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Criminalisation of HIV transmission in Europe

A rapid scan of the laws and rates of prosecution for HIV transmission within signatory States of the European Convention of Human Rights
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Norway

Estimated number of people living with HIV: 2,100
Number of people prosecuted for HIV transmission: 5
Number of people convicted for HIV transmission: 5

Applicable law: The General Civil Penal Code of 1902, Section 155

Key wording in the law:

‘Any person having sufficient cause to believe that he is a bearer of a generally contagious disease, wilfully or negligently infects or exposes another person to the risk of infection shall be liable….

Discussion:

From the responses received, it appears five people have been prosecuted for HIV transmission in Norway. All of these prosecutions have led to convictions. Section 155 was amended in 2003 to increase the maximum penalty applicable from three to six years. The first prosecution for HIV transmission was brought in 1991; there has been one prosecution and one conviction between September 2003 and September 2004.

All the people convicted in Norway appear to have passed on the virus through heterosexual sex even though the majority of people living with HIV in Norway have are reported to have been infected through homosexual sex. Four out of five have been male. Three out of the five people convicted have been Norwegian nationals. Of the remaining two, one was from South Africa whilst the other was Sudanese. None of the people convicted were in full time employment at the time of the prosecution; two were students, one lived on disability pension income, one is listed as an asylum seeker while the occupation of the last person is not known.

The group response by Gay Men’s Health Committee, Pluss and the National Association Against AIDS noted that whilst 70 per cent of people living with HIV live in Oslo, none of the people convicted was in Oslo.

Exposing another person to the risk of infection is also subject to prosecution. The maximum penalty applicable is six years’ imprisonment.

Transmission of other sexually transmitted infections is subject to prosecution under the same provision.

Completed questionnaires were received from the Norwegian Directorate of Health and Social Affairs in co-operation with the Ministry of Justice and a joint response from Gay Men’s Health Committee, Pluss and the National Association Against AIDS.

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