High Level Policy Consultation on HIV Non-Disclosure, Exposure and Transmission (Oslo, Norway, 2012)

At the UNAIDS high level policy consultation on HIV non-disclosure, exposure and transmission meeting in Oslo, Norway on February 14, 2012, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé was characteristically frank in his comments prior to viewing Sean Strub’s short film, HIV is Not a Crime, and hearing comments from Robert Suttle (who is featured in the film).

Video courtesy of Sean Strub and filmed by Nicholas Feustel (georgetownmedia.de). Read more about the meeting in Sean’s blog at Poz Magazine.

Louis Gay, Norway (HJN, 2012)

Louis Gay describes his experiences with HIV criminalisation in Norway

Louis Gay, 40, presents his personal experiences with HIV criminalisation to the Civil Society Caucus on HIV Criminalisation in Oslo on 13th February 2012.

This pre-meeting to the UNAIDS High Level Policy Consultation on the Science and Law of Criminalisation of HIV Non-disclosure, Exposure and Transmission also produced the Oslo Declaration on HIV Criminalisation: hivjustice.net/oslo

The text of Louis’ testimony can found here:
louisgay72.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-13-2012-i-was-invited-to-at.html

To learn more about Louis and his ongoing fight for justice visit his blog (L.G. POZ) at louisgay72.blogspot.com

Oslo Declaration on HIV Criminalisation (HJN, 2012)

Advocates working to end inappropriate criminal prosecutions for HIV non-disclosure, potential exposure and non-intentional transmission from around the world explain why they support the Oslo Declaration on HIV Criminalisation.

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

Perpetuating Stigma (In The Life Media, US, 2012)

Public television stations across the United States aired Perpetuating Stigma, an episode from the award-winning documentary series In The Life, in February 2012. This special report investigates the injustices that arise when a person’s HIV status becomes a crime, with a focus on how women have been stigmatized and prosecuted under these laws.

Perpetuating Stigma features HIV positive women whose personal stories challenge the theory behind HIV criminalization laws and expose the reality of their impact.

In The Life’s decision to continue coverage of HIV criminalization, specifically with a report on women, is motivated by the lack of a fair media perspective on this issue,” stated Michelle Kristel, executive director of In The Life Media.

 

Voices from the Field:
How Laws and Policies Affect HIV Responses

(5 mins, István Gábor Takács, 2011)

Delivered at the 29th meeting in December 2011, UNAIDS PCB NGO Delegation’s 2011 Report focuses on the importance of the legal environment to national HIV responses. For its findings, the NGO Delegation conducted a series of 27 focus groups, involving more than 240 participants from every region of the world.

This video, produced by István Gábor Takács of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, highlights the report’s key findings and recommendations to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) board and its Member States with regards to HIV strategies and related laws and policies.

HIV is Not a Crime

(8 min, Zero, USA, 2012)

This short film is part of Sero’s ongoing documentation of the experiences of people with HIV who have been prosecuted for “HIV crimes”.  To see a growing collection of individual interviews please visit Sero’s video page.

Film by Sean Strub/Sero • Edited by Leo Herrera/HomoChic

Global Commission on HIV and the Law: High Income Country Dialogue (UNDP, 2011)

The Global Commission on HIV and the Law held a High Income Countries Dialogue on 17 September 2011 in Oakland, California.

A total of 65 participants from 15 countries discussed and debated region-wide experiences of enabling and restrictive legal and social environments faced by people living with HIV, other key populations and those affected by HIV in high income countries.

Since high income countries have accounted for the vast majority of criminal prosecutions relating to HIV non-disclosure, exposure or transmission, this video focuses on the part of the dialogue that heard testimony from policymakers, community advocates and experts from the Global Commission specifically on this issue.

The Regional Dialogue, hosted by the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, was jointly organized by UNDP, on behalf of the UNAIDS family, and the University of California, Berkeley Law, The Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law.

 

Verdict on a Virus (IPPF, UK, 2011)

This short film produced by The International Planned Parenthood Federation is a commentary from a selection of experts about the criminalisation of HIV transmission in England and Wales. It brings together a selection of policy makers, programmers, advocates, academics and people living with HIV to inform the public debate.

Tell your story – how are you impacted by HIV criminalisation?

Understanding the unintended impacts of the criminalisation of HIV exposure or transmission – way beyond the relatively few individuals who are accused, arrested and/or prosecuted – can play a crucial part in advocating against such laws and prosecutions.

Over the next few months, there are going to be multiple opportunities to highlight issues such as:

  • Creating fear and confusion about relying on disclosure to prevent HIV risk, and when disclosure is legally necessary
  • Making it harder for people living with HIV who are having problems maintaining safer sex to talk with healthcare workers due to fear of prosecution
  • Increasing HIV-related stigma
  • Creating a false sense that HIV is someone else’s problem, rather than a shared responsibility
  • Providing an additional disincentive for people to learn their HIV status

These opportunities will arise via the Global Commission on HIV and Law’s High Income Country Dialogue that will take place in Oakland, California on 16-17 September (click here for more details);  the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board meeting focusing on HIV and Enabling Legal Environments that will take place in Geneva, Switzerland on 13-15 December; and through an ongoing project by IPPF, Behind Bars, that highlights a wide range of personal testimonies about the impact of HIV criminalisation.

I’m hoping that blog readers will help me collate personal testimonies about the impact of HIV criminalisation on their own lives. You don’t have to be an HIV professional or have been involved in a case to have been impacted (although such testimonies are very welcome).

As the example I’m about to show you illustrates, you can simply live in fear of the law because you are living with HIV.

I’m more than happy to receive testimonies from all over the world, but right now – because I am in the middle of producing a report about the impact of HIV criminalisation in Europe for the Global Commission on HIV and the Law – I’m especially looking for testimonies from Europe.

If you have a story to share, you can either paste it into the comment box or send it to me at yourstory(at)edwinjbernard.com.  Some stories that I receive may be included in my Global Commission submission, and included in IPPF’s Behind Bars collection, and all will be highlighted on my blog. Submissions can be anonymous (but I will require some evidence of authenticity), and if you do use your real name, please indicate whether it can be used in full or not.

Here’s Jonas’s story (not his real name) from Norway.  The use of Paragraph 155 (known as the ‘HIV Paragraph’) is currently being evaluated by a Government committee’s thorough investigation into the appropriateness of HIV criminalisation. The committee should produce its recommendations by Spring 2012, although there are no guarantees that a version of this law will not remain on the books and continue to be enforced when their deliberations end.

Paragraph 155 of the Norwegian Penal Code, an infectious-disease law enacted in 1902, essentially criminalises all unprotected sex by HIV-positive individuals even if their partner has been informed of their status and consents, and irregardless of viral load or a desire by a couple to conceive.  Both ‘willful’ and ‘negligent’ exposure and transmission are liable to prosecution, with a maximum prison sentence of six years for ‘willful’ exposure or transmission and three years for ‘negligent’ exposure or transmission.

Paragraph 155 – and a story from a partially unlived life

In my teens I turned off my sexuality. Even as my hormones were reaching boiling point, I managed to shut down. I felt that my desires were wrong, and I am a strong-minded person. In my twenties, I told my family and friends that I was gay. I began to have sex carefully, but I was never in any relationship.

When I reached 30, and after some therapy, I began to feel ready to try enter into a relationship. In January 2000 I took the HIV test, together with my best friend, since it was the “millennium change.” My test turned out to be HIV-positive, and the shock was devastating. I was very far from having a wild sex life – it was just very bad luck. Like many other HIV-positive persons, I later came to understand what my doctor told me following diagnosis:  “You are going to be fine. HIV is no longer a death sentence.” The words were a great comfort. I still had so much unlived life in me.

Life with HIV was difficult at first, but slowly I came to accept the new situation, the same way I had earlier come to accept my sexual orientation. But because of Article 155 must I, as a virile, and still fairly young man, now live like a monk – an asexual monk? What kind of life will that be? Would I be able to live like that?

Last time I had sex was some months ago. I was dating a nice guy I was attracted to, and we were at his place. Sweet music was playing. I lied and said I did not have the energy to have sex after my gym work out, but that I would like a massage instead. I got the massage. A very nice massage. The atmosphere got hot. I felt both excited and uneasy. He said he wanted to have sex with me. I said no. We continued with massage and kissing for a while. “Just a little?” He asked again. I gave in. We began to have sex. We got a condom and lubricant ready. Then the thought hit me hard, like a powerful wave. What if the condom bursts? It could happen, even if it is very unlikely. “Exposure to potential risk,” says the HIV Paragraph.

Although I hadn’t told him myself, I knew that he knew a guy who knows that I am HIV-positive, someone I met at a seminar for HIV-positive people some years before. But I did not know this guy well, and I share my diagnosis only with people I have known for a long time, and trust, like friends and family. What if he tells his friend about this incident? Perhaps his friend would guess who I am and say, was his name xxxx? ‘Ah yes, he has HIV, like me!’ What if he then calls the police? Reports me? What if the police comes to my home? Brings me in for interrogation, and puts me in a prison cell? What about my important meeting next week? Mum will be crushed if I go to jail. For having sex.

I pulled away. I used the oldest excuse in the book: headache. And low blood sugar. I put on my clothes and left. I never called him again. I have thought about him several times.

I will not be able to live my life without sex. I’m not a big fan of the word injustice. Nature is not fair. But Paragraph 155 criminalises me for wanting to live a full life – and that includes a sex life. Me – who has studied law just because everyone said I was always so fair and wise.

I feel like a victim, even though I often criticise the role of the victim. A victim of this discriminatory law that criminalises the sexuality of people affected by HIV. A victim of prejudice related to HIV, which few seem to bother to care about. Norwegian society likes its scapegoats. I want to remove the criminalisation of sexuality in Norway. I want a good life. In Norway. In 2011. And in the rest of the years I will live in this beautiful country.

Legalizing Stigma (In The Life Media, US, 2010)

More than 30 US states have laws criminalizing HIV exposure, transmission or non-disclosure of an individual’s HIV status. IN THE LIFE looks at the stigma and misinformation embedded in laws meant to curb the spread of the disease and the human cost among those who are HIV positive. Includes footage from the New York launch of the Positive Justice Project.