Global Criminalisation Scan

Programmes

Initiated by the Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+) and partner organisations, the Global Criminalisation Scan is a tool to map criminal and other laws used to prosecute people for transmitting HIV. The aim of this in-depth research is to create a pool of knowledge that will inform advocacy plans and can be shared with other jurisdictions.

The Global Criminalisation Scan already includes data of over 150 countries and territories in Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America. The research is currently being expanded to include data from Africa and the Caribbean. In addition, in- depth studies into selected cases are being conducted in the different regions, starting with North America.

From 2010 onwards, GNP and its partners will expand this work to look at how laws and regulations are applied in a way that impedes an effective response HIV, for example:

The criminalisation of engaging in commercial sex;
Prohibiting same sex sexual relations;
Prohibiting using/injecting drugs; and
Restricting or denying entry/stay/residence or require deportation of HIV positive non-nationals.

For more information on the information gathered and the partners in this exercise, please view the Global Criminalisation Scan website.

PLHIV Advocacy in Nigeria stops HIV criminalisation being made law

Thursday, 14 February 2013

PLHIV advocates in Nigeria have effectively stopped sections of a law that would criminalise HIV exposure and transmission. During a consultation on the new Nigerian anti-HIV discrimination bill, that took place on 5 and 6 February 2013, the Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN) presented results and recommendations from the PLHIV Stigma Index. This and other evidence, clearly shows both the ineffectiveness of HIV criminalization laws and the potential harmful consequences of such misguided legislation.

Following the presentations the paragraph on “willful and deliberate spread of HIV” was scrapped from the anti HIV discrimination bill “An Act to make provisions for the prevention of HIV discrimination and to protect the human rights and dignity of people living with HIV and affected by AIDS and other related matters”. While the bill is still at a draft stage, it is highly unlikely the paragraph will be reinserted.

In addition, NEPWHAN advocacy ensured the bill was developed beyond its initial workplace focus to also extended the protection to people living with HIV in schools, places of worship, correctional institutions, and the society at large.

pdf Click here for the draft bill. 211.56 Kb

HIV Is Not a Crime - Video on US legal system response to HIV

Monday, 27 February 2012

HIV is a Crime is a US documentary showing the absurdities in the US legal system around using peoples' HIV status as a additional felony charge. The documentary is supported by GNP+ North America.

Experts endorse OSLO Declaration on HIV Criminalisation

Thursday, 23 February 2012

Amsterdam 23/02/2012. Representatives from international civil society have released the Oslo Declaration on HIV Criminalisation. The declaration is an advocacy and policy statement against the overly-broad use of the criminal law to regulate and punish people living with HIV for behaviour that in any other circumstance would be considered lawful. The declaration was created and endorsed by twenty individuals and representatives of civil society from around the world with expert knowledge in health, scientific, social, ethical, political, human rights and judicial issues relating to HIV.

2010 Global Criminalisation Scan Report

Saturday, 24 July 2010

The 2010 Global Criminalisation Scan gives a global overview of the extent to which criminal and other laws have been used to prosecute people living with HIV for HIV transmission and exposure.

The full impact of these laws on the human rights of people living with HIV and on access to treatment, care and support has yet to be fully understood. However, the evidence presented here shows that there is no correlation between the HIV prevalence in a country and the willingness of countries to use criminal laws and other punitive measures to regulate transmission.

Promoting women's human rights in the face of criminalisation of HIV transmission

Monday, 30 November 2009

GNP+ has contributed to and endorsed ‘10 Reasons Why Criminalization of HIV Exposure or Transmission Harms Women’. This document, which is being launched on World AIDS Day 2009 highlights the ways in which criminalising HIV exposure or transmission exposes women to further dangers and violence rather than offer them protection from infection. Endorsed by 20 other organisations from around the world, the document calls for the protection and advancement of women’s rights for effective responses to HIV.