GNP+ and the HIV Justice Network release ‘Advancing HIV Justice: a progress report of achievements and challenges in global advocacy against HIV criminalisation’

A new report released today by the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) and the HIV Justice Network highlights the tireless work of advocates around the world challenging inappropriate criminal laws and prosecutions for HIV non-disclosure, potential or perceived exposure and transmission.

Advancing HIV Justice shows that advocates around the working to repeal, modernise or otherwise limit laws and policies that inappropriately regulate and punish people living with HIV have achieved considerable success. This is especially the case when policymakers or criminal justice system actors are open to learning more about scientific and medical advances in HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, and involve civil society – led by people living with HIV – to ensure that critical criminal law and human rights principles are followed.

“That is why we welcome the new, detailed guidance on limiting overly broad HIV criminalisation that was released last week by UNAIDS,” says Kevin Moody, International Coordinator and CEO of GNP+. “The guidance will help to continue advancing HIV justice, serving as a powerful new tool for people living with HIV, and those advocating on our behalf, in our work with policymakers and criminal justice system actors.”

Writing in the foreword, Susan Timberlake, Chief, Human Rights and Law Division, UNAIDS Secretariat, notes that Advancing HIV Justice “powerfully demonstrates that civil society advocacy on this issue is not only alive – it goes from strength to strength.”

In the 18-month period covered by the report (September 2011 to March 2013), significant advances were made in terms of:

building the global evidence base in order to better understand the ‘who, what, where, when and why’ of laws and prosecutions around the world;
generating persuasive social science that shows exactly why overly broad HIV criminalisation does more harm than good, often achieving exactly the opposite of what law- and policymakers intend in terms of public health and human rights;
challenging inappropriate or overly broad new laws in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States;
advocating for law reform in Europe and the United States, including successful repeal in Denmark and modernisation of one of Switzerland’s two laws used to prosecute potential or perceived HIV exposure; and
addressing legal processes and enforcement, including the creation of prosecutorial guidelines in Scotland.

However, the report also highlights that the road to law and policy reform is not always straightforward or easy, due not only to complex intersections of laws, policies and practices, but also because of each country’s unique social, epidemiological and cultural contexts.

“Despite the many incremental successes of the past 18 months, more work and more funding is required to strengthen advocacy capacity,” says the HIV Justice Network’s co-ordinator, Edwin J Bernard, who co-authored the report with Sally Cameron. “HIV criminalisation is a complex issue. It entails a detailed understanding of diverse aspects of the criminal justice system; collection and analysis of evidence of the scope and impact of prosecutions across local and national boundaries; articulation and argument about complex moral and ethical issues of trust, blame and responsibility; and inclusion of HIV prevention and human rights priorities. Development of strategies against HIV criminalisation relevant to each individual jurisdiction requires time, effort, and the involvement of multidisciplinary experts.”

Advancing HIV Justice: A progress report of achievements and challenges in global advocacy against HIV criminalisation is available as a 52 page pdf that can be read or downloaded at: http://www.advancing.hivjustice.net

UNAIDS launches first-ever Judicial Handbook on HIV, Human Rights and the Law: Interview with UNDP's Mandeep Dhaliwal

The meeting also looked at specific actions that can be taken by Judges, to create a more supportive environment for people with HIV and key populations that are at-risk. UNAIDS also launched the first-ever Judicial Handbook on HIV, Human Rights and the Law at the meeting.

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UNDP releases report highlighting experiences and lessons learned from national HIV laws in Asia and the Pacific

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Positive Women: Exposing Injustice

(45 min, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Canada, 2012)

Positive Women: Exposing Injustice is a 45-minute documentary film that tells the personal stories of four women living with HIV in Canada — a Quebecker who was charged for not telling her partner that she had HIV at the beginning of an ultimately abusive relationship, a young woman who chose not to pursue charges against the man who infected her, an Aboriginal woman who has personally faced extreme stigma and threats, and a Latina woman who describes the challenges of disclosure and intimate relationships for women living with HIV. Their stories are real, raw and from the heart, and tell the truth about what it’s like to live in a society that all-too-often criminalizes intimate behaviour between consenting adults and discriminates against those living with HIV. Legal experts, doctors, counsellors and support workers also lend their voices to challenge current Canadian laws that are letting down the very women they are meant to protect.

Produced and Directed by Alison Duke
Directors of Cinematography: Kim Derko and Robin Bain
Camera: Sean Black and Richard Chong
Composer and Sound Mixing: Derek Brin
Editor: Eugene Weis
Co-producers: Janet Butler-Mcphee, Cécile Kazatchkine and Alison Symington
Executive Producer: Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network

Canada: New guide offers practical advice to HIV nurses and clarifies professional obligations regarding HIV and the criminal law

A new guide which aims to address some of the realities and complexities faced by nurses and others who provide care to people living with HIV in Canada, is now available.

Covering everything from record keeping, confidentiality, viral load and safer sex to search warrants, subpoenas and testifying in court, it offers practical advice to HIV nurses and helps clarify their professional obligations regarding isues around HIV (non)disclosure and the criminal law.

Listen to lead author Marilou Gagnon, who gave an interview to CBC radio about the reasons for the guidance.

Developed by the Canadian Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (CANAC) in partnership with CATIE (Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange), it was written in February 2013, four months after the release of the Supreme Court of Canada decisions in the cases of R. v. Mabior and R. v. D.C.

The guide is an extremely important resource at a very difficult and confusing time in Canada – not only for people living with HIV, but also those who work with, or advocate for them. Although the guide covers legal and scientific complexities around (non)disclosure that are specific to the Canadian context, it may also be helpful for HIV service providers in other jurisdictions. At the very least, this is a ‘best practice’ model for others to emulate.

This excerpt from the introduction provides a good overview of the content and tone of the guide, which can be ordered and/or downloaded from the CATIE website.

In the current Canadian legal context, it is important for nurses to maintain trust and therapeutic relationships with clients, to preserve a safe space for clients to talk about HIV disclosure issues, and to recognize that real-life experiences of HIV disclosure are far more complex than the idealized representation of disclosure expressed in the criminal law.† Furthermore, it is important for nurses to continue providing excellent nursing care across the HIV healthcare continuum from prevention through diagnosis and treatment to care and support.

Research papers, reports and grey literature all point to the challenges of providing nursing care given the current legal context. In these circumstances, it seems particularly prudent for nurses to clarify their role and responsibilities as members of the healthcare team and to have a clear understanding of their own obligations with respect to HIV non/disclosure.

It would certainly be helpful for nurses to use this guide as a tool to engage other members of the healthcare team and identify their respective roles and responsibilities.

This guide was primarily developed to support nurses who provide care to people living with HIV in Canada and offer some guidance on how to meet professional standards when dealing with non/disclosure in nursing practice. Guidance may not provide a definitive answer or indicate a correct course of action in a given circumstance. However, nurses should be aware that existing legal, ethical and professional frameworks can be relied upon to respond in a professionally sound manner to key questions and concerns.

There are areas of nursing practice that will remain uncertain, so it is important for nurses to work on a case-by-case basis in collaboration with the other members of the healthcare team, seek guidance when necessary, initiate referrals to legal services when required, engage in reflective practice, and be mindful of their professional obligations. Laws, professional standards and policies can change at any time. It is important for nurses to remain aware of any new developments because these will inform their own professional obligations.

Download the guide here.

UK: Young woman with HIV blogs about her personal experiences of HIV criminalisation

It was soon after my diagnosis with HIV that the nurse asked whether I would be reporting my then partner to the Police for transmitting HIV to me. I was stunned, simply stunned by the question. I suppose the nurse had to ask…or did the nurse need to pose the question?

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