We Must End HIV Criminalization to Fast Track the End of the AIDS Epidemic
Post submitted by Luiz Loures, Deputy Executive Director, UNAIDS, and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations.
It has long been recognized that the legal environment matters for the response to HIV. Protective laws have helped communities stand up against HIV-related employment and housing discrimination, demand access to treatment and secure protection from violence. Punitive laws, however, have many times pushed people living with and affected by HIV, including members of the LGBTI community, to the margins. These laws increase vulnerability and put up barriers to services. They violate human rights and they jeopardize our collective success. That is why in 2011, governments gathered at the United Nations General Assembly and unanimously committed to putting in place an enabling legal, social and policy environment that makes the law work for, not against, the response to HIV. Now we must put these efforts on the Fast Track so that we end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
One critical component of this agenda is working to end the overly broad criminalization of HIV transmission, exposure and non-disclosure. Unjust prosecutions, including for acts that pose no risk of HIV transmission, continue to be reported. As of 2013, some 61 countries have adopted legislation that specifically allows for criminalization, while prosecutions for HIV non-disclosure, exposure and transmission have been recorded in at least 49 countries. Of the 30 jurisdictions where HIV-related criminal prosecutions have been reported most frequently, 12 are found in the United States. In too many places laws and law enforcement ignore science as well as fundamental principles of justice. We have abundant scientific evidence that HIV treatment sharply lowers the risk of HIV transmission. We know that pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) works and expands options for prevention. HIV criminalization laws, however, hurt public health rather than protect it. They undermine public health messages focused on shared responsibility for sexual health. They reduce the incentives to find out one’s status, and prevent people from talking openly to their physicians or counselors and disclosing their HIV-positive status. We need reason, science and solidarity, not punishment, if we are to normalize HIV and fully support people to access prevention, treatment and care.
Recently the Programme Coordinating Board of UNAIDS adopted its updated 2016-2021 strategy, outlining the actions that are necessary for Fast Tracking the response and ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030. In this agenda, removing punitive laws, stigma and discrimination that block effective responses is one of the eight results areas, directly linked to the UN’s recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals agenda. The strategy affirms that we need to strengthen inclusive societies and protect human rights. By necessity, we must abandon irrational laws and policies that are founded in the fear and uncertainty of the early days of the response to HIV. We need universal access to HIV services, ensuring we leave no one behind.
Ending overly broad HIV criminalization and realizing the global vision of zero discrimination will require the commitment and determination of all of us. As part of our support to country efforts, UNAIDS has published guidance on ending the overly broad criminalization of HIV, drawing on the experience and expertise of policy makers, scientists and activists from around the world. When communities stand united and mobilize to make the science known, to call for protection not punishment – as we have seen in Denmark, Kenya, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and a number of U.S. jurisdictions – the legal community and elected officials take notice.
Government leadership is also critical for success. The National AIDS/AIDS Strategy for the United States, updated to 2020, is an important example. It outlines commitment to tackling misperceptions, barriers to care, underscores that federal and state criminal laws regarding HIV transmission and prevention must be scientifically based and that prosecutors and others in law enforcement must have an accurate understanding of transmission risks.
We applaud the initiative of the Human Rights Campaign and its partner organizations to work to end unjust HIV criminalization laws and prosecutions. You are taking us one step closer to making AIDS history.
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HRC Marks World AIDS Day with Effort to End HIV Criminalization Laws That Harm LGBT Community
HRC Marks World AIDS Day with Effort to End HIV Criminalization Laws That Harm LGBT Community
Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, in partnership with the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the Center for HIV Law and Policy (CHLP), launched a national public education campaign to sound the alarm on dangerous HIV criminalization laws and the disproportionate harm they cause LGBT people, particularly LGBT communities of color.
To focus attention on this dire issue, HRC and its partners released a new video detailing the harm of criminalization – including driving people away from potentially lifesaving testing and healthcare — and launched a website, EndBadHIVlaws.org.
“As work continues to end the HIV epidemic, we must also eradicate the stigma surrounding HIV – including modernizing laws that are rooted in fear, not science,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “These laws do not reduce HIV, and only serve to increase confusion and shame. When 51 percent of young gay and bisexual men don’t even know they have HIV, laws that penalize people for getting tested to determine their status aren’t just outdated, they’re dangerous.”
Griffin continued, “With condoms and the availability of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) regimens, individuals have more prevention options than ever. We are pleased to be working with NCLR and CHLP on this project, which builds on our important HIV and AIDS educational efforts generously supported by the Elton John AIDS Foundation. We join our partners in the firm belief that an AIDS-free generation is within reach.”
HRC will continue to work with NCLR, CHLP, and other partners at the local, state, and federal level to monitor the landscape of HIV criminalization laws and to combat efforts to further target people living with HIV. HRC stands together with the global community to fight stigmatization and end HIV and AIDS. This new video helps to debunk myths about HIV, and to highlight the harm of criminalization, and its negative impact on the fight against HIV and AIDS.
Catherine Hanssens, Founder and Executive Director of The Center for HIV Law and Policy, said, “It is a huge boost to this work to have an organization with the reach and sophistication of HRC join in this fight. We are looking forward to great things and measurable progress.'”
“Ensuring that no one is left behind means closing the gap between people who can get services and people who can’t, the people who are protected and the people who are punished,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Stigma, discrimination and punitive approaches against people living with or at risk of HIV remain highly prevalent. They not only hurt those who suffer them, but they also threaten effective responses to the epidemic.”
NCLR Policy Counsel Tyrone Hanley said: “This video is a great collaborative first-step to raise public awareness of the harmful impact of HIV criminalization laws and ending HIV stigma. These laws hurt the most vulnerable members of society and we will continue to fight against these counterproductive laws.”
Around the world, people living with HIV and AIDS continue to be targeted, harassed, and harmed by criminalization laws:
- In at least 58 countries around the world, people have been prosecuted and some imprisoned for transmitting HIV and/or exposing others to the virus
- Here in the U.S., more than 30 states have laws in place that have been used to prosecute people living with HIV
- Many advocates, medical professionals, and public health experts oppose HIV criminalization laws, including the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV & AIDS, United States Conference of Mayors, American Medical Association and American Psychological Association
www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-marks-world-aids-day?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
World AIDS Day 2015
World AIDS Day 2015
December 1st marks World AIDS Day, a time for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV, and commemorate those who have passed.
This is an especially important day for GLAAD, which was founded in response to the New York Post’s grossly defamatory coverage of the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Three decades later, GLAAD’s legacy of fighting injustice in the media for the LGBT community has reshaped our culture and created historic levels of acceptance.
President Obama released the following statement regarding World AIDS Day:
More than three decades ago, the first known cases of HIV/AIDS sparked an epidemic in the United States — ushering in a time defined by how little we knew about it and in which those affected by it faced fear and stigmatization. We have made extraordinary progress in the fight against HIV since that time, but much work remains to be done. On World AIDS Day, we remember those who we have lost to HIV/AIDS, celebrate the triumphs earned through the efforts of scores of advocates and providers, pledge our support for those at risk for or living with HIV, and rededicate our talents and efforts to achieving our goal of an AIDS-free generation.
This year, GLAAD partnered with The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF) to renew the attention of Americans, the entertainment industry, and news media on the fight to end HIV and AIDS. The partnership signifies GLAAD recommitment to ending HIV and AIDS. Together with ETAF, GLAAD created a PSA to inspire, inform, and reignite the passion and action needed to beat the HIV and AIDS epidemic once and for all. It includes participation from Meredith Vieira, Whoopi Goldberg, Jonathan Groff, Michael Emerson, Tituss Burgess, and Bebe Neuwirth.
GLAAD also created a media resource guide for journalists reporting on HIV and AIDS to ensure accurate and fair reporting.
To get involved, share GLAAD’s graphic or visit our partners’ sites for more information on how to take a stand each and every day in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
December 1, 2015
Issues:
It's Time to End Bad HIV Laws
It's Time to End Bad HIV Laws
