While science has vastly advanced since the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic more than 30 years ago, the ways in which many criminal laws treat people living with HIV look like throwbacks to the dark days of the past when fear and misinformation about HIV and how it is transmitted wer…
H.R. 1843, REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act Outreach Toolkit | The Center for HIV Law and Policy
H.R. 1843, the Repeal Existing Policies that Encourage and Allow Legal (REPEAL) HIV Discrimination Act, was introduced on May 7, 2013 by U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.).
US: Advocate editorial supports REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act
This past week, U.S. representative Barbara Lee reintroduced a bill to repeal HIV criminalization laws across the nation, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Earlier this year, LGBT people went on red alert when a public health bill in Kansas proposed that people living with HIV could be quarantined.
allAfrica.com: Tanzania: MP Wants Law Passed to Control Prostitution
A MEMBER of Parliament has asked the government to table in the House a Bill to fight prostitution in the country. Catherine Magige (Special Seats – CCM) said that prostitution in the country has been on the increase, indicating moral degradation and contributing to more HIV infections. She wanted to know when the government would bring to Parliament a bill to fight the immoral practice’. In response, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Deputy Minister Angela Kairuki said the government would bring to Parliament a bill to that effect if an evaluation showed some weaknesses in the existing legal framework to fight prostitution.
China: Guangdong Province revises policy preventing people with HIV from being teachers
HIV carriers and people with sexually transmitted diseases (STD) will be able to take up teaching posts in Guangdong Province from September 1, according to a recently revised regulation from the provincial education authority. The Department of Education of Guangdong Province published the regulation on the physical conditions of applicants for teaching posts on April 16. It no longer stipulated that those with HIV or STDs are prohibited from the teaching profession, despite an earlier draft regulation published at the beginning of the year in which the ban was still listed.
In 2007, Guangdong began implementing a trial regulation on the physical conditions of applications for teachers, in which HIV carriers and people with STDs were automatically disqualified from teaching positions. When the draft regulation was initially published to get public feedback, anti-discrimination NGOs protested that the ban on HIV carriers was still included.
US: REPEAL ACT to modernise HIV criminalisation laws reintroduced with bipartisan support
Yesterday, California Congresswoman Barbara Lee (Democrat) was joined by Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Republican) to introduce a new version of the ‘Repeal Existing Policies that Encourage and Allow Legal HIV Discrimination Act’ (the ‘REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act’, or the ‘REPEAL Act’) first introduced by Congresswoman Lee in September 2011.
The REPEAL Act was the first to take on the issue of HIV criminalisation in the United States. The first time around it achieved 41 co-sponsors, all of whom were Democrats.
It is notable this this time, the REPEAL Act (known formally as H.R. 1843) has intially been co-sponsored by a Republican, suggesting the Act may go further this time and make it out of committee and on to the floor for consideration.
A press release issued yesterday by Congresswoman Lee’s office summarises the proposed legislation (which can be read in full and downloaded below):
“These laws are based on bias, not science. We need to make sure that our federal and state laws don’t discriminate against people who are living with HIV. These laws breed fear, discrimination, distrust, and hatred, and we’ve got to modernize them. That’s exactly what this legislation would do,” said Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
Today, 32 states and 2 U.S. territories have criminal statutes based on outdated information regarding HIV/AIDS. This bipartisan legislation would allow federal and state officials and community stakeholders to work together to review the efficacy of laws that target people living with HIV/AIDS. The REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act would authorize the Attorney General, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Secretary of Defense to monitor new and existing laws imposing criminal liability against people with HIV/AIDS and to establish a set of best practices for legislatures to consider when proposing such legislation.
Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen added, “I’m pleased to co-sponsor this bipartisan bill that will help end the serious problem of discrimination in criminal and civil cases against those who are HIV positive. Singling out and discriminating against those living with HIV is not in line with our American values and we must do better. The legislation seeks to modernize our current outdated laws and bring them into the 21st century. I urge my Republican and Democrat colleagues to join Barbara and me in helping those persons living with HIV live as healthy and normal a life as possible.”
If passed, the act will be a key step towards ending unfair and unjust HIV criminalization laws in the United States by developing a set of best practices for the treatment of HIV in criminal and civil commitment cases, issuing guidance to states based on those best practices, and monitoring how states change policies consistent with that guidance.
Lambda Legal Urges Congress to Pass the REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act
Lambda Legal is voicing its support the REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act, which would encourage states to reconsider laws and practices that unfairly target people with HIV for consensual sex and conduct that poses no real risk of HIV transmission. Scott Schoettes, Lambda Legal’s HIV Project Director, says: “The more messages we can send to states to modernize or eliminate HIV criminalization laws the better—and that is exactly what this bill does. It is high time the nation’s HIV criminalization laws reflect the current reality of living with HIV, both from medical and social perspectives. Except for perhaps the most extreme cases, the criminal law is far too blunt an instrument to address the subtle dynamics of HIV disclosure.”
Bahrain: Proposed law would require people with HIV to obtain judges' permission to marry
Bahrain citizens suffering from a hereditary or incurable disease – such as sickle cell anaemia, HIV, and hepatitis – will need to get permission from the courts to get married under a new draft bill currently being considered by the government, it has been reported. Under the current law, in place since 2004, it is compulsory for all engaged couples to get a certificate from the Health Ministry that states they have undergone premarital check-ups, where they are tested for hereditary diseases such as sickle cell anaemia and thalassaemia, and incurable diseases like HIV, and hepatitis.
While the outcome of the check-ups does not currently restrict them from going ahead with the marriage, a new bill could mean those who test positive for any of the hereditary or incurable diseases will need to get permission from the courts to pursue the marriage, according to a report by Gulf Daily News. A draft of the law is now before the National Assembly for revision. However, the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs has already objected to the move and said it was against Sharia Law and basic human rights to stop anyone marrying someone they want to on the grounds of their health conditions. A doctor who is behind the proposal reportedly said “it was essential for judges to take the decision in such cases to prevent emotions from getting in the way.”
Nigeria: Yobe state assembly plans mandatory couples HIV testing before marriage
The Speaker of the Yobe House of Assembly, Alhaji Adamu Dala Dogo, has disclosed that the House would soon pass a law which would make it mandatory for all intending couples to undergo HIV/AIDS test before their marriages in any church or mosque in the state. He said this was to help prevent the spread of the scourge in the state, as it was on the increase.
The law, according to the speaker, is expected to be passed before the end of the year and would be useful in the efforts to ensure that the scourge of AIDS in the state is “remarkable curtailed.” “The spread of this deadly virus can only be effectively prevented from spreading among the people through ‘genuine tests’ on HIV/AIDS, particularly on all intending couples that want to get married.”
Keeping Confidence: HIV and the criminal law from service provider perspectives (HJN, 2013) (3 of 4)
The Keeping Confidence one day conference was a free event to discuss findings from a report that we produced in conjunction with Birkbeck College. For more detailed information on the project please follow this link to the project description page: sigmaresearch.org.uk/projects/policy/project55/
Overview of updated 2013 BHIVA/BASHH position paper, ‘HIV transmission, the law and the work of the clinical team’
Dr Mary Poulton, Consultant and Clinical Head, Sexual Health and HIV, Kings College Hospital
Video produced by georgetownmedia.de