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Experts and advocates urge end to criminalization of HIV
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Legal activity in several countries, including the United States, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone, has highlighted concern regarding the increasing prevalence of discriminatory HIV–specific laws.
A report outlining several incidents and offering opinions as to why HIV should not be criminalized was recently published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society. The report was written by an international team of experts and health advocates, including Edwin Cameron, from the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa in Bloemfontein, South Africa; Scott Burris, from the Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia; and Michaela Clayton, from the AIDS and Right Alliance of Southern Africa, in Windhoek, Namibia.
Several examples of recent legal cases involving discriminatory HIV-specific laws were given.
A homeless man in Texas was convicted of harassing a public servant with a deadly weapon. The man had HIV; the deadly weapon, according to Texas authorities, was his saliva. He spat at the officers who were arresting him. He was eventually sentenced to 35 years in prison.
A 26-year-old woman with HIV in Zimbabwe was convicted of deliberately infecting another person, according to authorities. The statute involved is part of a series of laws that state that it is a crime to do anything that “involves a real risk or possibility of infecting another person with HIV.” She was having unprotected intercourse with her partner. Her partner did not acquire HIV and did not want to follow through with criminal proceedings.
Under the wording of the law in Zimbabwe, a woman with HIV who gives birth or breast-feeds her child also may be convicted, though the wording leaves room for interpretation. The maximum punishment for the crime is 20 years in prison.
The wording of a law in Sierra Leone states that pregnant women can be convicted of transmitting HIV to their children. The law criminalizes HIV transmission of any kind, including exposure to the infection of any nature.
Incidents of legal action against people with HIV in Bermuda, Egypt, Singapore and Switzerland also have occurred, reflecting an increasing prevalence of discriminatory practices.
Against discrimination
The researchers who wrote the report included 10 opinions against HIV–related laws:
- Criminalization is ineffective.
- Criminalization is a poor substitute for measures that actually protect people from HIV.
- Criminalization victimizes, oppresses and endangers women.
- Laws against HIV are often unfairly and selectively enforced.
- Laws against HIV transmission often place the blame on one partner rather than on both.
- Laws against HIV are difficult to apply.
- Many laws against HIV are poorly written.
- Criminalization increases stigma.
- Criminalization prevents people from being tested for HIV.
- Criminalization assumes the worst about people with HIV and in so doing punishes vulnerability.
The writers added that discriminatory laws may actually be hindering progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS. “The rush to legislate has resulted in rash, inappropriate and, in all too many cases, excessive laws,” they wrote. “The laws often constitute an assault not just on civil liberties, but on all rational and effective interventions in the epidemic.” – by Rob Volansky
For more information:
- Journal of the International AIDS Society. 2008;doi:10.1186/1758-2652-11-7.