Understanding the impact of criminalising HIV transmission

1
Understanding the impact of criminalising HIV
transmission

• Christoforos Mallouris
• Director of Programmes

2
What is Criminalisation of HIV transmission

• Recent increase in number of countries where the
  transmission of HIV is a criminal offence
• Laws can take many forms
• Transmission
• Exposure
• Specific HIV laws
• Other laws (murder, manslaughter, attempted
  manslaughter, sodomy laws, etc.)

3
Criminalisation laws (continued)

• Require PLHIV (who know their serostatus) to
  inform any sexual contact in advance, forcing
  disclosure
• Some laws include pregnant HIV-positive women
• Very little mention is made about PLHIV who use
  precautions (regardless of disclosure)

4
Criminalisation laws (continued)

• Criminalisation is a failure to protect the
  dignity of people living with HIV. This is
  discrimination on the basis of disease. Nothing
  like this exists for people living with hepatitis
  or TB.
• ICW member, LIVNG 2008 pre-consultations

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Criminalisation laws (continued)

• Proving causality (is it always possible to prove
  who has passed the virus on to whom?)
• Proving intent (difficult to define the line
  between intentional and non-intentional)
• Risk persecution when serostatus not known
• Forces disclosure (even in safer sex)

6
Impact on PLHIV and responses to HIV and AIDS

• Places the blame on one person (the person with
  HIV) for the transmission of HIV
• Controls individual and intimate behaviour
• Increases stigma against PLHIV
• Assumes PLHIV intend to transmit HIV
• Assumes PLHIV always have the power to negotiate
  safer sex

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Impact on PLHIV and responses to HIV and AIDS

• It shifts from rights-based approaches of
  empowering individuals to build the skills and
  knowledge to practice safer sex
• Discourages people from testing (fear of being
  penalised)
• Promotes fear of having a sex life amongst PLHIV
• Exacerbates vulnerability of key populations

8
LIVING 2008The Positive Leadership Summit

• Criminalisation laws are counterproductive
• Singling out HIV transmission and putting it into
  policy will not result in prevention
• HIV prevention is a shared responsibility

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LIVING 2008The Positive Leadership Summit

• Malevolent and intentional infection should be
  persecuted
• In an ideal world there would be no
  criminalisation of HIV transmission laws
• In reality, we may not be able to revoke all
  criminalisation laws
• Need to use evidence-based advocacy and work
  together with policy makers, media, criminal
  justice system, medical specialists, etc.

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LIVING 2008The Positive Leadership Summit

• Education for criminal justice system
• Education for the media
• Raise awareness among PLHIV of their rights and
  the laws where they reside
• Build the evidence on existing cases (e.g.,
  criminalisation scan, stigma index)
• Build the evidence on impact of criminalisation
  laws
• PLHIV networks as important partners!

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THANK YOU

• cmallouris_at_gnpplus.net
• www.gnpplus.net