HIV and the Law

via the Commission on HIV and the Law

The end of the global AIDS epidemic is within our reach. This will only be possible if science and action are accompanied by a tangible commitment to respecting human dignity and ending injustice.

Law prohibits or permits specific behaviours, and in so doing, it shapes politics, economics and society. The law can be a human good that makes a material diff erence in people’s lives. It is therefore not surprising that law has the power to bridge the gap between vulnerability and resilience to HIV.

We came together as a group of individuals from diverse backgrounds, experiences and continents to examine the role of the law in effective HIV responses. What we share is our abiding commitment to public health and social justice. We have listened with humility to hundreds of accounts describing the eff ects of law on HIV. In many instances, we have been overwhelmed by how archaic, insensitive laws are violating human rights, challenging rational public health responses and eroding social fabric. At other times, we have been moved by those who demonstrate courage and conviction to protect those most vulnerable in
our societies.

Many would say that the law can be complex and challenging and is best left alone. Our experience during this Commission has shown us a very diff erent perspective. We have been encouraged by how frank and constructive dialogue on controversial issues can sometimes quickly lead to progressive law reform, the eff ective defence of legislation or better enforcement of existing laws. Even in environments where formal legal change is a slow and arduous process, we have witnessed countries taking action to strengthen access to justice and challenge stigma and discrimination.

Click here for the full report.


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South Africa: Aids Response Must Be Guided By Human Rights and Justice

via allAfrica, by Festus Mogae and Stephen Lewis

In South Africa and across Africa, HIV continues to prey on women, sex workers and men who have sex with men. It is clear that to end the HIV epidemic, we must protect and support these groups.

Archaic laws and customs make women and girls more vulnerable to HIV. Legally condoned violence and oppression-including genital mutilation, sexual violence, denial of property rights and early marriage- undermine the ability of women to protect themselves. Laws urgently need to protect women, who are often the ones left to care for the sick, tend to the family and till the fields.

Laws across the continent also criminalize homosexuality. Yet, punishing men who have sex with men force them into secrecy. They are unable to access counseling and testing, making it almost impossible for HIV prevention and treatment interventions to reach them. In 2008, when the Senegalese government jailed nine gay HIV outreach workers under a law prohibiting "acts against nature," health workers went into hiding, advocacy groups disbanded and HIV treatment sites were shut down.

The time has come for African leaders to take action against bad laws that stifle our HIV response. We must challenge societal values rooted in fear and prejudice and implement laws based on human rights and sound public health.

Read the rest.



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*Please look for us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/InternationalRectalMicrobicideAdvocates, and you can follow us on Twitter: @rectalmicro.

*Also, please note that shared news items from other sources posted on this blog do not necessarily mean IRMA has taken any position on the article's content.
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Series of Policy Briefs Summarize the Impact Legal Environments Have on Equality

via Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health

On this day, to commemorate the International Day Against Homo and Trans phobia (IDAHO), the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Asia-Pacific Regional Centre launch a series of policy briefs to provide a summary of how legal environments can actually be barriers to equality for men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people. A recent joint collaboration by APCOM and UNDP resulted in the ground-breaking study, Legal environments, human rights and HIV responses among men who sex with men and transgender people in Asia and the Pacific: An agenda for action, which looks at the impact of legal environments on HIV responses among MSM and transgender people in 48 countries and territories in Asia and the Pacific.

“APCOM is pleased to release these four papers today covering East Asia, Pacific, South Asia and Southeast Asia,” said Midnight Poonkasetwattana, Executive Director of APCOM, “The policy briefs highlight experiences that result in a range of negative consequences for example getting in the way of prevention work, reducing uptake and access to critical services, and increases in high-risk behaviours as well.”

The briefs detail the legality of male-to-male sex, punitive law enforcement practices, laws relating to discrimination, legality of transgender people and same sex relationships. For example, the legal environment in East Asia is generally more protective of human rights of MSM and transgender people, yet in the Pacific male-to-male sex is illegal in nine of the 24 countries and territories. Four countries in Southeast Asia (Brunei, Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore) have criminal sanctions for consensual sex between adult men due to a laws keep on the books while each were under British colonial rule; in South Asia, however, in the National Capital Territory of India (Delhi) and Nepal, courts have taken decisions to decriminalise male to male sex between consenting adults.

“UNDP and APCOM recognise that urgent action is required as MSM and transgender people are critical populations in the response to HIV in Asia and the Pacific,” noted Edmund Settle, HIV Policy Specialist, UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Centre. “Legal environments comprise not just written laws, but also the actual practices of law enforcement and legal institutions with anecdotal evidence from the briefs demonstrating incidence of police harassment, blackmail, extortion and violence. Legal environments that are protective and empowering should be promoted.”


Read the Rest.


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*Join IRMA's robust, highly-active. moderated, global listserv addressing rectal microbicide research and advocacy as well as other interesting new HIV prevention technologies by contacting us at rectalmicro@gmail.com. Joining our listserv automatically makes you a member of IRMA - a network of more than 1,100 advocates, scientists, policy makers and funders from all over the world.

*Also, please note that shared news items from other sources posted on this blog do not necessarily mean IRMA has taken any position on the article's content.

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MSMGF Provides New Online Resources Detailing the Law's Effect on MSM Health and Human Rights

Global MSM network calls on policy makers, parliamentarians and advocates to address legal and policy barriers undermining Universal Access to HIV services

This World AIDS Day, as the United Nations Global Commission on HIV and the Law draws up its final recommendations, the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) urges national legislators around the world to review and repeal laws that undermine access to HIV services for gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM). To help illustrate the connection between HIV and the law for this key population, the MSMGF has launched a new collection of resources that features case studies, toolkits and never-before-seen video testimonials from grassroots MSM advocates in Uganda, Zimbabwe and Cameroon.

“From laws criminalizing homosexuality in more than 70 countries to laws punishing non-disclosure of one’s HIV status, punitive legal environments around the world prevent MSM from accessing life-saving services,” said Dr. George Ayala, Executive Officer of the MSMGF. “This is a major problem for the HIV response among MSM around the world, in countries rich and poor alike.”

The content of the archive was selected to make clear the connection between HIV and the law for this highly-impacted population, as well as provide grassroots organizations with tools to aid in legal advocacy for the health and human rights of MSM.

“Civil society has formed the backbone of the response to the HIV epidemic among MSM around the world, with local men rising up to care for their own communities where support from government and society is lacking or absent,” said Krista Lauer, Policy Associate at the MSMGF. “This archive is part of a larger effort to equip grassroots organizations with the information and resources they need to hold governments and multilateral institutions accountable for doing quality HIV work, including addressing harmful laws.”

The website features the MSMGF's Specialist Submission to the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, made public for the first time. Drawing upon focus group interviews, published research and other sources, the report makes five recommendations for law-based action that would have a game-changing impact on the HIV response for MSM:
1. Review and repeal laws that undermine the HIV response among MSM

2. Address the inappropriate enforcement of laws that hinder access to HIV services for MSM, through coordination, education and training with the judiciary and law enforcement officials

3. Establish laws that protect the health and rights of MSM, and bring perpetrators of violence and other human rights abuses against MSM to justice

4. Implement know-your-rights campaigns, and create enabling environments in which individuals can lay claim to their rights

5. Integrate the law as a core pillar in all National AIDS Reponses, and adopt a rights-based approach to the HIV response

“We know that laws and policies that uphold the human rights of gay men and facilitate their access to services are absolutely essential for an effective HIV response,” said Dr. Ayala. “But real action to transform legal environments has been bogged down by fear, stigma, and a lack of political will to take on the tough issues. Courageous activists have continued to raise their voices in this struggle, often at great personal expense to themselves and their families. We call on all Member States of the United Nations to heed the call of civil society, and recognize that the human rights movement is the HIV movement.”

The online archive can be accessed on the MSMGF’s website at http://www.msmgf.org/law.



[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

Media campaign on disclosure and stigma changes gay men’s attitudes

via aidsmap, by Roger Pebody

A Canadian campaign which asked gay men “If you were rejected every time you disclosed, would you?” appears to have raised men’s understanding of the dilemmas which men with HIV face. The campaign also succeeded in reducing the number of men who try to avoid infection by relying on men with HIV disclosing their status, researchers report in the October issue of Health Education Research.

The campaign was not intended to broadcast a ‘message’ or give instructions, but to stimulate dialogue within local communities. Moreover the authors suggest that the extensive community consultation which went into its development contributed to the campaign’s success.

Staff from frontline HIV prevention work, public health, government and academia participated in the consultation which identified HIV-related stigma as a priority issue. Moreover they focused on stigma within gay communities as it is manifested in the attitudes of some HIV-negative men towards potential sexual partners who have HIV. The campaign developers believe that there are links between the problems of stigma, disclosure, conflicting assumptions and risk taking.

Read the rest.


[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

Criminalizing HIV Transmission Will Only Spread the Problem

Via the Vancouver Sun, by Peter McKnight.

It sounds like the synopsis of a B-movie: Thanks to the long arm of the law, the world is once again safe from The Attack of the Killer HIV-people.

Safe from Johnson Aziga, the Ontario man who had sex with more than a dozen women without informing them of his HIV-positive status. Several of the women contracted HIV, including two who subsequently died, which led to Aziga being declared a dangerous offender and handed an indeterminate sentence earlier this week.

And safe from the 17-year-old Edmonton girl who was charged this week with two counts of aggravated sexual assault after allegedly having sex with two men without informing them of her HIV-positive status. The girl had been the subject of an urgent police bulletin, which led to the worldwide publication of her name, picture and health status. Aside from painting a rather ghoulish picture of people living with HIV, such unusual cases inevitably send the message that the best way to handle HIV-non-disclosure is through the criminal law.

Police forces across the country seem to have got the message, given the increase in the number and severity of charges laid for HIV-non-disclosure in recent years. Well over 100 HIV-positive people across Canada - and at least 14 in B.C. - have now been charged with offences ranging from assault to first-degree murder.

Courts, too, have been enthusiastic in prosecuting cases of non-disclosure, with defendants receiving everything from suspended sentences to, in Aziga's case, an indeterminate and potentially lifelong sentence of imprisonment.

This enthusiasm for criminal prosecution exists despite - or perhaps because of - uncertainty about the disclosure obligations of HIV-positive people. The Supreme Court of Canada has held that individuals are under a legal duty to reveal their HIV-positive status before engaging in sex that poses a "significant risk" of HIV transmission, but what constitutes a significant risk remains unclear.

Read the rest here.

[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]