Russia: Lawmakers in the Altai Krai region unanimously agree to support a law to allow for mandatory HIV testing AND treatment

English version – Translation (For Russian version, please scroll down)

The Provincial Parliament’s legislative initiative will be sent to the State Duma as a draft federal law

BARNAUL, December 15. Deputies of the Legislative Assembly of the Altai Krai took the initiative to take on the federal law on compulsory treatment of people diagnosed with HIV. They decided to send a proposal to the State Duma as a session of the regional parliament adopted it, reports the press service of the Legislative Assembly.

“The Provincial Parliament will send to the State Duma a legislative initiative of the draft federal law” On Amendments to the Federal Law “On Prevention of Spread of the disease caused by HIV.” For example, citizens suffering from social diseases, which constitute a danger to others (tuberculosis), are subject to mandatory laboratory examination and medical observation or treatment and compulsory hospitalization or isolation in the manner prescribed by the law. The initiative involves the Altai Deputies to extend these norms to HIV-infected patients”, – said the press service.

They added that all 66 deputies unanimously supported the initiative to amend the Law. “The adjustment of the law is to allow professionals, as appropriate, provide forced treatment and monitoring of HIV-infected people to avoid the spread of the virus,” – explained the Legislative Assembly.

According to the press service, the medical check-up and treatment of HIV-infected people in Russia is fulfilled at the expense of the federal subsidies and intergovernmental transfers of the RF federal budget entities to ensure the procurement of antiviral drugs. “Thus, additional funding for coverage of medical observation and treatment of patients with HIV infection is not needed” – added the Legislative Assembly of the Altai Territory.

For most of the Altai Territory, the issue of HIV is relevant: according to the Regional AIDS Centre, for the past 10 years in the region, the number of people diagnosed with HIV has doubled to more over 24 thousand people. Now in the region 217 children and more than 3 thousand adults get treatment. According to official data of Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, totally 824 thousand HIV cases are registered in Russia. The average therapy coverage nationally is about 40%.

Краевой парламент в порядке законодательной инициативы направит в Госдуму проект соответствующего федерального закона

БАРНАУЛ, 15 декабря. /Корр. ТАСС Ксения Шубина/. Депутаты Алтайского краевого Законодательного собрания выступили с инициативой принять на федеральном уровне закон о принудительном лечении людей с диагнозом ВИЧ. Решение направить такое предложение в Госдуму было принято на сессии регионального парламента, сообщили в пресс-службе Заксобрания.

“Краевой парламент направит в Госдуму в порядке законодательной инициативы проект федерального закона “О внесении изменений в Федеральный закон “О предупреждении распространения в Российской Федерации заболевания, вызываемого ВИЧ”. К примеру, граждане, страдающие социально значимыми заболеваниями, представляющими опасность для окружающих (туберкулез), в обязательном порядке подлежат лабораторному обследованию и медицинскому наблюдению или лечению и обязательной госпитализации или изоляции в порядке, установленном законодательством РФ. Инициатива алтайских депутатов предполагает распространить эти нормы и на ВИЧ-инфицированных больных”, – сказали в пресс-службе.

Там добавили, что все 66 депутатов единогласно поддержали инициативу о внесении изменений в ФЗ. “Корректировка закона должна позволить специалистам, в случае необходимости, проводить лечение и наблюдение за ВИЧ-инфицированными в принудительном порядке, чтобы избежать распространения вируса”, – пояснили в Заксобрании.

По данным пресс-службы, диспансерное наблюдение и лечение ВИЧ-инфицированных в России осуществляется за счет федеральных субсидий и межбюджетных трансфертов федерального бюджета субъектам РФ на обеспечение закупок антивирусных препаратов. “Таким образом, дополнительного финансирования на охват диспансерным наблюдением и лечением больных ВИЧ-инфекцией не потребуется”, – добавили в Заксобрании Алтайского края.

Для самого Алтайского края тема борьбы с ВИЧ актуальна: по данным регионального Центра СПИД, за последние 10 лет в регионе количество людей с выявленным диагнозом ВИЧ увеличилось в два раза – до более чем 24 тыс. человек. Сейчас в регионе получают лечение 217 детей и более 3 тыс. взрослых. По официальным данным Минздрава РФ, всего в России зарегистрировано 824 тыс. случаев ВИЧ-инфекции. Охват терапией в среднем по стране – около 40%.

Originally published in TASS

El Salvador: New law for the prevention and control of HIV includes duty to disclose HIV-status to all sexual partners

English translation ((Para artículo en español, desplácese hacia abajo)

People who are HIV positive and who want to maintain a permanent or eventual relationship with their partner, should inform them of their status as a carrier of the virus, as established by a new law in the country.

The Legislative Assembly approved in the plenary session, Wednesday of this week, the new Law on Prevention and Control of Infection caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

The regulations were described by the Atlacatl Vivo Positivo Association as “a setback” in defending the human rights of HIV positive people. In the section that refers to the duty to communicate, article 15, third paragraph of the law states that “any person who has been notified of his / her serological condition is obliged to communicate this situation to his / her partner, whether permanent or casual,”

The director of the Atlacatl Association, Odir Miranda, said that the law is criminalizing people who HIV positive “because it is forcing us to reveal that we are HIV positive; The other is that I can accuse a person and say that she infected me and I have no way to prove whether it was her or someone else “Miranda said.

He added that another disadvantage to which the new regulations exposes them is that by forcing them to say they have the virus, they are not likely to obtain housing, life insurance and hardly likely to get jobs, he explained

That aspect of the law is very serious, says Miranda, because they can not be exposed to regulations that, instead of helping to defend the human rights of HIV-positive people, will criminalize them, he said.

The Atlacatl Association criticized the fact that the body governing the regulation is the Ministry of Health, as embodied by article 3 of the new law. Miranda questions this because, according to him, The Ministry of Health is judge and part with its functions.

He added that the state portfolio, as the lead agency, will not be impartial when imposing sanctions for complaints against discrimination in the hospitals of the public network and the Salvadoran Institute of Social Security.

“There are many complaints of discrimination that we have put against hospitals and so far nothing has been done,” Miranda said.

In practice the law is nothing new, what’s more, it would better if it was repealed because it rights woudd be better, he said.

The only thing that the Public Health Commission of the Legislative Assembly did with the new legislation, then approved by the plenary, was to empower the Ministry of Health and change the name of the National Commission against AIDS (Conasida) to the National Commission Against HIV (Conavih).

According to him, the law has wanted to sell itself as a human rights approach, but it does not have it because they have left out the Ministry of Labor and Education, who are part of the main bodies in the national response to HIV.

The National HIV Commission is made up of the Ministry of Health, the Higher Public Health Council (CSSP), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights (PDDH), the Associations and Foundations whose objective is prevention of The Medical School, the Ministry of Social Inclusion and the National Institute of Youth.

When discussing the draft law that was approved on Wednesday, the Atlacatl Association proposed that the governing body be an institution detached from the Ministry of Health because the approach they sought was a multisectoral participation with the Attorney General’s Office, and the Supreme Court, among others.

With this framework of disadvantage, according to Miranda, they will ask the President of the Republic, Salvador Sánchez Cerén, to veto the new law because it gives a negative message to the country in response to HIV.

Miranda called the regulations a delay to what has been achieved in terms of fighting and responding to the disease. “We will target activities towards the Presidential House so that it does not sanction it,” he said. He even said that they could go to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to denounce the law.

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Portadores de VIH obligados a decir su condición a su pareja sexual

La Asamblea legislativa aprobó la nueva Ley de Prevención y Control de la Infección provocada por el Virus de Inmunodeficiencia. La ley aún debe ser sancionada por el presidente de la República, Salvador Sánchez Cerén.

Por Roberto Alas

Las personas que se encuentren con el Virus de Inmunodeficiencia Humana (VIH) y que quieran mantener una relación permanente o eventual con su pareja, deberá informarle su condición de  portador del virus, según ha quedado establecido en una nueva ley del país.

La Asamblea Legislativa aprobó en la sesión plenaria, del miércoles de esta semana, la nueva Ley de Prevención y Control de la Infección provocada por el Virus de Inmunodeficiencia Humana.

La normativa fue calificada por la Asociación Atlacatl Vivo Positivo como “un retroceso” en la defensa de los derechos humanos de estas personas. En el apartado que se refiere al Deber de comunicar, el artículo 15 inciso tercero de la normativa establece que “toda persona que haya sido notificada de su condición serológica, está obligada a comunicarle tal situación a su pareja, ya sea permanente o eventual”, expone.

El director de la Asociación Atlacatl, Odir Miranda, aseguró que la ley está criminalizando a las personas con VIH positivo “porque nos está obligando a revelar que somos VIH positivo; lo otro es que yo puedo acusar a una persona y decir que me infectó y no tengo la manera de probar si fue ella u otra”, expuso Miranda.

Agregó que otra de las desventajas en la que los expone la nueva normativa es que al obligarlos a decir que tienen el virus, no son sujetos a obtener viviendas, un seguro de vida y difícilmente les dan empleo, explicó

Ese aspecto dentro de la ley es muy grave, dice Miranda, porque no pueden exponerse a tener una normativa que, en vez de ayudar a la defensa de los Derechos Humanos de las personas VIH positiva, va a criminalizarlos, aseguró.

La Asociación Atlacatl criticó que el ente rector de la normativa sea el Ministerio de Salud, tal como quedó plasmado en el artículo 3 de la nueva ley. Mirando cuestiona ese hecho porque, según él, el Salud es juez y parte dentro de sus funciones.

Agregó que la cartera estatal, como organismo rector, no será imparcial al momento de imponer sanciones por denuncias contra discriminación en los hospitales de la red pública y del Instituto Salvadoreño del Seguro Social.

“Existen muchas denuncias de discriminación que hemos puesto contra los hospitales y hasta ahora no se ha hecho nada”, lamentó Miranda.

Pare él, prácticamente la ley no tiene nada nuevo, es más, estaba mejor la que fue derogada porque les garantizaba mejor sus derechos, dijo.

Lo único que hizo la Comisión de Salud Pública de la Asamblea Legislativa con la nueva normativa, y aprobada por el pleno, fue darle facultades al Ministerio de Salud y cambiar el nombre de la Comisión Nacional contra el Sida (Conasida) por el de Comisión Nacional Contra el VIH (Conavih).

Según él, la ley la han querido vender con un enfoque de derechos humanos,  pero no lo tiene porque han dejado afuera al Ministerio de Trabajo y al de Educación, quienes son parte de los entes principales en la respuesta nacional contra el VIH.

La Comisión Nacional contra el VIH está conformada por el Ministerio de Salud, Consejo Superior de Salud Pública (CSSP), Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Procuraduría para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (PDDH), las Asociaciones y Fundaciones cuyo objetivo sea la prevención de la enfermedad, Colegio Médico, la Secretaría de Inclusión Social y el Instituto Nacional de la Juventud.

Cuando se discutió el anteproyecto de la ley que se aprobó el miércoles, la Asociación Atlacatl propuso que en ente rector fuese una institución desligada del Ministerio de Salud porque el enfoque que buscaban era una participación multisectorial en donde estuviese la Fiscalía General de la República, Corte Suprema de Justicia, entre otros.

Con ese marco de desventaja, según Miranda, pedirán al presidente de la República, Salvador Sánchez Cerén, que vete la nueva ley porque da un mensaje negativo del país en la respuesta al VIH.

Miranda tildó la normativa como un retraso a lo que se había logrado en cuanto a la lucha y respuesta a la enfermedad. “Vamos hacer acciones hacia Casa Presidencial para que no la sancione”, aseguró. Incluso, dijo que podrían acudir a la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos para denunciar la normativa.

 

US: Idaho activists are looking to reform Idaho's HIV Criminalisation laws

Local activists are looking to reform and modernize Idaho’s code on the transfer of bodily fluid containing HIV or AIDS virus. The law was created in the 1980’s, a time when HIV and AIDS was a rising issue in the country.  In the last 10 years, 32 people have been charged under the law. Activists and health officials say scientifically its outdated.

In 1988 Idaho created a law to punish anyone HIV positive, who transferred their body fluids with intentions to expose or infect someone else. Ian Troesoyer a Registered Nurse and Epidemiologist at Southeast Idaho Public Health says,”Singling out HIV from a biological perspective it doesn’t make perfect sense. But in the 1980s when the law was created there was a lot more fear and greater lack of knowledge regarding the transmission.”

Under the code body fluids are: Semen, blood saliva, vaginal secretion, breast milk and urine. But 28 years later health experts say, “So saliva and urine, saliva in particular, they are not known to transmit HIV.” Which is why local activists in Pocatello want to modernize Idaho Code 39-608. Kevin Lish the Board Chair of All Under One Roof says, “These laws come down a lot of times to a ‘He said, she said’ situation.”

The crime carries a maximum of 15 years in prison. In the last decade 12 people across the state have been convicted including a man named Kerry Thomas. He’s serving 30 years for not telling his partner. He says in a video posted on SEROProject.com, “I’m glad that she, three years down the road… she’s not positive.”

Health experts and activists say with an outdated law, there’s a stigma associated with the disease that could increase people’s risks. Lish says, “We have the tools to get to an HIV free generation. One of the things we need to do is update laws like this so people feel good about being tested and are getting tested when they need to.”

Activists say speaking to legislators about changing the law will take years. Educating the public is their first mission before heading to the capitol steps in Boise. On National AIDS Awareness Day, All Under One Roof will host an event on December 1st at 234 North Main Street at 7 p.m. There they will educate the public on the statue, and how they’d like to change it.

On Friday November 11, representatives will speak with Elizabeth Taylor’s granddaughter in Boise about how the Elizabeth Taylor’s AIDS Foundation can help their cause.

Published on KPVI on Nov 10, 2016

Australia: Australian experts publish statement urging courts to consider current scientific evidence in criminal cases involving alleged HIV transmission or exposure

A group of leading HIV experts are calling for “caution to be exercised” when considering criminal charges against people who recklessly spread the disease.

In a consensus statement published in the Medical Journal of Australia, Australian researchers and scientists — including Professor Sharon Lewin and Professor Andrew Grulich — argue that “criminal cases involving HIV transmission or exposure require that courts correctly comprehend the rapidly evolving science of HIV transmission and the impact of an HIV diagnosis”.

The statement cites scientific evidence that shows the risk of HIV transmission to be negligible if a person is on treatment and has an undetectable viral load. It also claims that HIV isn’t as serious a condition as it used to be: “Most people with HIV are able to commence simple treatment providing them a normal and healthy life expectancy, largely comparable with their HIV-negative peers.”

“Given the limited risk of HIV transmission per sexual act and the limited long-term harms experienced by most people recently diagnosed with HIV, appropriate care should be taken before prosecutions are pursued,” says the statement.

While acknowledging that cases of deliberate transmission of HIV are “extremely unusual”, the group urge authorities to change behaviours through counselling rather than the courts.

“Careful attention should be paid to the best scientific evidence on HIV risk and harms, with consideration given to alternatives to prosecution, including public health management.”

The statement has been welcome by HIV advocacy groups.

“It’s incredible to see these experts come together and make a bold statement regarding HIV and the law,” said Richard Keane, President of Living Positive Victoria.

“The impact of HIV criminalisation or even the threat of it is a dangerous form of stigma and we’re still feeling the ripple effect more than two decades later.”

There have been at least 38 Australian criminal prosecutions for HIV sexual transmission or exposure since 1991.

“You don’t have to be convicted or even prosecuted for HIV criminalisation to affect you,” said Keane.

“The HIV community lives with the threat that a complaint can be made against us and the stigma that criminal prosecutions amplify and perpetuate.”

Keane hoped the statement’s focus on utilising the public health system rather the criminal courts in dealing with behaviour change would lead to better outcomes on policy.

“Most people on treatment are able to achieve an ‘undetectable’ viral load which makes it highly likely that the person will remain healthy and pose a negligible risk of transmitting HIV,” Keane said.

“The evidence outlined in this statement shows that the per-act risk of HIV transmission from even the most risky sex is still low. The message should be to encourage individuals to take care of their health and eliminate barriers to accessing treatment rather than intimidation through the justice system.

“By focusing on what the studies and science is telling us about treatments, relative risk and harm, that’s how we reduce HIV transmission whilst protecting the rights and dignity of people living with HIV. HIV is a health issue, not a criminal justice issue.”

Additional reporting Positive Living.

Published in Gay News Network on Nov 6, 2016

India: Sex workers organisations oppose Human Trafficking Bill which would make rehabilitation mandatory and HIV transmission a criminal offence

The most pressing concern is that the bill seems to be making rehabilitation mandatory

A consortium of rights bodies, especially of those working for sex workers, have come forward to speak out against the Human Trafficking Bill, which was sent to the Cabinet last month for approval. Associations of sex workers said that they fear that the bill will make it difficult for them to function. The most pressing concern, said Kusum, President of the All India Network of Sex Workers, is that the bill seems to be making rehabilitation mandatory. “Rehabilitation is needed for thousands of women who face trafficking around the country. But scores of practicing sex workers might not want it. Why not make it voluntary,” she says.

Dr Smarajit Jana, a health practitioner and the founder of Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Samiti, the first sex workers collective, agrees. Dr Jana was on a Supreme Court panel on the rights of sex workers, which submitted a report last month. He says that not a single state has statistics on rehabilitation. “Among the secretaries of the women and child development department of over 20 states we interacted with, 15 did not have any number for their own states,” says Dr Jana.

 The definition of a trafficking victim, both Dr Jana and Kusum said, was vague enough to include practicing sex workers. As per the Bill, a sex worker who gets married and has settled down will also come under the ambit of the definition. “There is also a clause that states that if a sex worker is found drinking and smoking with her friends, they can be booked for plying substances to her and punishable for over 10 years,” says Kusum.

Tripti Tandon of the Lawyer’s Collective says that the biggest lacunae in the bill is its failure to distinguish those in need of rescue from those who do not. “Since The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act will continue to function, the government is simply creating layer after layer of law, without really taking into account the problems of livelihood, sanitation, health which sex workers face routinely, like every working-class women,” says Tandon.

Another crucial loophole is that the bill states that if a person transmits HIV to another, then they will be punishable for a period of 10 years. “The problem is that many victims do not know if they are HIV positive. Globally, the debate is on decriminalising HIV patients,” says Dr Jana.

Published in DNA India on Nov 5, 2016

Mexico: Civil association in San Luis Potosi State urges parliament to rethink proposition to criminalise HIV transmission

English translation (Para artículo en español, desplácese hacia abajo)

Civil association urges a rethink of the criminalisation of HIV transmission as such an amendment to the penal code would promote higher levels of stigma and discrimination.

San Luis Potosi, SLP.- With regard to the initiative presented during the Ordinary Session No. 44, on October 27, 2016 in the State Congress by the State Governor Juan Manuel Carreras Lopez and Erika Velasquez Gutiérrez, the president of the Women Institute in San Luis Potosi, the civil association Amigos Potosinosen Lucha Contra el Sida condemned the initiative which they say, stigmatize people living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and have therefore called for reconsideration of the initiative put forward, conveying the following position:

1. It is important to promote actions that recognise the human rights of women through the varied international tools signed and ratified in this matter by the Mexican State,  and which have been become mandatories following the constitutional reform of 2011 in the field of Human Rights.

2. It is not advisable to seek to punish conducts that are perceived to be fraudulent with regard to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, as the evidence tell us that HIV prevention is not achieved through punitive measures, but by public health policies which promote changes at the structural level, to facilitate equal access to services that guarantee the sexual and reproductive health of women, and also strengthen programmes and activities that promote equality between women and men.

3. Criminalisation promotes stigma and discrimination against people with HIV, including girls, children, adolescents and women, contradictorily promoting actions that violate the dignity of these vulnerable groups.

4. It is very difficult to determine causality, fraud and intention and other varied factors involved in HIV transmission such as: the possibility of transmission, the type of exposure, the use of condoms or not, at what stage of infection the person is, whether the person is on antiretroviral treatment, if their viral load is undetectable, if there is any concomitant infection, the health status of the receiving partner and the agreements between spouses or casual partners, among others.

5. It is important to emphasize that punitive measures such as those intended to legislate through this initiative, could hinder and affect various multisectoral actions in prevention, detection and HIV care in our state.

6. It might influence people who perceive themselves as having  risk factors for HIV, to not undergo testing in order not to know their status and avoid any potential criminal proceedings made possible by testing. Such legislation may affect the continuous detection, prevention and care of HIV in Mexico [1], which seeks to facilitate the early diagnosis of people who perceived themselves to at risk so they can receive timely treatment to improve their quality of life and also help to curb the transmission chain.

7. Scientific evidence indicates that to stop the chain of transmission of HIV from one person to another, it is essential to combine prevention strategies, which include biomedical, behavioural and structural change, the latter emphasizing the need for actions that contribute to the eradication of stigma and discrimination associated with HIV-AIDS, and a punitive law does not contribute to these strategies.

8. The specific content of this initiative “Risk of contagion” could result in the legal responsibility for HIV prevention to fall only on those living with HIV, and could conceal the public health message that sexual partners have shared responsibility for their sexual health. People may mistakenly assume that their partners are HIV-negative because they are unaware of their status or do not disclose it, and they would therefore stop taking preventive measures.

9. Such amendments to the penal code will promote higher levels of stigma and discrimination against diverse HIV populations and their families.

Amigos Potosinos en lucha contra el Sida urges the State governor Juan Manuel Carreras Lopez and Erika Velázquez Gutiérrez president of the Women Institute in San Luis Potosi (sic), to reconsider the criminalization of HIV, as to do so would place people with HIV under a status of being possible criminals, which is contrary to their dignity as persons, violating their human rights and stigmatising them for their health condition.

Better yet, we encourage you to promote the creation of the State Council for the control of HIV, AIDS and STIs in San Luis Potosi, and to increase resources to prevent, detect and address HIV in a timely manner; to improve the quality and comprehensiveness of care services in the State that are provided by CAPASITS and by hospitals in the health system; to generate and strengthen empowerment programs for women and actions that seek to promote equal opportunities between women and men; finally to reduce stigma and discrimination against key populations affected by HIV and other STIs incorporating the MIPA principle [3] which speaks of greater involvement of people living with HIV as part of the solution and response, thereby contributing to a democratic, inclusive and non-discriminatory Mexico.

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Asociación Civil pide reconsiderar tipificar como delito trasmisión del VIH. Este tipo de adecuaciones al código penal promoverán mayores niveles de estigma y discriminación.

San Luis Potosí, SLP.- En relación a la iniciativa presentada, en la Sesión Ordinaria No. 44, día 27 de octubre del 2016 al Congreso del Estado, por el gobernador del Estado Juan Manuel Carreras López y Erika Velázquez Gutiérrez presidenta del Instituto de las Mujeres en San Luis Potosí la asociación civil Amigos Potosinos en Lucha Contra el Sida condenaron la iniciativa que a decir de ellos, estigmatiza a las personas con contagiadas con el Virus de Inmunodeficiencia Humana (VIH), por lo que llaman a reconsiderar la iniciativa formulada, difundiendo el siguiente posicionamiento:

1.- Es importante impulsar acciones a favor del reconocimiento de los derechos humanos de las mujeres en el orden internacional de los diversos instrumentos que en esta materia ha suscrito y ratificado Estado Mexicano, lo cual se convierte en obligatorio a partir de la reforma Constitucional del año 2011 en materia de Derechos Humanos.

2.-No es recomendable buscar castigar las conductas que se perciben como dolosas en relación al VIH y otras infecciones sexuales, ya que la evidencia científica nos señala que la prevención del VIH no se logra con medidas punitivas, sino con políticas en salud pública que faciliten acciones que promuevan cambios a nivel estructural que faciliten la igualdad en el acceso a servicios que garanticen la salud sexual y reproductiva de las mujeres, así también fortalecer los programas y acciones que promuevan la igualdad entre mujeres y hombres

3.- La penalización favorece el estigma y la discriminación hacia personas con VIH, incluyendo a las niñas, niños, adolescentes y mujeres, por lo que resulta contradictorio impulsar acciones que contravienen a la dignidad de estos grupos vulnerables.

4.- Es muy difícil determinar la causalidad, el dolo, la intencionalidad ya que intervienen diversos factores en la trasmisión del VIH, como son: la posibilidad de la trasmisión, el tipo de exposición, el uso o no de condón, la etapa de la infección en la que se encuentra la persona, si lleva tratamiento antirretroviral, si tiene carga viral detectable o indetectable, si existen enfermedades concomitantes, el estado de salud de la pareja receptora y los acuerdos establecidos entre cónyuges o parejas ocasionales, entre otros.

5.- Es importante enfatizar que medidas punitivas como las que se pretende legislar a través de esta iniciativa, podrían obstaculizar y afectar las diversas acciones multisectoriales en materia de prevención, detección y atención del VIH en nuestro Estado.

6.- Podría influir a que las personas que se perciban con factores de riesgo ante el VIH, omitan realizarse una detección temprana a fin de no conocer su estado serológico en virtud de prevenir un posible proceso penal. Este tipo de legislaciones pueden afectar al Continuo de la detección, prevención y atención en VIH en México[1], el cual busca que las personas que se perciban en riesgo se realicen un diagnóstico temprano, puedan recibir un tratamiento oportuno que mejore su calidad de vida y además contribuya a frenar la cadena de transmisión.

7. La evidencia científica señala que para detener la cadena de trasmisión del VIH de una persona a otra es indispensable realizar estrategias de prevención combinada, entre las cuales, destacan las biomédicas, las comportamentales y las de cambio estructural, estas últimas enfatizan las acciones que contribuyen a erradicar el estigma y la discriminación asociado al VIH-sida, y una ley con acciones punitivas no contribuye con estas estrategias.

8.- El contenido en específico de esta iniciativa de “Peligro de contagio” podría provocar que la responsabilidad jurídica de la prevención del VIH recaiga solamente en quienes viven con VIH, y podría invisibilizar el mensaje de salud pública de que las parejas sexuales tienen responsabilidad compartida sobre su salud sexual. Las personas podrían suponer erróneamente que sus parejas son VIH-negativas porque desconocen o no revelan su estado serológico, por tal dejarían de incorporar medidas de prevención.

9.-Este tipo de adecuaciones al código penal promoverán mayores niveles de estigma y discriminación hacia las diversas poblaciones con VIH y sus familias.

Amigos Potosinos en lucha contra el Sida exhorta al gobernador del estado Juan Manuel Carreras López y a Erika Velázquez Gutiérrez presidenta del Instituto de las Mujeres en San Luis Potosí (sic), a reconsiderar la penalización del VIH, de hacerlo colocarían a las personas con VIH bajo un estatus de posibles criminales, contraviniendo a su dignidad como personas, atentando a sus derechos humanos y estigmatizándoles por su condición de salud.

Mejor aún, le exhortamos a impulsar la creación del Consejo Estatal Para el control del VIH, Sida e ITS en San Luis Potosí, además incrementar los recursos  para prevenir, detectar y atender oportunamente el VIH; mejorar la calidad e integralidad de los servicios de atención en el Estado que son otorgados desde los CAPASITS y hospitales del sector salud; generar y fortalecer programas de empoderamiento para las mujeres y acciones que busquen promover la igual de oportunidades entre mujeres y hombres; por último a disminuir el estigma y la discriminación hacia las poblaciones clave y personas afectadas por el VIH y otras ITS incorporando el principio MIPA[3] que habla del mayor involucramiento de las personas con VIH como parte de la solución y respuesta, con ello contribuir a un México democrático, incluyente y sin discriminación.

US: New report explores how HIV criminal laws in California are enforced against foreign born populations

FOR IMMIGRANTS, HIV CRIMINALIZATION CAN MEAN INCARCERATION AND DEPORTATION 

New Study Shows 15 Percent of People who had Contact with Californa Criminal System because of HIV Criminalization Laws were Foreign Born

LOS ANGELES – A new study suggests that for some immigrants, an HIV-specific criminal offense may have been the triggering event for their deportation proceedings.  In HIV Criminalization Against Immigrants in California, Williams Institute Scholars Amira Hasenbush and Bianca D.M. Wilson, explore how HIV criminal laws are enforced in California, particularly against foreign born populations.

HIV criminalization is a term used to describe statutes that either criminalize otherwise legal conduct or that increase the penalties for illegal conduct based upon a person’s HIV-positive status.  California has four HIV-specific criminal laws, and one non-HIV-specific criminal law that criminalizes exposure to any communicable disease.  All HIV-specific offenses in California have the potential to lead to deportation proceedings.

“People living with HIV still face stigma and discrimination,” said Amira Hasenbush.  “If one is HIV-positive and enters the criminal system, one may be more severely impacted than those who are HIV-negative.  A major impact for HIV positive immigrants is possible deportation, possibly a far worse outcome than the original sentence.  Living with HIV is a public health matter, not a criminal one.”

Key Findings:

-Overall, 800 people have come into contact with the California criminal system from 1988 to June 2014 related to that person’s HIV-positive status.  Among those individuals, 121 (15 percent) were foreign born.

-Thirty-six people, or 30 percent, of these foreign born individuals, had some form of a criminal immigration proceeding in their histories. Among those who had immigration proceedings in their records, nine people (25 percent) had those proceedings initiated immediately after an HIV-specific incident.

-Like their U.S. born counterparts, 94 percent of all HIV-specific incidents in which immigrants had contact with the criminal system were under California’s felony offense against solicitation while HIV-positive.

-Eighty-three percent of the immigrants who had contact with the system based on their HIV-positive status were born in Mexico, Central or South America, or the Caribbean.

-While U.S. born people were divided fairly evenly between men and women, immigrants were overwhelmingly men: 88 percent of foreign born individuals in the group were men. (It should be noted that “men” may include transgender male-to-female individuals.  Problems created by a lack of data on transgender people within criminal justice databases are highlighted in the report.)

HIV Criminalization Against Immigrants in California was developed by analyzing the California Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) data on HIV offenses in California, exploring the demographics and experiences of foreign born individuals as compared to their U.S. born counterparts. Future research beyond the enforcement data may explore whether initial patterns seen by sex and place of birth are perpetuated in other criminal systems or under other offenses. Future research can also explore the influence of sexual orientation and gender identity as a potential driver to the criminal system and as a potential mediating factor in experiences once in the system. This will help provide a more nuanced and complete picture of the experiences of people who are criminalized based on their HIV-positive status.

Read the report.

The Williams Institute, a think tank on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, is dedicated to conducting rigorous, independent research with real-world relevance.

Australia: Up to 14 years jail sentences and compulsory testing for people spitting at police officers could be introduced in new legislation

Police in Australia are pushing for the introduction of a maximum 14 year jail sentence for people who spit at police officers.

The move comes after new figures reveal more than 1,000 officers are “exposed to bodily fluids” at work each year in the country.

Officers have routinely put there lives on hold for months to ensure they had not contracted any diseases.

South Australian Police Association president Mark Carroll said: ““When, in the course of duty, officers are spat on, bitten or otherwise assaulted in a way involving an exchange of bodily fluids, it’s essential that these officers have access to blood samples from the assailant that can be tested.”

The Adelaide Advertiser reported a case in May where a man spat at an officer and said: “I have HIV AIDS and now you’ve got it too”.

After sentencing the man to four and a half years in prison, Judge Rauf Soulio said: “Your comments about HIV caused him great distress. He felt unable to hold his infant daughter, who was born prematurely, for fear of passing on a communicable disease.”

“He had to deal with the fear of waiting for blood results, which were, fortunately, negative,” he added.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph police minister Troy Grant has prepared new proposals saying he hopes to make it a “new offence with tough penalties for spitting on officers and a mandatory testing regimen for offenders who spit.”

In Ireland, the offence appears to be at the lower end of the punishment scale. The Herald reported in June 2015 where a man, Liam Deegan, was sentenced to a month in prison for spitting in a Garda’s face as he was being led to the cells following a court appearance.

The same paper reported another incident whereby another man, Shamsiytar Shafie, received a four month sentence in May 2015 for a similar offence.

Published in NewsTalk on Oct 2, 2016

 

HIV criminalisation advocacy must extend beyond HIV specific statutes

By Kate D’Adamo

From TheBody.com

September 29, 2016

The fight to combat HIV criminalization is not new. After years of activism, gains are finally being made to repeal statutes that turn a person’s knowledge of their HIV status into a crime.

Just this year, Colorado’s HIV modernization bill comprehensively repealed almost all of the HIV-specific statutes in the state. This is an evidence-based success: Criminalizing people’s HIV status does not inhibit HIV transmission, but instead turns their knowledge and treatment of that status into evidence of a crime. This weaponizes their knowledge and their enrollment in the very care public health officials recommend, forcing people to weigh testing and treatment against fear of arrest.

With the growing success in fighting HIV criminalization, it is now time for advocates to take the conversation beyond the repeal of HIV-specific statutes and to confront the larger context of how criminalization encourages HIV transmission.

The growing data on where and when laws criminalizing a person’s status are implemented show that the people in the crosshairs of these laws are often those already criminalized through their engagement in sex work. The ostensible targets of HIV criminalization laws may be people who are not otherwise criminalized, but the data clearly show who faces most of their impact. The more common way that people who are HIV positive are criminalized for their status is not through general HIV criminalization statutes, but through laws that upgrade a misdemeanor prostitution charge to a felony if a sex worker is HIV positive.

The Williams Institute looked at who is charged and convicted of HIV-specific statutes in California found that “[t]he vast majority (95%) of all HIV-specific criminal incidents impacted people engaged in sex work or individuals suspected of engaging in sex work.” Research out of Nashville, Tennessee, corroborated this picture, with charges disproportionately targeting people arrested for prostitution, who then faced a felony upgrade and (until last year) were required to register as sex offenders for being HIV positive. However, these laws are not the only way criminalization increases sex workers’ vulnerability to HIV transmission, and advocacy must expand its vision to include the fuller context.

At the Sex Workers Project, we work with individuals who trade sex across the spectrum of choice, circumstance and coercion. For sex workers, the relationship between criminalization and health is complex and deeply interwoven.

When we look at the role of HIV transmission in the lives of our clients and community, it is not simply HIV-specific statutes, but the tactics of policing and the instability created through criminalization that increase people’s vulnerability. If the long-term goal is to end the spread of HIV, advocacy should target criminalization more holistically and see HIV modernization, or the on-going state-by-state push to repeal these statutes, as just one of the initial steps needed to explore the nexus between public health and criminalization.

When we expand our scope beyond these specific statutes to look at how policing and criminalization encourage HIV transmission, a more complex and multi-layered picture emerges. For instance, the relationship between evidence of a crime and transmission of HIV does not end with simply knowing one’s status. Law enforcement’s use of condoms as evidence of prostitution has a chilling effect. In research on the impact of policing that uses safer-sex supplies as evidence of a crime, many sex workers reported that they were afraid to carry condoms or take condoms from outreach workers, regardless of whether they were engaging in prostitution at that time. Most impacted by these policing practices were transgender women of color, a population acknowledged to be already at higher risk for HIV transmission. Transgender women are commonly profiled as being engaged in sex work, and therefore, were most at risk for being arrested for the mere possession of condoms. This means that policing practices are actively putting the community with the highest vulnerability to HIV at even higher risk of transmission.

Further, policing procedures that inundate areas “known for prostitution” with law enforcement push sex workers into isolated locations to avoid arrest. This means isolation from peers who can provide harm reduction and safety, and from outreach workers who may offer resources — in addition to making sex workers vulnerable to physical and sexual assault, as physical isolation carries its own risk of HIV transmission.

The fight for HIV modernization bills across the country is already having a demonstrable success. The recent Colorado HIV modernization bill shows what a comprehensive policy can look like. Many other state-based efforts have made sure their work encompasses those most impacted by HIV-specific statutes and fought to include in their advocacy sex workers and organizations serving people who trade sex.

But these policy changes should not be where the momentum ends. HIV criminalization is only one part of the larger on-going dialogue on the nexus between criminalization and public health that deeply impacts the lives of marginalized communities. When more people understand how criminalization affects individual and public health, we can expand the impact of our work to address these larger issues and shift our goals to not just avoiding the criminalization of HIV, but also stemming its spread.

Kate D’Adamo is the national policy advocate at the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center, focusing on laws, policies and advocacy that target folks who trade sex, including the criminalization of sex work, anti-trafficking policies and HIV-specific laws. Previously, Kate was a community organizer and advocate for people in the sex trade with the Sex Workers Outreach Project-NYC and Sex Workers Action New York. She holds a BA in political Science from California Polytechnic State University and an MA in international affairs from the New School University.

Originally published in The Body on 29/09/2016

Canada: Global Fund Replenishment Conference puts the spotlight on Canada HIV criminalisation laws

Friday and Saturday, Montreal will play host to the Fifth Replenishment Conference of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. While much of the discussion will be focused on developing countries (the Global South), where the fund has played a crucial role since is creation in 2002, this is also an appropriate time to take stock of Canadian realities.

At a time when the global effort is suffering from precarious funding, Canada has stepped up to the plate by increasing its contribution by 20 per cent, to a total of $785 million over the next three years. This commitment is to be applauded. It proves that there is a willingness on the part of government to make Canada a leader once again on the international scene. It is also a promising reminder that increased donations will get us closer to beating these diseases once and for all.

But good leadership also puts the spotlight on Canada’s own responsibility to address human-rights issues that are impediments to the improvement of public health and fair access to health services.

In the HIV sector, we know that gender inequality, racism and homophobia are the breeding grounds for the epidemic. Poverty and discrimination are further barriers to access and care. As was recently pointed out by Canada’s Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, Marie-Claude Bibeau, HIV has a particularly heavy impact on young women.

In order to continue to play its part as an international leader, Canada has to make good on commitments to end these epidemics here at home. We have work to do in our own backyard in order to align the fight against HIV/AIDS with human-rights advocacy.

Canada in 2016 is a country that still imposes criminal penalties on people living with HIV: they still risk prison sentences for having sexual relations without disclosing their HIV status to their partners when they have taken the necessary precautions to avoid transmission (use of a condom or undetectable viral load), and when there has been no transmission. This increases stigma, goes against science and UNAIDS recommendations, and should not be the case in a country that otherwise is helping lead the way.

Leadership comes from inspiring the best public policy, especially when it is supported by scientific data. In this regard, Canada must go farther and support the opening of supervised-injection sites. Such harm-reduction approaches are proven to reduce rates of infection.

Furthermore, we must work to create social and legal frameworks that help sex workers, as recommended by such NGOs  as Amnesty International. It is crucial that we repeal Bill C-36, the so-called “Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act” that criminalizes sex work in Canada.

This major international event will also be an opportunity to highlight how these epidemics affect migrants. Mandatory testing by immigration authorities contradicts recommendations by Canadian health experts. Rejecting migrants on the basis of their HIV or health status continues to foster prejudice in this regard. Economic arguments for refusing them entry only serve to exacerbate such inequalities. It is high time to look at universal access to treatment and the real cost of its being denied to certain people.

The Global Fund Replenishment Conference is a fitting time to demonstrate Canada’s financial support for countries most affected by HIV, TB, and malaria. Canada’s commitment to international aid is a solid foundation for global action on these issues.

But now is also the time for us to lead by example in our own country. There is much work to be done before we can truly “End it. For Good.” We need concrete measures that show Canadians stand with and support HIV-positive people.

Gabriel Girard is a post-doctoral researcher in sociology at Université de Montréal. Pierre-Henri Minot is executive director of Portail VIH/sida du Québec in Montreal. This article is based on an open letter that has been co-signed by more than 150 others. The full list is available at pvsq.org/globalfunds2016.