 July | 10:45–11:45 | Global Village

One of the highlights of our week will be the official launch of the Guidance on Good Practices in HIV Decriminalisation, developed by HJN on behalf of HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE and the Global Partnership for Action to Eliminate All Forms of HIV-Related Stigma and Discrimination, with support from UNAIDS.

This practical session will introduce advocacy resources, legal literacy tools and community-led strategies that can help challenge HIV criminalisation around the world.

Speakers include Edwin Bernard, Janet Butler McPhee, Isis Tapia, Svitlana Moroz, Sofía Várguez and Immaculate Owomugisha Bazare.

HJN represented in AIDS 2026 plenary

Thursday 30 July | Morning plenary

HIV Justice Network is also proud to see Immaculate Owomugisha Bazare, a member of our Supervisory Board and Executive Director of the Centre for Women Justice Uganda, featured in one of AIDS 2026’s flagship plenary sessions.

Immaculate will speak on “Justice, rights and HIV: Building resilient legal frameworks”, bringing her expertise as a lawyer, advocate and leader in advancing HIV justice and gender equality. Her participation highlights the growing recognition that ending HIV criminalisation and other punitive laws is essential to an effective, rights-based HIV response.

Breastfeeding is not a crime!

Wednesday 29 July | 16:30–18:00 | Global Village

HJN’s Alison Symington will lead an interactive workshop, in partnership with ICW Global, exploring criminalisation and other punitive responses to women living with HIV who breastfeed.

The workshop will bring together advocates, researchers and clinicians to contribute to a growing global consensus supporting rights-based, evidence-informed approaches grounded in bodily autonomy and informed choice.

Presenting new research

HJN team members will present four abstracts during AIDS 2026.

Oral presentation

Thursday 30 July | 16:30–17:30 | Room 203

Edwin Bernard
HIV criminalisation as structural violence: science, geopolitics and community-led pathways to justice

Drawing on new global data, this presentation argues that HIV criminalisation persists because of structural violence embedded within legal, political and funding systems. It explores how community-led advocacy is helping to close the gap between science and the law.

Poster presentations

Wednesday 29 July | 12:15–13:15

  • Sylvie Beaumont – From the doctor’s office to the jail cell: system reforms to protect care, confidentiality and prevention in the context of HIV criminalisation.
  • Edwin Bernard – Science, rights, and HIV on trial: is rising HIV criminalisation part of a global anti-science/anti-rights resurgence?

Thursday 30 July | 12:00–13:00

  • Sofía Várguez – Positive destinations or persistent barriers? Rethinking HIV-related travel restrictions.

Sofía’s poster has been selected for the Track F Featured Poster Walk, where invited presenters will give short presentations and discuss their work with conference delegates.

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We’ll be sharing highlights, photos, videos and key messages throughout the conference across our website and social media channels.

Whether you’re attending AIDS 2026 in person or following from elsewhere, we hope you’ll join us as we continue working towards a world where HIV criminalisation is consigned to history.

US: Pennsylvania approves bill to end HIV sentencing enhancement

Pennsylvania House unanimously passes bill ending HIV-specific criminal penalty enhancement

The Pennsylvania House voted unanimously to approve Senate Bill 45 on July 12, sending legislation that would remove an HIV-specific criminal sentencing enhancement from state law to Governor Josh Shapiro’s desk.

The bill eliminates a provision that allows people living with HIV to face more severe criminal penalties based solely on their HIV status, a policy that LGBTQ+ advocates and public health experts have long argued is outdated and unsupported by modern medical science.

Following the vote, the Pennsylvania LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus praised the legislation, calling it “an important step toward ending the criminalization of HIV status in Pennsylvania.”

The caucus also thanked Rep. Ben Waxman, who sponsored companion legislation in the House to advance the reform.

Under current Pennsylvania law, a person living with HIV can receive enhanced criminal penalties in certain cases regardless of whether HIV transmission was possible. One frequently cited example involves prostitution offenses, which are generally misdemeanors but can be elevated to felonies for someone living with HIV, even in situations involving no physical contact or conduct incapable of transmitting the virus.

Supporters of Senate Bill 45 argue those provisions reflect outdated understandings of HIV rather than current medical evidence.

Advances in HIV treatment have transformed the virus from a fatal diagnosis into a manageable chronic condition for most people with access to care. Antiretroviral therapy allows many people living with HIV to achieve an undetectable viral load, preventing sexual transmission of the virus while enabling them to live long, healthy lives.

The Equality Caucus said removing HIV-specific sentencing enhancements better aligns Pennsylvania law with contemporary science while helping reduce stigma surrounding people living with HIV.

“Senate Bill 45 brings Pennsylvania law into closer alignment with current science, reduces stigma, and creates a legal framework that can continue to evolve alongside future advances in HIV research and care,” the caucus said in a statement.

With final legislative approval complete, Senate Bill 45 now awaits Governor Josh Shapiro’s signature. If signed into law, Pennsylvania would join a growing number of states that have modernized or repealed HIV-specific criminal statutes in response to advances in HIV prevention, treatment, and scientific understanding.