Travel and long-stay restrictions for foreign nationals with HIV have no logical basis and have been deemed a human rights violation by the United Nations

Published in South China Morning Post on February 5, 2019

Visa restrictions for HIV-positive immigrants still in place in dozens of countries

  • Recent leak in Singapore of data of HIV-positive people renewed attention on its curbs on long-term stays by those who have the virus
  • Countries with restrictions include Russia and the United Arab Emirates; there’s no logical basis for them any more, UNAids says

A data leak of Singaporean medical records exposing the HIV-positive status of 14,200 people last month triggered concerns about a backlash for those whose health status was made public in a country that continues to stigmatise the disease.

But the case, involving the records of 8,800 foreign nationals who tested positive for HIV in Singapore, also shines a spotlight on the city state’s restrictive policies towards foreigners with HIV, who face barriers to staying in the country for more than 90 days unless married to a Singaporean national.

The records were leaked by a foreigner in just such a situation, American Mikhy Farrera Brochez, who was deported after serving jail time for drug-related crimes and fraud, including hiding his HIV status. He was able to access the records with help from his boyfriend, a Singaporean doctor.

Singapore is one of only a handful of developed nations that still have laws restricting the long-term stay of foreign nationals with HIV – laws that have been deemed a human rights violation by the United Nations.

“When this [1998] law was brought in there was a lot more fear of unknown issues around disease … but [today] the logic is just not borne out by any scientific or medical basis,” says Eamonn Murphy, UNAids regional director for Asia and the Pacific.

Instead, countries that still have such restrictions in place often do so because of “historical convention, ideology, or even passivity”, Murphy says. He notes that UNAids is renewing its focus on the issue this year, compiling a new report on national restrictions.

UNAids most recent comprehensive report on HIV-related travel and immigration laws in 2015 listed 35 countries with such restrictions.

However, incomplete data published in 2018 by UNAids named at least 18 countries that have policies restricting entry, stay or residence for people living with HIV. Information from many countries were left off the list, and will be updated this year to reflect the true extent. The same report found that 60 countries require testing for residence or other permits, including marriage, not limited to foreigners.

The exact numbers, however, are difficult to pin down, experts say. An independently researched global database counts 49 countries with HIV-related restrictions on long-term stay in 2018, based on information sourced from local embassies and reports from travellers and immigrants. Countries with restrictions include Russia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.

“The data the countries present about themselves in diplomatic settings can be different from the policies that are actually executed,” says American epidemiologist Jessica Keralis, who has researched the public health impacts of such HIV-related restrictions.

For example, countries may not have regulations “on the books”, but employers can revoke visas for HIV-positive employees, or state insurance policy can make it difficult for immigrants to afford treatment, she says.

In other cases, official policy may not be known by regional or local officials and institutions.

These distinctions matter for HIV-positive immigrants, whether white-collar workers, migrant labourers or students, according to David Haerry, who publishes the Global Database on HIV-Specific Travel and Residence Restrictions, which names the 49 countries.

“Oftentimes people [sent abroad for work] don’t know and they fall in the trap: if you don’t know and you have to be tested on the ground, and then you are sent back on health grounds, your company knows,” he says. “It’s a big issue.”

Haerry receives daily emails through the database from people around the world wondering how to travel or relocate safely while living with HIV. In recent years, he’s seen restrictive policies become more of an issue for students looking to study abroad, but who fear the consequences of mandatory HIV testing even in countries where there is no explicit restriction on those who are HIV-positive.

For such situations, “we have no solution”, Haerry says.

Many national restrictions are holdovers from the 1980s, before the disease’s transmission was understood and the antiretroviral therapies and daily medications that can prevent its spread became widely available, according to UNAids’ Murphy. But he has seen progress globally.

A number of countries changed their policies after UNAids launched a 2008 campaign against the 59 governments that had bans at that time. The United States, South Korea and China were among the nations to remove restrictions in 2010, although South Korea retained some related to immigration, while China reportedly has mandatory HIV testing for some visas.

Singapore revised its own regulations in 2015 to allow people living with HIV to enter the country for short-term stays of less than three months, while South Korea in 2017 removed its final restriction, which mandated the testing of foreign teachers.

But conservative cultures, social stigma and inertia have kept some restrictions in play in other nations, experts say. The majority of such restrictions are found in conservative countries; more countries in the Middle East than anywhere else have them.

“The basis of discrimination is misconception and fear, and with HIV these boil down to drug use, men who have sex with men, and all these realities that countries don’t want to face,” says Peter Wiessner, who co-authors the global database. “There’s also xenophobia mixed in.”

That element can have a negative public health impact, according to Keralis.

“It communicates that HIV is a foreign contagion and a foreigners’ problem, and if [citizens] don’t mix with foreigners then they are not at risk,” she says. She notes that, paired with a lack of proper sex education, this can create a dangerous situation.

“There’s no incentive for people to seek more information or modify their behaviours,” she says.

Belarus: 89 HIV criminalisation cases initiated in 2018 in the Gomel region alone

Published in TUT.BY on February 6, 2019 – Google translation from Russian. For original article in Russian, please scroll down.

There are also minors. How and who in the Gomel region are infected with HIV

In the Gomel region, the number of registered crimes under the article “Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus” remains high. Among those included in the statistics there are minors. The Investigation Committee told who, how and why infects a dangerous disease.

In 2018, 89 crimes under this article were registered in the region.

For example, a criminal case was initiated in Mazyr against a 16-year-old girl. A minor, knowing that she is a carrier of the virus, repeatedly entered into an intimate relationship with no means of protection with a 23-year-old young man. For knowingly putting him in danger of being infected with HIV by a court of the Mozyr District, the minor is sentenced to 6 months in prison with a 1-year delay in the execution of the sentence.
 
A criminal case was filed with the Svetlogorsk district court against a 24-year-old resident of Svetlogorsk, who was at risk of contracting HIV to his wife, and also infected a minor friend.

A 28-year-old resident of the Rogachev region infected two fellow villagers with HIV. The first victim learned about the diagnosis during the examination in the hospital. The second victim was established by investigative means. The district court sentenced a man to imprisonment for a term of 5.5 years with serving in a correctional colony with a reinforced regime.

Several criminal cases were sent to the Zhlobinsky District Court against a 26-year-old woman who, in the period from 2013 to 2018, infected four men with HIV and put four more people at risk of infection. The victims are from 25 to 65 years old.

According to the Gomel Regional Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Public Health, 7973 people with HIV-positive status live in the region. In 2018, the highest number of new cases was registered in the age group of 40 years and older (47.7%).

Есть и несовершеннолетние. Как и кого на Гомельщине заражают ВИЧ

В Гомельской области число зарегистрированных преступлений по статье «Заражение вирусом иммунодефицита человека» остается по-прежнему высоким. Среди попавших в статистику есть и несовершеннолетние. В Следственном комитете рассказали, кто, как и зачем заражает опасной болезнью.

В 2018 году в области зарегистрировано 89 преступлений по этой статье.

К примеру, в Мозыре возбуждено уголовное дело в отношении 16-летней девушки. Несовершеннолетняя, зная, что является носителем вируса, неоднократно вступала в интимную связь без средств защиты с 23-летним молодым человеком. За заведомое поставление его в опасность заражения ВИЧ судом Мозырского района несовершеннолетняя приговорена к 6 месяцам лишения свободы с отсрочкой исполнения наказания на 1 год.
 

В суд Светлогорского района направлено уголовное дело в отношении 24-летнего жителя Светлогорска, который подвергал опасности заражения ВИЧ жену, а также заразил несовершеннолетнюю знакомую.

28-летний житель Рогачевского района заразил ВИЧ двух односельчанок. Первая потерпевшая узнала о диагнозе при прохождении обследования в больнице. Вторая потерпевшая была установлена следственным путем. Районным судом мужчине назначено наказание в виде лишения свободы сроком на 5,5 года с отбыванием в исправительной колонии усиленного режима.

В суд Жлобинского района направлено несколько уголовных дел в отношении 26-летней женщины, которая в период с 2013 по 2018 год заразила ВИЧ четверых мужчин, еще четверых поставила в опасность заражения. Потерпевшим от 25 до 65 лет.

По информации Гомельского областного центра гигиены, эпидемиологии и общественного здоровья, в области проживает 7973 человека с ВИЧ-положительным статусом. В 2018 году наибольшее количество новых случаев заболевания зарегистрировано в возрастной группе 40 лет и старше (47,7%).

Читать полностью:  https://news.tut.by/society/625331.html?crnd=18984

 

 

 

Canada: Advocacy groups call on provinces to follow the Justice Department's directive to limit prosecutions for HIV non-disclosure

Published in The Canadian Press on February 4, 2019

Groups want provinces to have consistent policies on limiting HIV prosecutions

VANCOUVER — Advocacy groups are calling on provinces to follow the Justice Department’s directive to stop unjustly prosecuting HIV-positive people for not disclosing their status if there is no chance they could transmit the virus to their sexual partners.

The directive to limit prosecutions involving people who are on HIV treatment was issued in December but applies only to federal Crown attorneys in the three territories.
 
Richard Elliott, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, said international scientific consensus on HIV transmission was reviewed by the Public Health Agency of Canada and informed the federal decision.
 
Ontario had already amended its policies but in a limited way to no longer prosecute people with a suppressed viral load and Elliott said Alberta has said in a letter to the network it has done the same but without stating that in a policy.

The federal directive goes further in saying people who also use a condom or engage in oral sex should generally not face serious charges such as aggravated sexual assault.

“We’ve written to all provincial attorneys general following the federal directive to say ‘Here’s the federal directive. We reiterate to you what the science is telling us and public-interest reasons for you to appropriately limit the use of criminal law.’ ”

Inconsistent policies mean that HIV-positive people in most provinces may fear being threatened with prosecution by partners who have no basis for a complaint and could even shun treatment based on stigma and discrimination, Elliott said.

In July 2018, scientists from around the world, including Canada, published a consensus statement on HIV transmission in relation to criminal law in the Journal of International AIDS Society. It said correct use of a condom prevents transmission and that possibility is further decreased or eliminated when someone has a viral load that is low or undetectable.

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and other organizations are currently pushing Attorney General David Eby to limit HIV prosecution in British Columbia.

“There is not a single circumstance identified in the current BC Prosecution Service policy where they say we will not prosecute even though both Ontario and the feds and Alberta, in a letter, have somehow been able to clearly state that no, we will not prosecute in our jurisdiction someone who has a suppressed viral load.”

Eby was not available for comment.

Dan McLaughlin, spokesman for the prosecution service, said the province is reviewing its policy and has been considering amendments to incorporate the directive of the federal attorney general.

The review will endeavour to ensure B.C.’s policy “addresses both public safety concerns and the issues of fairness and equity in a manner consistent with the law,” he said in a statement.

Elliott, who will be one of the speakers on the issue Tuesday at Simon Fraser University, said about 210 people across the country have been prosecuted for alleged HIV non-disclosure, the second-highest number in the world, after the United States.

Valerie Nicholson of Vancouver has been HIV-positive since 2004 and said her viral load has been negligible since 2008 because of the antiretroviral medication she takes.

Nicholson, who is a member of the Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization, said B.C. is “behind the times” with its disclosure policy.

She said she always reveals her status to sexual partners but that information was used against her by a man who informed her a year and a half after their relationship ended that she transmitted the virus to him and he would call police.

“I lived in fear for six months waiting for that knock on the door for the cops to be there,” she said. “I work in this field and if that can do that to me what does it do for someone (else)? Do they stay in an abusive relationship?”

Her big worry was that she had no way to prove she’d had a conversation with the man about her HIV status at the beginning of their relationship, Nicholson said.

Angela Kaida, a Simon Fraser University global health epidemiologist with an interest in the links between HIV and sexual and reproductive health, said the evolving conversation around the virus that is treatable needs to include the latest scientific evidence.

“People can live a normal life expectancy, they can have babies, those babies can be HIV-negative and healthy. People can have sex without a condom and not transmit HIV,” said Kaida, who will also be a featured speaker at the university on Tuesday.

“We have that science but what we haven’t resolved is the stigma, the discrimination and misinformation about HIV. What the evidence tells us that even if we criminalize people it’s not serving a public health goal.”

 

[Update] US: Missourians living with HIV testify in House committee hearing in support of proposals to modernise HIV criminalisation laws

Published in Houston Herald on Feb. 4, 2019

By Alexis Allison

Proposals to reduce criminal HIV exposure penalties encourage prevention

JEFFERSON CITY — LaTrischa Miles doesn’t spit when she runs.

A mother of three, the treatment adherence supervisor at Kansas City Health Center was diagnosed with HIV in 1995. She remembers the day like her birthday, and she remembers it when she’s running.

“Running is not a pretty sport. You see a lot of things when you’re running. You smell a lot of things when you’re running,” Miles said. “A lot of runners get dry mouth, and they spit, a lot. But I dare not. Because if I spit … I may get arrested at the finish line.”

Current Missouri law makes it a felony for a person knowingly infected with the human immunodeficiency virus to “recklessly” expose someone else without their knowledge or consent — whether or not the person meant to do so, and whether or not the victim contracted HIV. The law lists sex, needle-sharing and biting as methods of transfer.

It’s not clear whether spitting during a half-marathon violates the law, but that uncertainty is part of the problem. “As a person living with HIV,” Miles said, “I’ve lived in the shadow of these criminal laws.”

But for the second year in a row, Reps. Tracy McCreery, D-St. Louis, and Holly Rehder, R-Sikeston, have filed separate but similar bills to modernize what some call the “criminal HIV exposure” law.

Each proposal would apply penalties currently reserved for exposing someone to HIV to other “communicable diseases,” such as hepatitis C or HPV, and minimize the punishment for those convicted. The proposals also update the law’s language to reflect current understanding about how HIV is transmitted.

Miles and a slew of public health advocates, students and Missourians living with HIV testified in a House committee hearing Monday in support of the proposals. The witnesses emphasized the need for a revised bill that would reduce stigma, encourage people to know their status and reflect modern science.

“So much has changed. HIV is no longer a death sentence. It’s a chronic disease. It’s a human disease,” Miles said. “Persons living with HIV that once took 16 pills a day … now have the option to take one pill a day.”

Lawmakers passed the original bill in the late ‘80s, an era when the rampant spread of AIDS through sex made lovers into killers, and the law ensured they would be punished accordingly. Mere exposure can lead to a class B felony conviction. If the victim contracts HIV, the charge bumps up to a class A felony, punishable by up to 30 years or life in prison. It’s the same consequence in Missouri for murder.

Both proposals would consider whether the person with a communicable disease intended to transmit it to someone else, and the consequences would be less severe. Rehder’s bill makes knowingly exposing another person to a communicable disease a class C felony; if transmission occurs, the charge becomes a class B felony.

“For comparison’s sake, if you’re driving while intoxicated and hurt someone but don’t kill them in Missouri, it’s a class C felony,” Rehder said. “If you’re driving while intoxicated and in an act of criminal negligence you cause the death of someone, then it’s a class B felony, so that makes it more consistent.”

McCreery’s bill offers a less severe punishment, diminishing the consequences for exposing another person to a communicable disease to a class B misdemeanor — or a class A misdemeanor if the victim contracts the disease.

The severity of the current law also serves as a disincentive for people to know their HIV status, Rehder said. If a person doesn’t know they have HIV, they can’t be convicted of exposing the virus to another person.

And, Rehder said, people who are unaware of their positive status are responsible for 90 percent of HIV transfer — and that ignorance is a public health issue.

“The bottom line is, we want people to get tested and know their status and get treatment,” she said.

Another strategy the proposals encourage is prevention. Under the current law, condom use — which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends as a preventative strategy — is not a defense. The new proposals note that using science-based, preventive measures (including condoms) could serve as evidence that the person with the disease did not intend to expose or transmit it.

The proposals offer a few more updates based on the scientific advancements that have happened in the last 30 years. For one, they’ve removed “biting” from the list as a way to transfer HIV. In fact, transmitting HIV via biting is extremely rare — so rare that the CDC notes it’s only happened when the bite led to “severe trauma with extensive tissue damage and the presence of blood.”

McCreery’s bill removes the current law’s enhanced punishments for HIV-positive sex workers; Rehder’s does not address it. McCreery’s bill also eliminates punishments for a person with HIV or hepatitis who endangers a correctional or mental health employee.

The current law lists exposure to feces, urine or saliva as a means for transmission. Rehder’s version no longer specifically penalizes HIV or hepatitis and applies only in the case of exposure to “bodily fluids … scientifically shown to be a known means of transmission of a serious infectious or communicable disease.”

Rehder acknowledged that neither proposal is perfect, and the final product may lie somewhere between the two.

“We’re working closely together to present Missouri-specific options to update Missouri’s antiquated HIV laws,” McCreery said in an interview after the hearing. “We wanted to send a strong message to Missourians that this is a nonpartisan issue.”

 

Published in Fox2Now on December 1, 2018

Lawmakers, health officials push Missouri HIV law rewrite

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Some Missouri legislators and public health professionals are calling for a rewrite of the state’s HIV laws, which they say are outdated and medically inaccurate.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Republican Rep. Holly Rehder and Democratic Rep. Tracy McCreery proposed bills in the last legislative session to reduce the state’s penalties for exposing someone to HIV. They plan to present the same bills in the 2019 session.

Missouri’s roughly 30-year-old law states that an HIV-positive individual could be convicted of a felony if he or she exposes a partner to the disease without the partner’s knowledge or consent. The law gives a minimum 10-year sentence for transmitting HIV and minimum five-year sentence for knowingly exposing someone to HIV.

Advocates say such laws result in questionable prosecutions and negative public health outcomes.

 

St Vincent and the Grenadines: Following deportation of man jailed in Canada for alleged HIV transmission, prosecution service confirms existence of similar provision in SVG law

Persons who willfully pass on HIV infection can be charged – Prosecutor

HIV-positive persons in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) who wilfully pass on an HIV infection to another person can be charged with grievous bodily harm with intent under the laws of this country.

Crown Counsel at the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Karim Nelson made this clear to SEARCHLIGHT on Monday.

Nelson was responding to a question raised by a report that X, a 41-year-old man who was jailed in Canada after he knowingly passed on HIV to his lovers, had been deported to SVG, the land of his birth.

X arrived in SVG last Thursday February 7. He is originally from the East St George area and goes by the alias “Shorty”.

The Crown Counsel told SEARCHLIGHT there have been instances, in England particularly, where persons have been charged with grievously bodily harm with intent for doing what Ralph did.

“We have the same provision and we could apply that particular provision to deal with the situation,” the lawyer explained, while noting that this has never been done in SVG.

He explained that for a charge to be laid, a report will have to be made and the police must have evidence that the person who passed HIV to the other person actually knew that they had the health issue.

“The information can come from a third party because persons might know. For example, if there are persons whom this person confided in and say well ‘I have this disease’, that could be sufficient evidence to say this person knew they had this disease and they still went ahead and had unprotected sexual intercourse with another person.

“That to me will establish the person had intent to cause the grievous bodily harm,” Crown Counsel Nelson explained.

He however noted that without that third-party declaration, obtaining personal medical documents to use as evidence could present some difficulty.

“You can’t just move on the individual. There must be some sort of evidence that he committed a crime and in the absence of a person reporting the matter, you cannot be aware that a crime was actually committed,” the prosecutor added.

Meanwhile X’s crimes are generating discussion on local airwaves and on social media.

According to an article published on Monday March 10, 2014 in the Toronto Sun, X concealed his HIV-positive status from four sex partners and was found guilty of several crimes, including forcibly confining and assaulting his last victim.

The article noted that Justice Nancy Spies found X, 37 at the time, guilty of committing aggravated sexual assault by endangering the life of his last victim, between November 1, 2010 and New Year’s Day 2011 when he assaulted and held her captive for a few hours at his north Toronto home.

The Sun reported, “When police arrested X, a small-time pot dealer who lives on government assistance or disability, he admitted his HIV-positive status. When officers broke the grim news to the woman, she was so upset she became violently ill. Her worst fears were confirmed when she tested positive for HIV.

“Besides the last victim, X was also guilty of aggravated sexual assault against another woman between March 1, 2008 and August 5, 2010. This victim, like Xs last victim, also tested positive for HIV.”

In court, X denied hiding he was HIV positive, and claimed the two women consented to having unprotected sex with him while knowing of his condition. His version was rejected.

The Vincentian national also pleaded guilty to endangering two other women’s lives in 2009 and from January 1, 2003 to January 1, 2005. He admitted he had sex without revealing his condition to them. They tested negative for HIV.

X knew of his HIV status since May 2003 and despite repeated warnings by public health officials to disclose his condition to sex partners, he did not.

The SUN said when X was arrested in January 2011, police issued a public alert and Toronto public health authorities found the two other victims.

Russia: Russian Interior Ministry Press Service identified 130 cases of criminalisation of HIV transmission in 2018

How many Russians intentionally transmit HIV – Google translation from Russian article in News.Ru, published on January 25, 2019 – For article in Russian, scroll down.

Each year, the police recorded about 100 crimes under the article about intentional HIV transmission. So, in 2018 130 people were identified who committed similar offenses, in 2017 – 129. This was reported to the press service of the Russian Interior Ministry. At the same time, experts say that statistics hardly reflects the real picture. Most of the victims simply do not go to the police, fearing publicity. News.ru figured out whether it is difficult in court to punish the perpetrator of the infection and get a monetary compensation from him.

Despite the fact that on January 23, the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Chief Medical Officer of Russia Anna Popova, reported a decrease in the rate of increase in HIV incidence in 2018 by 2%, the overall picture of the spread of the disease in the country can hardly be called favorable. According to official data, the number of HIV-infected Russians has almost reached 1 million people. At the same time, the head of the Federal Scientific and Methodological Center for the Prevention and Fight against AIDS, academician Vadim Pokrovsky, has repeatedly stated that there can be much more in fact, from 1.3 million to 1.5 million people.

Deliberate HIV infection in Russia is a criminal offense for which you can get up to eight years in prison. According to Article 122 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, punishment threatens those who knew about their positive status, but hid it from a partner, as well as for knowingly putting another person in danger of infection and for infection if their professional duties were not performed properly. Moreover, if a person does not know about his illness, he does not bear criminal responsibility. Criminal liability is also a threat for the intentional infection of a venereal disease (Article 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), but such cases are much less frequent by law enforcement agencies: five criminals were identified in 2017, and one was reported in 2018. The Russian Interior Ministry also told News.ru .

More often The immunodeficiency virus is transmitted sexually, during pregnancy or breastfeeding from mother to child and through untreated medical or cosmetic items, if they have already been used by an infected person.

As a rule, HIV is diagnosed in the second stage of the disease. That is, from the moment of infection it can take from six months to several years. That is why, when a person finds out about his status, he is not always able to say with certainty at what point the infection occurred and whether it was intentional or accidental. That is why far from everybody turns to the police, lawyer Alexander Tolmachyov suggested in a conversation with News.ru.

Most often, it is very difficult to prove the intention and guilt of the person who infected it. Especially if the infection occurred in a medical facility. And one person suffered, not several. But in some cases, when a person knows exactly when he was infected, it is possible not only to punish the perpetrator, but also to sue the impressive compensation, which will cover the costs of treatment and moral harm. A significant factor here will be that the disease is incurable,” the expert believes.

To identify who the person was infected with, you can use laboratory tests, told a senior member of the Russian Scientific and Methodological Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS, epidemiologist Oleg Yurin, to News.ru.

“In sets of one or two people with the virus, it is easy, there are some studies that show how close these viruses are” ,  – stated the expert.

The doctor after diagnosis can only recommend contacting the person from whom the disease could have been transmitted. Often people, fearing publicity, do not go to the police, even if there is a suspicion that the infection was intentional, he suggested.

“Usually they turn to the police if there was some kind of violence or something like that, or maybe an infection occurred in the medical institutions. But about the infection in the clinic – it is quite difficult to prove, it is necessary to conduct an investigation. Basically, the medical institution is suspicious if a child is infected. Children have practically no other way of infection, because they do not use drugs, there is no sex. But here too it is possible to prove that in a certain institution infection occurred, but to prove that it is the fault of a particular health professional -is also quite difficult “ ,  – said epidemiologist.

Сколько россиян умышленно заражают ВИЧ

Елена Оя

Ежегодно полицией фиксируются порядка 100 преступлений по статье об умышленном заражении ВИЧ-инфекцией. Так, в 2018 году были выявлены 130 человек, совершивших аналогичные правонарушения, в 2017-м — 129. Об этом News.ru сообщили в пресс-службе МВД России. При этом эксперты утверждают, что статистика едва ли отражает реальную картину. Большинство пострадавших просто не обращаются в полицию, боясь огласки. News.ru выяснял, сложно ли в судебном порядке наказать виновного в заражении и получить с него денежную компенсацию.

Несмотря на то, что 23 января руководитель Роспотребнадзора, главный санитарный врач России Анна Попова сообщила о снижении темпов прироста заболеваемости ВИЧ в 2018 году на 2%, общую картину по распространению болезни в стране трудно назвать благоприятной. По официальным данным, количество ВИЧ-инфицированных россиян практически достигло 1 млн человек. При этом руководитель Федерального научно-методического центра по профилактике и борьбе со СПИДом, академик Вадим Покровский неоднократно заявлял, что по факту заболевших может быть гораздо больше — от 1,3 млн до 1,5 млн человек.

Умышленное заражение ВИЧ в России является уголовным преступлением, за которое можно получить срок до восьми лет лишения свободы. Согласно статье 122 УК РФ, наказание грозит тем, кто знал о своём положительном статусе, но скрыл его от партнёра, а также за заведомое поставление другого лица в опасность заражения и за инфицирование при ненадлежащем исполнении профессиональных обязанностей. При этом если человек не знает о своём заболевании, то уголовной ответственности он не несёт. Грозит уголовная ответственность и за умышленное заражение венерическим заболеванием (121-я статья УК РФ), но такие случаи органы правопорядка фиксируют значительно реже: в 2017-м выявлены пять преступников, в 2018-м — один, также сообщили News.ru в МВД России.

Чаще всего вирус иммунодефицита передаётся половым путём, во время беременности или грудного вскармливания от матери к ребёнку и через необработанные надлежащим образом медицинские или косметические предметы, если ими уже пользовался заражённый человек.

Как правило, ВИЧ диагностируют на второй стадии развития заболевания. То есть от момента заражения может пройти от шести месяцев и до нескольких лет. Именно поэтому, когда человек узнаёт о своём статусе, он не всегда с уверенностью может сказать, в какой момент произошло заражение и было ли оно умышленным или случайным. Именно поэтому в полицию обращаются далеко не все, предположил в разговоре с News.ru юрист Александр Толмачев.

«Чаще всего доказать умышленность и вину человека, который заразил, очень сложно. Особенно если заражение произошло в медицинском учреждении. И пострадал один человек, а не несколько. Но в некоторых случая, когда человек точно знает, когда он был инфицирован, можно не только наказать виновного, но и отсудить внушительную компенсацию, которая покроет издержки на лечение и моральный вред. Существенным фактором здесь будет являться то, что заболевание неизлечимое», — считает эксперт.

Выявить, от кого заразился человек, можно с помощью лабораторных анализов, рассказал News.ru старший научный сотрудник Российского научно-методического центра по профилактике и борьбе со СПИДом, эпидемиолог Олег Юрин.

«Установить, один ли вирус у двух человек, несложно, есть определённые исследования, которые показывают, насколько близки эти вирусы», — констатировал специалист.

По его словам, выяснять или нет, от кого произошло заражение, решает сам инфицированный. Врач после постановки диагноза может только рекомендовать связаться с человеком, от которого могло передаться заболевание. Часто люди, боясь огласки, не обращаются в полицию, даже если есть подозрение, что заражение было умышленным, предположил он.

«Обычно в полицию обращаются, если имело место быть какое-то насилие или что-то в таком духе, либо, может быть, в медицинских учреждениях произошло заражение. Но насчёт заражения в поликлинике — это достаточно сложно доказать, нужно проводить расследование. В основном на медучреждение падает подозрение, если заразился ребёнок. У детей практически нет другого способа заражения, поскольку они наркотики не употребляют, половых контактов нет. Но здесь тоже можно доказать, что в таком-то учреждении заражение произошло, но что по вине конкретного медицинского работника — это тоже достаточно сложно», — сообщил эпидемиолог.

 

 

US: Oklahoma State House representative files bill that would amend the law criminalising the transmission of STIs

Legislation would change STD criminal statutes

OKLAHOMA CITY – An Oklahoma lawmaker filed a bill that would amend the state’s criminal statutes regarding sexually transmitted diseases. Specifically, the bill would increase the number of behaviors considered criminal but reclassify all of the crimes as misdemeanors.

Oklahoma already has a law that criminalizes the knowing and deceptive transmission of infections, such as syphilis, smallpox and HIV. If a person keeps the diagnosis a secret from a partner and gives the partner the disease, the resident could face a felony.

Newly elected Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Oklahoma City, filed the measure that would add a slew of diseases to the list and expound on the kind of behavior considered criminal, but it would drop the maximum penalty.

House Bill 1858 would add about half a dozen diseases to the state statute on STDs. That includes some household names, such as genital herpes and chlamydia. However, it also includes several diseases that aren’t common in the United States or other developed countries, such as chancroid and granuloma inguinale.

Under current law, residents are culpable if they are infected and intentionally or recklessly spread their infections. Fugate’s bill would change that standard. The proposal would affect residents who know they are infected and either intentionally spread it or engage in conduct that poses a substantial risk of transmission while the other person is unaware the resident is infected.

The bill creates an exemption for residents who are undergoing treatment and have displayed good faith in complying with their physician’s prescribed regimen. It also exempts residents who are following behaviors recommended by a public health official, such as using condoms.

Current law makes these crimes a felony and punishable by at least two but up to five years in state prison. The new law would drop that to a misdemeanor, which could carry a sentence of up to one year in county jail or a fine of $1,000.

Fugate did not respond to requests for comment.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported in August that the state saw 31,779 cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis diagnosed in 2017, an increase from 29,716 reported in 2016. The most significant increase was found in the number of syphilis cases, with an increase of 36.5 percent in one year. Reports indicate an increase of nearly 20 percent in the number of gonorrhea cases.

The United Health Foundation released America’s Health Rankings in December, in which it ranked Oklahoma 47th in overall health. The same data showed that Oklahoma’s rate of chlamydia far outpaced the nation’s. Oklahomans were diagnosed at a rate of 548.4 per 100,000, whereas nationally the rate was 497.3 per 100,000. Oklahoma came in at 38th in terms of chlamydia diagnoses. Alaska came in at 50th with 771.6 cases per 100,000.

Nicole McAfee is the Smart Justice Campaign manager for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma. She said Oklahomans on each side of the aisle are working to reform the criminal justice system, and that will require approaching issues like this one differently.

“What we ultimately need to do is decarcerate our prisons and jails,” her written statement says in part. “That requires thinking twice about our immediate reaction to use carceral punishment as a response to a public health crisis.”

Canada: The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) publishes a position paper proposing a feminist approach to law reform on HIV non-disclosure

The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) has written a position paper proposing a feminist approach to law reform on HIV non-disclosure.

LEAF supports the federal government’s recent prosecutorial directive intended to reduce the over-criminalization of those living with HIV/AIDS. Canadian law currently criminalizes HIV non-disclosure where a person who is HIV-positive exposes their sexual partner to a significant risk of serious bodily harm—which in law includes a realistic possibility of HIV transmission. Most cases are prosecuted as aggravated sexual assaults, which is punishable by a maximum life sentence. As of December 2018, the Attorney General of Canada will not prosecute charges of HIV non-disclosure if a person living with HIV has maintained a suppressed viral load, used condoms, or engaged only in oral sex.

Women’s rights are also engaged by this area of law. Women are often complainants in these cases—nearly 20% of women with HIV report having acquired the virus through sexually coercive experiences. And HIV non-disclosure prosecutions have led to an increase in women, particularly marginalized women, being convicted of aggravated sexual assault. Almost 80% of women living with HIV are Indigenous or racialized, and they already face serious over-criminalization.  Prosecuting HIV non-disclosure as a sexual offence has distorted concepts about sex and consent that are foundational to women’s equality – in an attempt to fit HIV non-disclosure into sexual assault law, courts have narrowed the scope of sexual activity that requires consent in law and risked introducing discriminatory myths and stereotypes into the criminal trial.

This is why LEAF is recommending further reforms that will ensure meaningful protections for women’s equality rights—especially for marginalized women. Most importantly, HIV non-disclosure should not be treated as a sexual offence. This would protect the equality-enhancing purpose of sexual assault law by affirming a concept of consent that is rooted in sexual autonomy. Where HIV non-disclosure results in actual transmission of the virus, prosecution may be appropriate under non-sexual Criminal Code offences. This would reduce the punitive over-criminalization of people living with HIV, while protecting women who contract HIV from partners who take no care to prevent transmission. There are no Canadian cases where an accused responsibly used a condom or had an undetectable viral load and the virus was nonetheless transmitted. Finally, prosecutorial guidelines should ensure that HIV positive women who are victims of violence, coercion or sexual assault are not prosecuted for their failure to disclose their HIV status when that failure is a result of the violence or threats of violence committed against them.

“In addition to raising significant concerns for the equality and dignity of those living with HIV, the law of HIV non-disclosure also impacts women’s equality rights,” says Karen Segal, LEAF Counsel. “LEAF seeks to ensure that women’s equality is specifically attended to in any future law reform initiatives, so that women are protected from sexual violence and from punitive over-criminalization, and so that the right to bodily and sexual autonomy remains the foundational concept in the law of sexual offences.”

  • Read LEAF’s position paper here

The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) works to advance the substantive equality rights of women and girls through litigation, law reform, and public education. Since 1985, we have intervened in landmark cases that have advanced equality in Canada—helping to prevent violence, eliminate discrimination in the workplace, provide better maternity benefits, ensure a right to pay equity, and allow access to reproductive freedoms. For more information, please visit www.leaf.ca.  

For media inquiries, please contact:

Karen Segal, Counsel             

Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund                                      

416.595.7170 x2003                                                                         

k.segal@leaf.ca

US: New legislation updates Michigan's HIV disclosure law, reflecting advances in HIV science

Source Michigan Coalition for HIV Health and Safety – Press release January 9, 2019

MICHIGAN MAKES STRIDES IN MODERNIZING HIV DISCLOSURE LAW

 January 8, 2019 — LANSING, MI. After five years of work by the Michigan Coalition for HIV Health and Safety with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), advocates living with HIV and other national and local partners, Michigan’s HIV disclosure law has been modernized.

The new legislation, HB 6020 and HB 6021, was introduced by State House Representative Jon Hoadley (D-Kalamazoo) and was supported by the Republican majorities in the House and Senate.  After passing both chambers, the bill was presented to Governor Snyder who signed the bill December 27, 2018.

 Previously, a person living with HIV (PLHIV) could face a felony up to 4 years in prison for not disclosing their HIV status prior to any type of sexual penetration. The degree of risk of HIV transmission was not a factor in the statute; including circumstances where there was no HIV transmission, nor even any risk of HIV transmission.

The amended law removes those living with HIV who are on treatment and virally suppressed-posing no risk of transmitting HIV-from being subject to prosecution. It also narrows the scope of sexual activities subject to prosecution, from “any type of sexual penetration to only “vaginal and anal sex.” Oral sex, which poses no or negligible risk of transmission regardless of whether the person with HIV is on treatment or virally suppressed, is no longer subject to prosecution.

For PLHIV who are not on treatment and not virally suppressed, it remains a felony if they do not disclose and do transmit HIV sexually. If they do not disclose and do not transmit, the penalty has been reduced to a misdemeanor in the amended statute. Any person with a “specific intent” to infect another person also remains subject to prosecution.

“The Michigan Coalition for HIV Health and Safety (The Coalition)  salutes and applauds Rep. Hoadley’s effort in progressing a decades old law and thanks our partners in the coalition, the Sero Project for their guidance and MDHHS for leading the effort,” states Kelly Doyle, Executive Director of CARES (Community AIDS Resource and Education Services of Southwest Michigan). “Rep. Hoadley has worked with coalition partners to seek advice and leadership from PLWH and those who provide care for PLWH throughout the state.”

 “I’m encouraged that the legislature understands the advances in HIV science and look forward to continuing efforts that support PLWH,” states Pat Clark, advocate living with HIV.

 “The previous law needed immediate attention and updating from its inception 30 years ago,” said Curtis Lipscomb of LGBT Detroit.  “As a partner of The Coalition, modernizing Michigan’s HIV disclosure law significantly impacts our state’s residents who are affected by HIV and AIDS.  Although the new law doesn’t wave the magic wand to solves all immediate concerns, we have made progress that makes Michigan safer and smarter.”

 The new law reflects the significant advances in HIV science, particularly concerning how viral suppression impacts transmission risks. Viral load tests measure the amount of HIV in the blood of a person living with HIV; effective HIV treatment can suppress the level to below the limits of detectability by contemporary technology. When the viral load cannot be detected, the person with HIV is not at risk of transmitting HIV to their sexual partners.

 “My hope is that The Whitmer Administration invests in educating Michiganders living with HIV about the modernized law and the importance for getting tested for HIV,” Lipscomb adds.  “The work of The Coalition will continue to modernize and improve this bill to include PrEP and condom usage as well as work towards eliminating racial disparities in HIV healthcare.

 Contact Kelly Doyle for further information at (269) 806-3970.

 ###

 The Michigan Coalition for HIV Health and Safety, founded in 2013, works to modernize Michigan’s HIV response to increase the health outcomes and safety of all Michiganders. The Coalition includes more than 30 Michigan non-profit organizations.

 CARES was founded in 1985 and supports 10 counties in Michigan. Its mission is to maximize the quality of life for people living with HIV and to minimize the transmission.

 LGBT Detroit, founded in 1994, commits to furthering its mission, increasing the prominence and visibility of Detroit’s LGBT culture, and building a strong, healthy and vibrant community, with a focus on youth and young adult development, sexual orientation and gender identity education and advocacy, and emotional and physical well-being.

Tajikistan: Amendments to criminal code introduces criminal liability for beauty salons, hairdressers and other services & strengthened penalties in cases of alleged HIV transmission

Rahmon introduced criminal liability for hairdressers to HIV infection (Google translation from Russian)

In Tajikistan, the liability of doctors, beauty salons, hairdressers and other service enterprises for HIV infection has been strengthened. The President of the Republic, Emomali Rakhmon, has signed amendments to the Criminal and Administrative Codes made and supported by the Parliament, the Khovar agency reports .

Responsibility, according to the law, is provided for those employees who “due to non-compliance with sanitary and hygienic, sanitary and anti-epidemic rules and regulations have become the cause of the HIV / AIDS virus.” The punishment is also tightened for those who are engaged in the import and production of low-quality or counterfeit medicines that do not meet established standards, or sells expired medicines.

Other amendments made to the Criminal Code strengthened the responsibility for intentional infection with the HIV / AIDS virus and human trafficking. For how long the penalties are tightened, it is not reported, it says only that “the full text of the adopted laws will be published in the official press of the country in the coming days.”

The first, which became known to the media, the case of accountability in Tajikistan of a person guilty of mass infection of the disease, occurred in August 2018. A court in the Sharuz district of the Khatlon region sentenced a local woman who engaged in prostitution and thus infected 10 men with HIV, to one year’s imprisonment.

Later began “sanitary” raids on hairdressing and dental clinics. In the Khatlon region, several barber shops, beauty salons and dental clinics were closed, and in the Sughd region, dozens of dental offices and beauty salons closed for violation of sanitary and hygienic standards.

This happened after September 1 at the State Medical University Rakhmon criticized the activities of private dental clinics, expressed concern about the growth of infectious diseases, instructing the Ministry of Health and other specialized departments to “take action”, and also proposed criminal liability for dentists and hairdressers customers are infected with any kind of infection.

Source: Fergana News, January 3, 2019

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Рахмон ввел ответственность для парикмахеров за заражение ВИЧ

В Таджикистане усилена ответственность врачей, работников салонов красоты, парикмахерских и других предприятий сферы обслуживания за заражение ВИЧ. Президент республики Эмомали Рахмон подписал внесенные и поддержанные парламентом поправки в Уголовный и административный кодексы, сообщает агентство «Ховар».

Ответственность, говорится в законе, предусмотрена для тех сотрудников, которые «из-за несоблюдения санитарно-гигиенических, санитарно-противоэпидемических правил и норм стали причиной заражения вирусом ВИЧ/СПИД». Наказание ужесточено также для тех, кто занимается ввозом и производством низкокачественных или поддельных медикаментов, не отвечающих установленным стандартам, или продает просроченные лекарства.

Другими изменениями, внесенными в УК, усилена ответственность за умышленное заражение вирусом ВИЧ/СПИД и торговлю людьми. На какие сроки ужесточены наказания, не сообщается, говорится только, что «полный текст принятых законов в ближайшие дни будет опубликован в официальной прессе страны».

Первый, ставший известным СМИ, случай привлечения к ответственности в Таджикистане лица, виновного в массовом заражении болезнью, произошел в августе 2018 года. Суд Шаартузского района Хатлонской области приговорил местную жительницу, занимавшуюся проституцией и заразившую таким образом ВИЧ-инфекцией 10 мужчин, к одному году лишения свободы.

Позже начались «санитарные» рейды на парикмахерские и стоматологические клиники. В Хатлонской области были закрыты несколько парикмахерских, салонов красоты и стоматологических клиник, а в Согдийской области за нарушение санитарно-гигиенических норм закрыли десятки стоматологических кабинетов и салонов красоты.

Это произошло после того, как 1 сентября в Государственном медуниверситете Рахмон раскритиковал деятельность частных стоматологических клиник, выразил обеспокоенность ростом инфекционных заболеваний, поручив Минздраву и другим профильным ведомствам «принять меры», а также предложил ввести уголовную ответственность для стоматологов и парикмахеров, если по их вине клиенты заражаются какой-либо инфекцией.