US: Interview with JoAnn Wypijewski on the Nushawn Williams's case, a "signpost on the road to the criminalization of HIV"
An Interview with JoAnn Wypijewski Sex panics keep happening because they tap into Americans' deepest fears about the need to protect innocents from the threat of evil — fears that are endemic among the Left as well as the Right….
USA Articles Media/Public Opinion
Canada: Statement about Court of Appeal decision that a condom alone is not enough to preclude duty to disclose HIV status
The following statement is issued jointly by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network ("Legal Network"), the Coalition des organismes communautaires québécois de lutte contre le sida (COCQ-SIDA), and the HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario (HALCO). August 7, 2020 — This week,…
Ontario Canada Appeal court decisions
Canada: Activists deplore media article perpetuating misinformaton and ignoring scientific breakthroughs
Automatic translation from Deepl.com, for original article in French, please scroll down. We have read two articles written by Hélène Buzzetti and published on August 1st, 2020. In a context where scientific advances surrounding HIV are struggling to make their…
Canada Articles
The PJP Update – July 2020
The July 2020 edition of the Positive Justice Project newsletter is available here.
US: Criminalizing and stigmatizing HIV only leads to more HIV infections
There's another public health crisis laying in the shadows of COVID-19, and it's completely preventable: HIV. More than 20,000 people are living with HIV in Fort Lauderdale – and more than 100,000 across Florida. New HIV infections have been increasing…
Florida USA Discrimination Public health
Kenya: Petition challenging constitutionality of HIV criminalisation awaits governmental response
The Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions have been given 30 days from 20th July 2020 within which to file their responses to Petition 447 of 2019, a case challenging the constitutionality of Section 26 of the Sexual…
Kenya Law and policy reform
Russia: Names of released prisoners suffering from certain diseases to be passed to authorities of regions where they live
Source: Pravo – Translated automatically by Deepl.com. For original article in Russian, please scroll down. The exact list of diseases to be reported will be determined by the government. On 20 July, President Vladimir Putin signed a law obliging prison…
Russian Federation Punitive laws and policies Human rights
Criminalization laws impact public health and perpetuate discrimination
A panel at the 23rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2020, gone virtual this year due to COVID-19) discussed the growing right-wing populist movements around the world that threaten advances made by activists toward ending criminalization of people living with HIV…
Punitive laws and policies Human rights
Australia: Proposed mandatory HIV testing in New South Wales is neither necessary nor useful
People who expose a police officer or emergency worker to body fluids would be compelled to have their blood tested for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, under a proposed law in NSW. But this law isn't needed to protect…
New South Wales Australia Risk Punitive laws and policies
New Zealand: Despite spitting not transmitting HIV, prison officers are tested every 3 months for a full year if coming into contact with spit
A Corrections officer who was spat in the face by a prisoner during the Covid-19 lockdown has spent months waiting to find out if he now has a serious disease. Under the Corrections Act, any officer who comes in to…
New Zealand Articles Risk
US: Activists activists raise concerns over the links between public health & law enforcement surveillance
Can this HIV prevention strategy overcome mistrust and fear among marginalized communities? In Texas, health officials recently used a new surveillance technology to identify a large HIV outbreak among gay and bisexual Latino men. In Massachusetts, officials used the same…
USA Articles Harm Public health approaches Scientific tests
US: New initiative to combat Anti-Black racism, end criminalisation of pandemics and abolish systems of imprisonment
As Calls for Justice Echo Around the United States, National Groups Led by Most-Policed Communities Affected by HIV and COVID-19 Join in Partnership The Health Not Prisons Collective Vows to Combat Anti-Black Racism, End Criminalization of Pandemics and Abolish Systems…
USA Campaigns
The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation leads multi-state effort to decriminalise HIV and modernise laws leading to discrimination
The Foundation partners with Gilead Sciences, Inc. and the Health Not Prisons Collective on a major, multi-state effort to decriminalize HIV and modernize laws that lead to the discrimination of people living with HIV. LOS ANGELES, June 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — The Elizabeth…
When considering the criminalisation of COVID-19, lessons from HIV should be retained
The criminalisation of the virus would create greater barriers to accessing healthcare systems already preventing many people from getting treatment. After it was announced that no further action would be taken by police regarding the death of Belly Mujinga, a railway worker who…
Articles Discrimination Punitive laws and policies Human rights Public health
New research analyses approaches taken by 49 dating and hook-up platforms in designing for HIV disclosure
Abstract Online dating and hookup platforms have fundamentally changed people's day-to-day practices of sex and love-but exist in tension with older social and medicolegal norms. This is particularly the case for people with HIV, who are frequently stigmatized, surveilled, ostracized…
Social science Research
US: Interdisciplinary working group issues recommendations to better inform research while serving the interests of individuals affected by HIV
Abstract In recent years, phylogenetic analysis of HIV sequence data has been used in research studies to investigate transmission patterns between individuals and groups, including analysis of data from HIV prevention clinical trials; in molecular epidemiology; and in public health…
USA Scientific tests
Launch of GNP+ PLHIV Stigma Index Advocacy Toolkit
A toolkit to equip networks of people living with HIV to take forward advocacy actions based on key findings and recommendations from PLHIV Stigma Index Reports The People Living with HIV (PLHIV) Stigma Index is a standardised tool to gather…
UK: Scotland Police ends practice of marking people with HIV as 'contagious' in intelligence database
Police Scotland has said it will stop marking people with HIV as "contagious" in their intelligence database after reviewing the procedure. A charity uncovered the practice and raised concerns that it could lead to discrimination. HIV Scotland said the change…
Scotland United Kingdom Police
HIV criminalisation laws affect women negatively and impede the effectiveness of implementing state programmes
Translated from Original article in Russian via Deepl.com – For article in Russian, please scroll down. In many countries, HIV-related criminal liability still exists. At least 68 countries have laws that specifically criminalize hiding information about HIV infection from your…
Belarus Russian Federation Tajikistan Ukraine Articles Discrimination Punitive laws and policies Public health
Uzbekistan: Careless and distorted headline highlights why HIV criminalisation law must be reformed
Automatic Deepl translation. For article in Russian, scroll down. Attitudes towards people with the immunodeficiency virus in Uzbekistan remain difficult, if not discriminatory. The problem lies not only in public intolerance and the negligence of the media, but also in…
Uzbekistan Articles Punitive laws and policies
US: A decade after his expected release date, Nushawn Williams remains in state custody
Nushawn Williams was four days from freedom when he received a letter in April 2010 informing him New York State officials were effectively reneging on the deal he had reached with the state 12 years earlier. Instead of walking out…
New York USA Articles
Australia: Director of Public Prosecutions uses HIV case to argue in favour of lowering burden of proof for prosecutions
A push to make it easier to obtain convictions in serious violence cases would throw criminal law into "turmoil", the Court of Appeal has heard. Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd last year took the unusual step of challenging the…
Australia Punitive laws and policies
Canada: British Columbia's appeal court orders new trial for man accused of reneging on promise to wear condom
New sexual assault trial ordered for man accused of reneging on promise to wear protection B.C.'s appeal court has ordered a new trial for a man acquitted of sexual assault after he allegedly reneged on a promise to wear a condom…
British Columbia Canada Appeal court decisions
US: Ohio Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the State's HIV Disclosure law
The Supreme Court today unanimously upheld the constitutionality of R.C. 2903.11(B)(1), Ohio's HIV-disclosure statute, which makes it a crime for a person who has tested positive for HIV to knowingly engage in sexual conduct with another without disclosing that information, concluding…
Ohio USA Punitive laws and policies Appeal court decisions
US: Advocates who fought to modernise HIV criminalisation laws for years are wary about what could happen around coronavirus
As states and municipalities struggle with how to enforce COVID-19 distancing and shutdown measures, many HIV criminal law reform advocates are looking warily at the news and waiting for history to repeat, or at least rhyme. Advocates expect new criminal…
USA Articles Law and policy reform