Plenary Session 2: Seminar on HIV Criminalisation, Berlin, 20 September 2012 (EATG/DAH/IPPF/HIV in Europe)

Introduction by Co-chairs, Ton Coenen (HIV in Europe) and Lisa Power (Terrence Higgins Trust)
– Louis Gay (Norwegian HIV Patient Network): From accused to activist
– Kim Fangen (Norwegian Law Commission): Reforming the ‘HIV paragraph’ in Norway – lessons learned
– Matthew Weait (Professor of Law and Policy, Birkbeck College, University of London): Nordic advocacy research project – lessons learned
– Carsten Schatz (Board Member, DAH): DAH Position Paper – content and lessons learned
– Lucy Stackpool Moore (IPPF, London), Marielle Nakunzi (RFSU, Sweden) & Kevin Osborne (IPPF, London): ‘Criminalise Hate, Not HIV’: IPPF’s media strategy and advocacy approaches and lessons learned from Sweden
– Q&A / discussion

Video produced by Nicholas Feustel, georgetown media, for the HIV Justice Network

Raising Your Voice Can Raise The Odds Of Success

By Alex GarnerEditor-at-Large Editor’s Note: I had the privilege of meeting Louis Gay while in DC at the International AID Conference. Louis faces criminal charges in Norway because he is HIV-positive and didn’t disclose prior to oral sex, even though no transmission occurred.

Imprisoned for transmitting HIV: One man's story | KETK

The nightmare Nick Rhoades has been living the past four years began after a one-time sexual encounter with another Iowa man, Adam Plendl. It was June 2008. The 34-year-old Rhoades, who is HIV positive, says he was on antiretroviral medications.

Blogger explains why she would never use the criminal law to punish her husband for infecting her

Here are two U.S. organisations that can sometimes offer legal help and can certainly offer advice and support for those facing prosecution for HIV transmission and/or failure to disclose a HIV+ status.

Relations Between Poz And Neg Men Need Work

Relations Between Poz And Neg Men Need Work Posted 8/23/2012 3:00:00 PM We live in a sero-discordant world and you would think that thirty-one years into the epidemic we would have made great strides in the relations between poz and neg men. However, it’s increasingly clear that is not the case.

Canada: Journalist Noreen Fagan examines what the Supreme Court ruling might mean for people living with HIV

Risk assessment Since HIV is no longer a death sentence, should the law still make it illegal for someone with the disease to keep that information from a sexual partner? With the Supreme Court set to answer that question this fall, NOREEN FAGAN examines the implications for society and those with HIV.

HIV Criminalisation Survivors Speak Out: Human Rights Networking Zone Panel (AIDS 2012)

Panel session in the Human Rights Networking Zone at AIDS 2012 (25 July 2012)

Organizer: HIV Justice Network

Presenters:

– Edwin J Bernard, Co-ordinator, HIV Justice Network, United Kingdom
– Louis Gay, Deputy Chair, Patient Network for HIV, Norway [from 02:28]
– Robert Suttle, Assistant Director, The Sero Project, USA [from 10:19]
– Marama Pala, Executive Director, INA – Maori, Indigenous and Pacific Island HIV/AIDS Foundation, New Zealand [from 21:00]

Video produced by Nicholas Feustel, georgetown media,
for the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network

Press Conference (AIDS 2012)

HIV Criminalization – An Epidemic Of Ignorance?

Laws and prosecutions that single out people with living with HIV are ineffective, counterproductive and unjust.

As delegates from around the world met in Washington DC at AIDS 2012 to discuss how to “end AIDS” through the application of the latest scientific advances, this press conference highlighted how laws and policies based on stigma and ignorance are not only creating major barriers to prevention, testing, care and treatment, but also seriously violating the human rights of people living with HIV.

Hosted by (in alphabetical order): The Center for HIV Law & Policy / Positive Justice Project, United States; Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), Netherlands; HIV Justice Network, United Kingdom/Germany; INA (Maori, Indigenous & South Pacific) HIV/AIDS Foundation, New Zealand; The SERO Project, United States; Terrence Higgins Trust, United Kingdom; UNAIDS, Switzerland.

Chaired by Paul de Lay, Deputy Executive Director, UNAIDS, Switzerland

Speakers:

– Nick Rhoades, HIV criminalization survivor, United States [from 03:28]
– Marama Pala, former complainant, New Zealand [from 09:15]
– Edwin J Bernard, Co-ordinator, HIV Justice Network/Consultant, GNP+ [from 14:35]
– Laurel Sprague, Research Director – SERO, United States [from 23:15]
– Lisa Fager Bediako, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation/ Positive Justice Project, United States [from 33:10]

Video produced by Nicholas Feustel, georgetownmedia.de, for the HIV Justice Network

HIV Criminalization – An Epidemic Of Ignorance? Press Conference at AIDS 2012 (Press Release)

For Immediate Release

****MEDIA ADVISORY****

Press Conference: 10am, Wednesday 25th July, Press Conference Room 2

HIV Criminalization – An Epidemic Of Ignorance?

Laws and prosecutions that single out people with living with HIV are ineffective, counterproductive and unjust.

As delegates from around the world meet this week in Washington DC at AIDS 2012 to discuss how to “end AIDS” through the application of the latest scientific advances, laws and policies based on stigma and ignorance are not only creating major barriers to prevention, testing, care and treatment, but also seriously violating the human rights of people living with HIV.

This is especially true in the United States, where 36 states and 2 territories have HIV-specific criminal statutes that single out people living with HIV as potential criminals. However, this growing epidemic of bad laws and prosecutions is a global problem that requires an internationally co-ordinated and concerted effort to overcome.

Come meet people living with HIV who have been involved in both sides of a prosecution as well as some of the experts and advocates who are part of a growing global movement, supported by UNAIDS and the UNDP-led Global Commission on HIV and the Law, working to ensure that the application of criminal laws, if any, to people living with HIV is fair, consistent, restrained, proportionate and appropriate, and serves justice without jeopardising public health objectives and fundamental human rights.

As well as two very personal stories that embody just how HIV criminalization is fundamentally wrong-headed and unjust, presentations will include:

· New data on the Top 15 global HIV criminalization hot-spots

· Preliminary results of SERO criminalization survey highlighting the devastating impact of HIV criminalization in the United States

· The Positive Justice Project’s consensus statement and the latest information on Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act

Hosted by (in alphabetical order):

· The Center for HIV Law & Policy / Positive Justice Project, United States

· Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), Netherlands

· HIV Justice Network, United Kingdom/Germany

· INA (Maori, Indigenous & South Pacific) HIV/AIDS Foundation, New Zealand

· The SERO Project, United States

· Terrence Higgins Trust, United Kingdom

· UNAIDS, Switzerland

Chaired by Paul de Lay, Deputy Executive Director, UNAIDS, Switzerland, speakers will include:

· Nick Rhoades, HIV criminalization survivor, United States

· Marama Pala, former complainant, New Zealand

· Edwin J Bernard, Co-ordinator, HIV Justice Network, and Consultant, GNP+ Global Criminalisation Scan

· Laurel Sprague, Research Director – SERO, United States

· Lisa Fager Bediako, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation/ Positive Justice Project, United States.

A question and answer session will follow. The press conference will end at 10.45am.

To arrange interviews with any of the speakers please contact Edwin J Bernard via email or mobile.

Media Contact

Edwin J Bernard, Co-ordinator, HIV Justice Network

Mobile: +1.347.681.8411

Email: edwin(at)hivjustice.net

Media Stigma, HIV And Criminalization for AIDS 2012 (Leo Herrera, Sero Project, US, 2012)

SERO Project, Media Stigma, HIV And Criminalization for International AIDS Conference, Washington DC, July 2012.

Presentation by Sean Strub, Film by Leo Herrera.