US: Virginia’s bill to reform the state’s infected sexual battery law will also broaden its scope to include all STIs

Lawmakers weigh how far to go in changing a decades-old law criminalizing HIV

Thirty years ago, HIV was largely considered to be a death sentence.

At a time when the disease was little-understood, even within the health care community, Virginia joined dozens of states in passing laws that criminalized “infected sexual battery” — making it a felony for someone living with HIV, syphilis or Hepatitis B to engage in sexual activity “with the intent to transmit the infection to another person.”

Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, said Virginia, like many states, was driven by the federal government. In 1990, national lawmakers passed the Ryan White CARE Act, which established federal funding for HIV services and treatment. But to receive the funding, states were required to create a legal mechanism to prosecute people who knowingly exposed others to HIV.

Virginia passed its own statute in 1997, making infected sexual battery a Class 6 felony and nondisclosure — or having sex with someone without revealing your status — a Class 1 misdemeanor. Twenty-four years later, McClellan has joined with Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, in an effort to modernize the law.

Finding consensus with other legislators, though, has been a challenge.Their bill to reform the state’s infected sexual battery law passed the Senate late on Friday in a 21-17 vote, with Republicans voting unanimously against the bill. But to gain support among Democrats, McClellan also had to offer a late floor amendment that revised the code section rather than fully repealing it.

“It’s clear to us that a lot of members of the Senate aren’t comfortable completely eliminating that crime,” she said in an interview on Friday morning. The substitute reduces the potential charge for infected sexual battery from a Class 6 felony to a Class 1 misdemeanor. At the same time, it also broadens the scope of the law, removing its specific focus on HIV, syphilis, and Hepatitis B.

The legislation would now make it a potential misdemeanor if a Virginian diagnosed with any sexually transmitted infection “engages in sexual behavior that poses a substantial risk of transmission” with the intent of transmitting the disease. And unlike the current code, it would require actual transmission of the disease in order to prosecute.

Expanding the law to include all STIs might seem counterintuitive for a bill aimed at decriminalizing HIV. But the intent of the substitute was to raise the burden of prosecution, making it less likely that the law will be used, said Breanna Diaz, the policy director for the Positive Women’s Network, anational advocacy group for women and transgender people living with HIV. The group is lobbying to repeal or modernize HIV criminalization laws in more than 30 states. Diaz, who drafted the substitute, said it’s similar to a 2017 bill passed in California.

Currently, Virginia code only criminalizes transmission of HIV and two other previously life-threatening infections — a focus that advocates say only furthers the stigma for Virginians diagnosed with the virus. But it also requires little burden of proof for people who press charges.

Virginia’s infected sexual battery statute doesn’t require that the disease was actually transmitted. It also criminalizes sexual activity regardless of whether a person living with HIV used protection, such as condoms, or medication that made their risk of transmitting the virus virtually nonexistent.

“What it really does is criminalize just knowing your status and engaging in sexual activity even if it poses low-to-no risk of infection,” Diaz said. The substitute bill would introduce several measures to raise the burden of prosecution.

First, anyone charged under the statute would need to have been diagnosed with an STI prior to sexual contact (some common infections such as chlamydia and gonorrhea don’t always cause symptoms and can be transmitted unknowingly). It would also require that the person engaged in activity that posed “a substantial risk of transmission,” such as having sex without protection.

Most importantly, there would have to be proof that the infection was actually transmitted to a partner.

“It is our core belief that criminalization will never be the answer to public health,” Diaz said. “But we wanted to build in elements that would raise the burden of prosecution. And we’re hoping with the prosecutorial burden being so high now, this statute will not be used too often.”

Infected sexual battery charges are already relatively rare. In the 2019 and 2020 fiscal years, only three Virginians were convicted of a felony under the law, according to data from the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission. Another seven were convicted of a misdemeanor for not disclosing their status (McClellan’s substitute would completely repeal that section of the code).

And while the original intent was to completely repeal Virginia’s infected sexual battery law, McClellan described the amended bill as a compromise that would make it easier to pass the General Assembly. Throughout the committee process, there was clear bipartisan hesitancy to eliminate a law that makes it a crime to intentionally infect someone with HIV.

“I can’t for the life of me figure out why we would want to repeal that,” said Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham, during a hearing last month.

“The science has dramatically improved the diagnosis for HIV and it makes sense for us to look at changes in the law,” added Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath. “But I agree with Sen. Obenshain — if someone intentionally infects someone else, there ought to be some criminal penalty.”

Like many of the criminal justice initiatives moving through the state’s General Assembly, inequity is another major argument against the bill. In Virginia, 56.7 percent of people living with HIV are Black, according to data from Emory University (Black Virginians make up just 19.1 percent of the state’s population overall). Black and Latino men are 5.5 and 2.2 times more likely, respectively, to be living with an HIV diagnosis than White men, while Black and Latino women are 15.1 and 4.1 times more likely to be living with a diagnosis than their White counterparts.

The disease also has a disproportionate impact on the LGBTQ community. As a result, advocates say HIV criminalization laws, in Virginia and across the country, are most frequently applied against already marginalized groups with existing mistrust of the health care system.

“Folks charged under these laws are already over-criminalized, over-policed and over-surveilled,” Diaz said. And with few barriers to pressing charges under Virginia’s current statute, proving “intent” to transmit the disease — or a claim of nondisclosure — can be difficult to demonstrate in court.

But stories about the charges often end up in the news, which can out people living with HIV even if they’re not founded. Deirdre Johnson and Cedric Pulliam, co-founders of the decriminalization advocacy group ECHO Virginia, said one of their members chose to plead guilty after a partner accused him of nondisclosure after an argument.

“Next thing you know, the police are knocking at his door and he’s getting arrested,” Johnson said. The member had never been involved with the criminal justice system and took a plea deal. As a result, he lost his social work license and still has to disclose felony charges on job applications.

For advocates, it’s a prime example of how the potential repercussions of the law — and the stigma — make it less likely that people will seek out help for HIV.

“When people are afraid they’ll be putting a target on their back for criminal prosecution, they don’t get tested and they don’t get treated,” McClellan said.

The bill would also repeal a section of state code that requires Virginians convicted of prostitution or intravenous drug use to be tested for HIV, instead making it an option. And it would repeal the state’s current ban against patients with HIV donating organs, with notice and consent, in certain circumstances — putting Virginia in line with federal guidance.

But even the amended bill didn’t convince some senators that it’s time to repeal the law. Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, R-Henrico — a practicing OB-GYN — said during a floor debate that diagnosing women with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections was “one of the hardest conversations” she ever had to have.

“And I wish I could support this bill, but I cannot diminish in any way the consequences for a woman who has been intentionally infected,” she said before the vote. The Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police also opposes the legislation.

“We haven’t followed this bill that closely, and don’t understand why it was introduced,” Executive Director Dana Schrad wrote in an email on Tuesday. “We have had cases in which a person knowingly and intentionally infected someone else through a sexual assault.”

Both Johnson and Pulliam, though, said it would make prosecuting the law much more difficult by requiring that anyone charged with the crime had actually transmitted the virus. For Johnson, a woman living with HIV, it also acknowledges the advances in treatment since 1997.

With current therapies, patients are now capable of leading long, healthy lives. Antiretroviral drugs can also reduce a patient’s viral load to the point where it’s undetectable — leaving “effectively no risk” of transmitting the virus to an HIV-negative sexual partner, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“There is zero risk of me transmitting HIV to anyone,” she said. “We just really wanted our laws to be in alignment with science.”

Mexico: Deputy proposes prison sentence for “stealthing” that results in STI or pregnancy

MC seeks prison for whoever removes a condom without consent

The deputy of the Citizen Movement, Juan Martín Espinoza Cárdenas, proposed to punish from three to eight years in prison and a fine of 80 days to those who do not use or stop using a condom during sexual intercourse without consent and results in a venereal disease or unwanted pregnancy.

The initiative that adds a fourth paragraph to the Article 199 Bis of the Federal Criminal Code, assigned to the Justice Commission, seeks to regulate the practice known as “stealthing”.

Mention that the term Stealthing means stealthily or secretly, and it is a practice that originated in the United States in which the right of men to spread “their seed” is idealized, which results in unwanted pregnancies and, worse, sexually transmitted infections. Human Papilloma (HPV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

« This type of practices that is increasing in the world, are extremely dangerous, since they can not only cause unwanted pregnancies, but also sexually transmitted diseases that endanger the health and lives of citizens », adds the initiative.

It mentions that according to the National Institute of Women between 1983 and 2019 there were 210,104 new cases of people with HIV-AIDS, of which the 84.9 percent are men and 15.1 percent women. In 2018 alone, 13,137 new cases of HIV-AIDS were diagnosed.

« Our country is not the exception, since sexually transmitted diseases or infections have been increasing, » he emphasizes.

Refers that the organization Adis Healthcare Foundation points out that in Mexico on average only six out of ten Mexicans use a condom during sexual intercourse.

While the National Center for the Prevention and Control of HIV-AIDS (CENSIDA) cites that 41 people are infected with HIV every day. Coupled with that Mexico ranks first worldwide in unwanted pregnancies in adolescents between 15 and 19 years of age.

It highlights that according to the World Health Organization (WHO), every day more than one million people in the world contract some type of sexually transmitted infection, and estimates that in 2016 there were approximately 376 million new infections divided into: chlamydia (127 million), gonorrhea (87 million), syphilis (6.3 million) and trichomoniasis (156 million).

Furthermore, the WHO reports that there are about 500 million people who have the Herpes Simplex Virus (VPS) and more than 300 million women who are infected by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which is the leading cause of cervical cancer, he points out.

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Diputado de MC busca prisión para quien se quite condón sin consentimiento de la pareja

Juan Martín Espinoza Cárdenas propuso sancionar también con 80 días de multa, a quien deje de utilizar preservativo durante las relaciones sexuales.

El diputado de Movimiento Ciudadano, Juan Martín Espinoza Cárdenas, propuso sancionar de tres a ocho años de prisión y 80 días de multa, a quien no utilice o deje de utilizar preservativo durante las relaciones sexuales sin consentimiento y dé como resultado una enfermedad venérea o embarazo no deseado.

La iniciativa que adiciona un párrafo cuarto al artículo 199 Bis del Código Penal Federal, turnada a la Comisión de Justicia, busca regular la práctica conocida como “stealthing”. Menciona que el término “stealthing” significa sigiloso o secretamente, y es una práctica que se originó en Estados Unidos en la que se idealiza el derecho de los hombres a propagar “su semilla” que trae como consecuencias embarazos no deseados y, peor aún, infecciones de transmisión sexual, Virus de Papiloma Humano (VPH) y Virus de Inmunodeficiencia Humana (VIH).

“Este tipo de prácticas que va en aumento en el mundo, son sumamente peligrosas, ya que no solamente pueden provocar embarazos no deseados, sino enfermedades de transmisión sexual que ponen en peligro la salud y la vida de las y los ciudadanos”, añade la iniciativa.

“Nuestro país no es la excepción, ya que han ido en aumento las enfermedades o infecciones de transmisión sexual”, subraya. Refiere que la organización Adis Healthcare Foundation señala que en México en promedio sólo seis de cada diez mexicanos utilizan el condón durante las relaciones sexuales.

Mientras que el Centro Nacional para la Prevención y Control del VIH-Sida(CENSIDA) cita que cada día se infectan 41 personas de VIH. Aunado a que México ocupa el primer lugar a nivel mundial en embarazos no deseados en adolescentes de entre 15 y 19 años.

Destaca que de acuerdo con la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), cada día más de un millón de personas en el mundo contraen algún tipo de infección de transmisión sexual, y estima que en 2016 hubo aproximadamente 376 millones de nuevas infecciones divididas en: clamidiasis (127 millones), gonorrea (87 millones), sífilis (6.3 millones) y tricomoniasis (156 millones).

Además, la OMS reporta que existen alrededor de 500 millones de personas que padecen el Virus del Herpes Simple (VPS) y más de 300 millones de mujeres que están infectadas por el Virus de Papiloma Humano (VPH) que es la primera causa de cáncer cervicouterino, puntualiza.

Zimbabwe: Criminal law amendment increases fines for “deliberate transmission of HIV”, classified at highest level of offences

Lockdown fines revised upwards

Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief

Members of the public who violate lockdown regulations now risk paying a spot fine of $5 000 while those found guilty of deliberately transmitting HIV can pay up to $1,6 million.

Fines have been reviewed upwards with immediate effect.

The new fine schedule is contained in Statutory Instrument (SI) 25 of 2021 issued on Monday by the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.

Level 14 offences, the highest level of offences, now attract a fine of $1,6 million up from $800 000 and include crimes such as concealing treason, deliberately transmitting HIV, robbery which is not committed in aggravating circumstances.

“It is hereby notified that the minister has, in terms of section 280 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23 made the following notice.

This notice may be cited as the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) (Standard Scale of Fines) Notice 2021,” the SI read.

“The First Schedule to the Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9:23 is repealed and substituted by the following. Level 1-ZWL$1 000,
level 2- ZWL$2 000, level 3- ZWL$5 000 level 4- ZWL$20 000, level 5- ZWL$30 000, level 6- ZWL$60 000 and level 7- ZWL$120 00.”

“Levels eight to fourteen shall attract the following fines respectively ZWL$200 000, ZWL$240 000 ZWL$280 000, ZWL$400 000, ZWL$800 000, ZWL$1 200 000 and ZWL$1 600 000. The criminal law codification and reform Standard scale of fines notice 2020 published Statutory Instrument 272 of 2020 is repealed.”

Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs permanent secretary Mrs Virginia Mabhiza confirmed the new fines.

“Yes, those are the new fine like level 14 which is the highest. But the rightful person to comment on this is the Chief Magistrate Mr Munamato Mutevedzi who deals with these offences every day,” she said.

Mr Mutevedzi could not be reached immediately.

Prominent Gweru Lawyer Mr Esau Mandipa said the new fines were justified in the light of the surge in armed robbery cases among others.
He said at the same time, there was need to punish Covid-19 lockdown offenders to stop the spread of the virus.
“What this means is that both offences minor and serious in terms of the code now attract heavier penalties in forms of fines. My advice to fellow citizens is to comply with the law.

“Crimes like armed robbery lead to unnecessary loss of life and Covid-19 is causing the death of many people.

“So it is just common cause that we behave and follow the laid down rules and regulations that are aimed at protecting us,” said Mr Mandipa.

Kyrgyzstan: Amnesty law rules out release of prisoners living with HIV as not applying to “diseases that pose a danger to others”

HIV/AIDS prisoners are discriminated and not amnestied

Human rights defenders are trying to achieve the return of HIV / AIDS to the list of diseases that are the basis for presenting convicts with release from serving their sentences.

According to the public foundation “Positive dialogue”, HIV / AIDS and tuberculosis became the cause of death of prisoners in 78 % of cases in 2018. In 2019, statistics was improved slightly and the death rate of convicts from these diseases was decreased to 59 % of the total number of deaths.

In May 2020, the Parliament of the republic adopted the amnesty law in connection with the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 and the 10th anniversary of the people’s April revolution in 2010. However, according to human rights activists, according to this normative act, not a single prisoner with a diagnosis of AIDS was released from prison. This possibility was ruled out by one of the articles of the amnesty law, which states that its application doesn’t apply to convicts suffering from diseases that pose a danger to others. For example, infectious and venereal diseases.

According to the law, amnesty for such persons is applied only after completion of the course of treatment. But, as human rights activists note, although HIV / AIDS is classified as an infectious disease, it doesn’t have a strictly defined course of treatment. Antiretroviral therapy, as a combination of three medicines that suppresses the HIV virus to the maximum and contains the progression of the disease, is prescribed for life.

“Restrictions on the use of amnesty for treatable diseases are not effective for HIV because HIV is not treatable and is not randomly transmitted. Such restrictions for the non-application of amnesty cannot be called objective and reasonable,” the public foundation “Positive dialogue” believes.

In August 2020, the representatives of the foundation appealed to the State Penitentiary Service of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republican AIDS Center with a proposal to consider the issue of including HIV / AIDS in the list of diseases that are the basis for release for prisoners from serving sentences, as well as to include it in the list of diagnoses that prevent detention, and initiate the procedure for making additions to the specified decrees of the government of the Kyrgyz Republic.

“Such a measure will reduce mortality from HIV and HIV-associated diseases, improve the treatment of sick convicts and will be a proof of the humanistic principles of the penal legislation,” the appeal says.

Human rights activists emphasize that convicts living with HIV are under constant pressure from discrimination and inequality: they cannot be exempted from serving their sentences due to illness and cannot be amnestied by law simply because of their status.

In response, the State Service for the Execution of Punishments reported that in 2017, as part of the judicial and legal reform initiated by the Republican AIDS Center, clinical stage 4 of HIV infection was excluded from the list of diseases that are grounds for release, since concomitant diseases occurring at this stage of infection, were already on the list. At the same time, the working group, that made such a decision, included, on an equal basis with other government agencies, the Republican AIDS Center, which is a specialized national body for the development of measures to prevent HIV / AIDS.

The response of the Republican Center to the request of human rights activists was shocking. It says that the department considers it “inappropriate to include a separate line of people living with HIV in the above lists of diseases”.

“The penitentiary system of the republic has access to testing, treatment with the provision of necessary medicines for HIV treatment, departmental medical institutions for prisoners with the necessary level of conditions for therapy. AIDS service specialists conduct systematic examinations and consultations of patients with serious conditions, subject to their notification”, assured in the Center.

At the same time, representatives of the public foundation “Positive dialogue” have information that during the acute phase of the coronavirus pandemic, convicts with AIDS / HIV received practically no appropriate medical and psychological assistance equivalent to that provided to those who wasn’t in places of imprisonment.

Also, the Republican AIDS Center believes that prisoners don’t die from HIV in prisons, but from diseases associated with this infection.

In addition, the department notes that according to the electronic tracking system for HIV cases since the implementation of the Laws of the Kyrgyz Republic № 53 “On amnesty in connection with the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 and 10 anniversary of the people’s April revolution in 2010” (dated May 8, 2020) and № 34 “On probation” (dated February 24, 2017), the number of convicts with HIV was decreased by 2 times. This, in the opinion of the relevant national body for the fight against AIDS, is a confirmation of the effectiveness of these legal acts.

Meanwhile, the fact of the absence of real statistics on deaths of prisoners from AIDS was confirmed in an interview with one of the local media by the deputy director of the Republican AIDS Center Aybek Bekbolotov. In particular, he told the reporters the following, “We cannot regulate the statistics, because many, when they take a death certificate, don’t want it to be written ‘HIV infection’. Many pass as dead from other diseases. There is a difference between us and the National Statistical Committee.”

“The correspondence with the administration of a medical institution shows how the personal opinion of one person becomes decisive for the fate of many people. Not people, not patients, but the state interests, the interests of the department, statistics – this, I think, is the main pattern – is the scheme of actions of state officials. And this despite the fact that the considerable funds from international donors were allocated for education and material support of the staff of the Republican AIDS Center. How can we assess the activities of the Republican AIDS Center after that?” the lawyer of the Coalition against Torture, Arsen Ambaryan, is indignant.

US: North Dakota Legislature rejects bill to modernise outdated HIV-criminalisation law

North Dakota lawmakers reject bill to soften HIV transmission law

The bill’s primary sponsor, Rep. Gretchen Dobervich, D-Fargo, said the penalty for knowingly transmitting HIV is unfairly harsh and doesn’t align with the infractions North Dakotans face if they willfully infect someone with any other sexually transmitted disease, such as hepatitis or syphilis.

BISMARCK — The Republican-led North Dakota House of Representatives widely rejected a bill on Wednesday, Jan. 13, that would have lessened the penalty for knowingly transmitting HIV.

Currently, residents who consciously infect a sexual partner with the virus could face a Class A felony, which comes with up to 20 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. House Bill 1106 would have made the offense an infraction, which carries a fine up to $1,000 and no jail time.

All but one Republican on the House Judiciary Committee voted to give the bill a “Do Not Pass” recommendation on Tuesday, Jan. 12, because they believed an infraction for transmitting HIV was not a harsh enough punishment.

Only three people have been convicted with a felony under the current law.

There were an estimated 468 North Dakota residents with HIV in 2019, but 80% are virally suppressed, meaning they are very unlikely to transmit the virus, according to the state Department of Health.

Year in review: Celebrating successes, highlighting the many challenges ahead

This past year has shown us what happens when one pandemic – HIV – is overshadowed by another pandemic, COVID-19. Despite the many lessons learned from our collective advocacy against HIV criminalisation that we and our HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE partners highlighted in March, these lessons were mostly ignored by policymakers around the world.

The result was a series of knee-jerk legal, policy and police responses leading to the overzealous policing of people living with HIV and other key and inadequately served populations already subject to existing inequalities in law and policy, which we have been highlighting in our HIV Justice Weekly newsletter since March.

This latest pandemic overshadowed, and in some cases undermined, the work we and others have been doing to ensure a fair, just, rational and evidence-based response towards people living with HIV by the criminal justice system.

This past year we documented at least 90 cases of unjust HIV criminalisation in 25 countries, with Russia and the United States being the worse offenders. Women living with HIV were accused in 25% of those cases. Three of these cases were for breastfeeding. In the United States, more than 50% of those accused in HIV criminalisation cases were people of colour.

2020 also saw Poland passing a new law against COVID-19 that also increased the criminal penalty for HIV exposure, and number of disappointing HIV criminalisation higher court appeals in the US (Ohio), and Canada (Ontario and Alberta) that appeared to ignore science over stigma.

And yet, despite the many difficulties of 2020, the movement to end unjust HIV criminalisation has continued to gain momentum.

In the United States, Washington State modernised its HIV-specific criminal law in March, reducing the ‘crime’ from a felony to a misdemeanour, adding in a number of defences, and eliminating the sex offender registration requirement. Earlier this month, legislators in Missouri published plans to modernise its HIV-specific criminal law next year.

In Europe, Sweden abolished the legal requirement to disclose HIV status in March, the Spanish Supreme Court set an important precedent for HIV criminalisation cases in May, and in June, Scottish police ended the stigmatising practice of marking people living with HIV as ‘contagious’ in their database.

In Francophone Africa, HIV-specific criminal law reform in Benin and across the region is looking likely thanks to a recognition that existing laws do not reflect up-to-date science.

And in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, a process to completely abolish the draconian HIV-specific criminal law in Belarus has begun.

There is still so much more to do, however. Despite these successes, as well as the many milestones the HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE movement has achieved since its launch in 2016, we will not rest until everyone living with HIV in all their diversity is treated equally, fairly and justly by all actors of the criminal justice system.

China: Southwest Yunnan Province to roll out new regulation making HIV non-disclosure a criminal liability

HIV-hit Yunnan mulls legal punishment for HIV/AIDS patients who conceal conditions from spouses, sex partners

Southwest China’s Yunnan Province, a region most affected by HIV in China, will roll out a new regulation next year where HIV/AIDS patients who conceal their condition from their partners will be prosecuted for criminal liability. The regulation has immediately sparked heated discussions.

Yunnan recently issued the strict measures to prevent and control AIDS in the province, which would come into effect next March. The rules specify that medical institutions have the right to inform HIV/AIDS patients’ spouses and sex partners if the patients themselves fail to do so.

It also said that those who conceal the information from their spouses or sex partners would be held accountable under the law.

For residents who live in AIDS-prevalent areas, the regulation said, there would be free HIV screening for couples before marriage. In addition, it ordered all government bodies, organizations and companies to include HIV tests in physical examinations, and civil servants to take the test every half a year.

As soon as the rules came out, they drew controversy on social media platforms, where citizens argued over whether the rules have tilted the balance between personal privacy and public health. The topic garnered on Monday 230 million views and nearly 9,000 comments as of press time.

While some citizens supported the regulation and called for pre-marriage HIV-screening to be promoted nationwide, some asked if the rules will intrude on HIV-infected patients’ privacy.

Liu Wei, director of the Chinese Association of STD and AIDS Prevention and Control, told the Global Times on Monday that the rule on medical institutions’ right to inform patients’ sex partners requires further clarification.

“To diagnose an AIDS patient requires two steps – initial screening and confirmation. Only when a person gets positive results in both tests can he or she be confirmed, which means that medical institutions that have the right to inform must be those with AIDS confirmation qualifications, such as the local disease control and prevention center or other authorized units,” Liu explained.

With these clarifications given, observers believe that the rule will prioritise the right to health, while guaranteeing patients’ privacy to the largest extent.

If the AIDS patients choose to engage in sexual activities with another person, then the right to health of the people exposed should be placed above the patients’ privacy, analysts said. Since the rule only grants the institutions the right to inform partners rather than the general public, the patients’ privacy can also be protected, analysts noted.

They noted that many cases showed that AIDS patients who chose to inform their spouses or sex partners with courage usually won more respect, rather than discrimination.

Liu said the new measures should also take into consideration patients’ mental well-being, by allowing a “buffer period” for them to accept the devastating news and prepare themselves to inform their close contacts.

Medical institutions should also provide patients with psychological counseling and consulting services.

Yunnan is the most affected area by HIV. The province reported 8,723 new cases in 2019, bringing the total to 111,700. Sex transmission remained the major cause, which accounted for 97.5 percent of the total in 2020. Needle injection and mother-to-child transmission continued to drop, the local government announced on December 1.

Mexico: Green party in State of Mexico (Edomex) proposes law to increase prison sentences for “deliberate transmission” of communicable diseases, including HIV

Green Party seeks to establish prison sentences for deliberate HIV transmission

Automatic translation via Deepl.com. For article in Spanish, please scroll down.

The Green Ecologist Party in the LX Legislature, seeks to establish up to 4 years jail sentences for anyone who deliberately infects another person with a transmissable disease such as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and at this time of Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic.

In this sense, the legislator María Luisa Mendoza Mondragón proposes a reform to the article 252 of the Penal Code of the State of Mexico, which already contemplates the crime of Danger of Infection, and which currently only reaches a privative sentence of up to two years; the initiative contemplates an aggravating circumstance of up to one third, if the active subject is a medical professional. In addition, the initiative, which is currently in committee, proposes to raise this type of action for malice from 60 to 140 units of measurement and to update it.

“The action taken by a sick person who knowingly infects another person must be considered a crime and therefore be punished with a more severe penalty considering the atypical and extraordinary circumstance we face,” said the deputy,

This parliamentary faction also wants to modify the terms of the prosecution of the crime by the state authorities so that the investigation is no longer only by denunciation of the person or persons affected, but rather by office with the intention of punishing whoever commits these acts that attempt against the life of the Mexicans.

This crime is defined in the local law as follows: “Whoever, knowing that he suffers from a serious illness during the infectious period, puts himself in danger of infecting another person, by any means of transmission”.

Partido Verde busca establecer penas de cárcel a quien deliberadamente contagie el SIDA

En este sentido, la legisladora María Luisa Mendoza Mondragón propone una reforma al artículo 252 del Código Penal del Estado de México, en el que ya se contempla el delito de Peligro de Contagio, y que actualmente solo alcanza una pena privativa de hasta dos años; la iniciativa contempla una agravante de hasta un tercio, si el sujeto activo es personal médico. Además, la iniciativa que se encuentra en comisiones, propone elevar de 60 a 140 unidades de medida y actualización este tipo de acciones por dolo.

“La acción desplegada por un sujeto enfermo que contagie a otro con conocimiento de causa tiene que ser considerado como delito y por ende ser castigado con una pena más grave por la circunstancia atípica y extraordinaria que enfrentamos”, dijo la diputada,

Esta fracción parlamentaria también quiere modificar los términos de la persecución del delito por parte de las autoridades estatales para que la investigación ya no sea solo por denuncia de la o las personas afectadas, sino que más bien sea por oficio con la intención de castigar a quien cometa estos actos que atentan contra la vida de los mexiquenses.

Este delito en la norma local se define así: “A quien sabiendo que padece una enfermedad grave en período infectante, ponga en peligro de contagio a otro, por cualquier medio de transmisión”.

Belarus: Process to abolish HIV criminalisation statutes in Belarus criminal code has been launched

On improvement of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus and the exclusion of Article 157 “HIV infection”

Translation via Deepl.com – For article in Russian, please scroll down.

People PLUS in action

The legal environment for HIV-positive people will be further improved. The process has been launched. On the eve of December 1 a letter from the Deputy Chairman of the Permanent Commission on National Security of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus A.V. Dubov was received by the Public Association “PLUS People”.

“I would like to inform you that the proposals to make amendments to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus in the part of abolishment of articles 157 and 158 that were received from the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus in my address have been considered together with interested state bodies. Proposals to repeal Articles 157 and 158 have been sent for consideration and taken into account in the course of finalizing the draft laws.

Proposals to amend the Criminal Code were formed at the Round Table “Maintenance of the status of elimination of HIV transmission from mother to child. Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus in the part of abolition of articles 157 and 158”, which was held on September 28, 2020 with the participation of Deputies of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, the Deputy Minister and heads of departments of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus, country offices of UNAIDS and WHO, the Republican associations of the Belarusian Red Cross Society and Public Association “PLUS People”.

In their presentation, “PLUS People” RSO told the participants of the Round Table about the benefits that the improvement of legislation will bring to society.

“The qualification of crimes related to HIV infection, not according to a special article, but according to the articles for harm to health and how the cases of private and public prosecution will develop in the society a culture of caring about each person’s own health and measures to prevent HIV infection and other diseases”.

People will no longer be afraid to know their HIV status and will be bravely tested for HIV.

People living with HIV:

After learning the diagnosis, they will not avoid being registered at the dispensary.
be able to exercise their right to establish a family and have children without fear
will not be victims of blackmail, extortion and intimidation
We express our gratitude to the brave people who dared to tell the audience of the Round Table their life stories about how they faced stigma and discrimination, thereby confirming and strengthening the arguments for the exclusion of Article 157 from the Criminal Code of RB, cited by ROO “PLUS People”.

О совершенствовании Уголовного кодекса РБ и исключении ст. 157 «Заражение ВИЧ»

Люди ПЛЮС в действии 07 декабря 2020 Просмотров: 84

Правовая среда в отношении ВИЧ-положительных людей будет дальше совершенствоваться. Процесс запущен. Накануне 1 декабря в адрес РОО “Люди ПЛЮС” пришло письмо от Заместителя председателя Постоянной комиссии по национальной безопасности Палаты представителей Национального собрания Республики Беларусь А.В. Дубова.

«Информирую о том, что поступившие из Министерства здравоохранения Республики Беларусь в мой адрес предложения о внесении изменений в Уголовный кодекс Республики Беларусь в части отмены статей 157 и 158 рассмотрены совместно с заинтересованными государственными органами.Принимая во внимание, что в Министерстве юстиции Республики Беларусь создана межведомственная рабочая группа по подготовке проектов кодексов об уголовной ответственности, в рамках деятельности которой предполагается изучение основных направлений совершенствования Уголовного, Уголовно-процессуального и Уголовно-исполнительных кодексов. Предложения в части отмены статей 157 и 158 направлены для рассмотрения и учета их в ходе доработки законопроектов».

Предложения о внесении изменений в Уголовный кодекс были сформированы на Круглом столе «Поддержание статуса элиминации передачи ВИЧ от матери ребёнку. Внесение изменений в УК РБ в части отмены статей 157 и 158», прошедшем 28 сентября 2020 г. с участием Депутатов Палаты представителей Национального собрания Республики Беларусь , Заместителя Министра и руководителей управлений Министерства здравоохранения РБ, страновых офисов ЮНЭЙДС и ВОЗ, Республиканских объединений «Белорусского Общества Красного Креста» и РОО «Люди ПЛЮС».

РОО «Люди ПЛЮС» в своей презентации рассказывали участникам Круглого стола о том, какую пользу совершенствование законодательства принесёт обществу.

«Квалификация преступлений в связи с заражением ВИЧ , не по специально выделенной статье, а по статьям за причинение вреда здоровью и, как дела частного и частно-публичного обвинения будут развивать в обществе культуру заботы каждого человека о собственном здоровье и мерах профилактики заражения как ВИЧ-инфекции, так и других заболеваний».

Люди перестанут боятся узнать свой ВИЧ-статус и будут смело тестироваться на ВИЧ.

Люди, живущие с ВИЧ:

узнав диагноз, не станут избегать постановки на диспансерный учёт
без страха смогут реализовывать право на создание семьи и рождение детей
не станут жертвами шантажа, вымогательства и запугиваний

Выражаем благодарность смелым людям, которые решились рассказать аудитории Круглого стола свои жизненные истории, о том как они столкнулись со стигмой и дискриминацией, тем самым подтверждая и усиливая аргументы за исключение ст. 157 из УК РБ, приведённые РОО “Люди ПЛЮС”.

US: Advocates in Nevada work to repeal or amend laws that criminalise the behaviour of People living with HIV

Civil Rights Groups Look To Modernize Nevada’s HIV Laws

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Zachary Green

Today is World AIDS Day.

An international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic and remembering those who have died from the disease.

Civil and LGBTQ+ rights groups across Nevada are pushing for the state to modernize laws concerning people living with HIV.

Nevada is one of 32 states that criminalizes the behavior of people living with HIV, making it a class-B felony for someone knowingly having HIV to engage in behavior that could transmit the virus to someone else.

But groups in the state want to change those laws so the disease is treated like other communicable diseases where people who knowingly spread it can face misdemeanor charges, not a felony.

“We have a lot of work to do to modernize our laws so that people living with HIV are faced with stigmas, and also so that these HIV laws that criminalize behavior aren’t having a negative effect on public health goals,” said Andre Wade, state director for Silver State Equality.

Wade explained that the state and the nation have plans to help end the HIV/AIDS epidemic but people who have the disease need to be engaged to execute those plans and to get them to be engaged they need to not feel stigmatized when they reveal their status.

“If we are stigmatizing them and criminalizing them, it is hard to engage them in plans to help end the epidemic,” he said.

Wade said the laws like the ones in Nevada were passed when less was known about the disease, and people were looking for ways to take HIV positive people out of society.

“These laws were created when we knew very little about HIV and AIDS and there was a lot of fear about homosexuality and a lot of misinformation,” he said.

In addition, Wade said someone is more likely to transmit the disease if they don’t know their status than if they do.

Stephan Page is the co-chair of NV HIV Modernization Coalition. He said there have been a few instances around the country of someone knowingly and intentionally spreading the disease, and there have been more cases of innocent people being charged with spreading the disease.

“Across the country, tons of people living with HIV got convicted for engaging in behavior where they truly can’t transmit HIV,” Page said.

Page said some people have been convicted under these kinds of laws even though they are on anti-viral medication and have a very low viral load in their bodies, and therefore, can’t transmit. There are also cases of people using protection during sex but still getting convicted because the judge didn’t believe them.

Plus, bad information about how the virus is transmitted still hurts innocent people. Page said there are cases of people who have been convicted of knowingly spreading HIV because they spit on someone. HIV cannot be transmitted through saliva.

Governor Steve Sisolak last year signed a bill that will review Nevada’s HIV laws.

Page said his coalition went through Nevada statutes and found 13 laws impacting HIV positive people that they want to be repealed or amended. Four of those statutes are the main ones the coalition is focusing on.

Besides the part of the law that makes transmitting HIV a felony, the coalition wants to change the part of the law that covers intent.

“We recommend that this law be amended so that actual intent is truly required,” he said, “We want to ensure that yes true criminals who are intentionally, willingly and knowingly going around transmitting HIV are still getting convicted, but we want to ensure that innocent people do not fall through the cracks and get wrongfully convicted.”

They also want to see a change to the laws around sex work. Legal sex workers in Nevada cannot work in brothels if they have an HIV positive diagnosis.

Illegal sex workers will get a felony enhancement if they are HIV positive. The coalition wants to get rid of that enhancement for people who are living with HIV and performing illegal sex work.

Much of the effort to reform or repeal Nevada laws impacting people living with HIV is to change the stigma around the disease.

Connie Shearer is the co-chair of the NV HIV Modernization Coalition. She also lives with the virus. In 1996, she contracted HIV from her husband when she was 19. She was 21 when she was diagnosed.

Now, years later, Shearer still faces a stigma.

“The stigma is – I don’t want to say it’s as bad as 1996 – but it’s almost just as bad,” she said.

Shearer said she’ll share up-to-date information about HIV, like the fact that someone using anti-HIV medication with undetectable levels of the virus means he or she can’t transmit it, online and people won’t believe her.

“What’s important for me today is making sure people have access to the science around HIV so they know that whenever they’re diagnosed they don’t have to give up anything. Your life does not have to change at all, except that you take some medication now and that’s it,” she said.

Guests:

Andre Wade, State Director, Silver State Equality; Connie Shearer, Co-Chair, NV HIV Modernization Coalition; Stephan Page, Co-Chair, NV HIV Modernization Coalition