This blog is one of the main ways that the NGO Delegates and the CF Team share information about the work of the Delegation and forthcoming PCB meetings. We encourage you to comment and/or ask questions. The posts are listed in order of most recent. Navigate this page by using the search function or the checklist system on the left to narrow down your search by PCB meeting, theme, or any other tag or key word.
8 August 2012 by Amy Coulterman[PDF][print]
From the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, “Risks, Rights and Health” (note: this infographic does not include criminalization of non-disclosure). Click to enlarge.
In another update to events mentioned in the 2011 NGO Report entitled Voices from the Field: How Laws and Policies Affect HIV Responses, we had noted that prosecution for HIV non-disclosure was becoming a significant legal issue:
26 July 2012 by Amy Coulterman[PDF][print]
At the XIX International AIDS Conference on July 26th, the NGO Delegation officially launched the publication of the results from its 2011 Report to the UNAIDS Board. Delivered at the 29th meeting in December 2011, the report focuses on the importance of the legal environment to national HIV responses. For its findings, the NGO Delegation conducted a series of 27 focus groups, involving more than 240 participants from every region of the world.
6 June 2012 by Amy Coulterman[PDF][print]
As a Delegation, our decision not to bring forward the full scope of our recommendations in our NGO Report at the 29th PCB in December was in part due to the development of the report by the Commission on HIV and the Law. We saw this report as a key document to reinforce the correlation between the legal environment and access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.
6 June 2012 by Amy Coulterman[PDF][print]
Thank you to many of you in the Secretariat and the working group for the work and negotiations that went into the production of this document. Without taking away from this work and good intentions, the NGO Delegation must state its frustration with the process and development of these key issues since the last PCB.
We think the current report, while important to have and fully supported by our constituencies, only contributes to maintaining the status quo. Rather than moving forward to reach populations most at risk of transmitted HIV, we are stalled in our discussions. We will not be able to address HIV without addressing key populations, including gay men and other men who have sex with men and transgendered people, people who inject drugs, sex workers, as well as women and girls, youth, and prisoners.
2 April 2012 by Amy Coulterman[PDF][print]
Since its creation on 13 February, 1340 supports have signed onto the Oslo Declaration on HIV Criminalisation. Prepared by civil society in Oslo, Norway, on the eve of the global High Level Policy Consultation on the Science and Law of the Criminalisation of HIV Non-disclosure, Exposure and Transmission, 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.
9 January 2012 by Amy Coulterman[PDF][print]
The Criminalize Hate Not HIV campaign recently launched an online tool to help people living with HIV, campaigners, activists and policy makers worldwide to find out more about the state and impact of laws and policies. The tool can be found at www.hivandthelaw.com.
It was produced by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) to “counter the alarming international trend in recent years towards the criminalization of HIV transmission, and argues for an evidence-based approach to HIV prevention that does not increase the stigma surrounding HIV and protects the human rights of people living with HIV.”
19 December 2011 by Amy Coulterman[PDF][print]
NGO Delegate for Asia and the Pacific, Jane Bruning, shares her country’s and her personal experiences with HIV.
I would like to share with you some examples from New Zealand where the removal of punitive laws has played a significant role in the reduction of HIV transmission.
New Zealand meets the UNAIDS/WHO criteria for a “low-level” HIV and AIDS epidemic because HIV prevalence has not consistently exceeded five percent in any defined sub-population. Since recording of HIV and AIDS began in 1985 there have been a total of 3475 cases.
19 December 2011 by Amy Coulterman[PDF][print]
Irina Teplinskaya, from the Eurasian Network of People Who Use Drugs and INPUD, opened up the thematic session on ‘HIV and Enabling Legal Environments’ with a moving personal account of the discrimination she has faced as a drug user in Russia. You can read an extended version of her speech on the Rylkov Foundation website.
I am listed as a representative of a key population – and that obliges me to speak not with a language of cold mind and faceless figures, but with a language of the heart. My life is like a mirror showing a bigger general picture; it gives an example of what’s happening to millions of people using drugs in many parts of Eastern Europe and in many other places around the world.
15 December 2011 by Amy Coulterman[PDF][print]
The NGO Delegation presented its 2011 NGO Report on legal environments and HIV responses at the 29th UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board meeting on 13 December 2011.
To support the presentation and its report, the NGO Delegation has produced a short video featuring interviews from people working in the HIV field and who have been affected by HIV. The video highlights the effects of laws and policies, both on a wide-scale and personally, and offers important recommendations for policy-makers.
14 December 2011 by Amy Coulterman[PDF][print]
Sean Strub, founder of POZ Magazine and Senior Advisor to rthe Positive Justice Project, has been an important supporter of the NGO Delegation during the development of this year’s NGO Report on legal environments and HIV responses.
“HIV Is Not A Crime” is Sean’s documentary film project about HIV criminalization. This eight minute trailer from the film features moving interviews with Nick Rhoades, Robert Suttle and Monique Howell Moree, who were all prosecuted for failing to disclose their HIV positive status prior to sexual contact.
22 July 2011 by Amy Coulterman[PDF][print]
UNAIDS Human Rights and Law Team 2011
Based on information from the UNAIDS Human Rights and Law Team, UNAIDS has created an updated map and list of countries with HIV-related travel restrictions.
Currently, 48 countries impose some form of restriction on the entry, stay and residence of people living with HIV based on their HIV status.
UNAIDS calls for the global freedom of movement for people living with HIV and the elimination of discriminatory HIV-related travel restrictions. Visit UNAIDS’ travel restrictions site for further information on mobility and travel.
15 March 2011 by Amy Coulterman[PDF][print]
The Global Commission on HIV and the Law announces call for submissions for the Eastern Europe & Central Asia Regional Dialogue
DEADLINE: 8 APRIL 2011
The Regional Dialogue will take place on 18-19 May 2011 in Chisinau, Moldova. In addition to giving voice to regional and country perspectives on issues of HIV and the law, the dialogue aims to contribute to regional efforts for creating enabling legal environments which support effective HIV responses.
31 January 2011 by Amy Coulterman[PDF][print]
President of Ukraine
Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych
11 Bankova str.
01220, Kyiv, Ukraine
Re: Stop the harassment and abuse of substitution therapy and HIV patients in Ukraine
Your Excellency,
We are concerned about recent information that hundreds of clients receiving opioid substitution therapy and NGOs that are supporting programmes providing opioid substitution therapy in Ukraine are facing harassment and abuse from state authorities after the Ministry of Interior’s drug enforcement department ordered comprehensive inspections of harm reduction programmes on 18 January 2011.
31 January 2011 by Amy Coulterman[PDF][print]
(see our official press release)
31 January 2011 – The UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) NGO Delegation is saddened by the news of the murder of David Kato, a key activist in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender person (LGBT) community in Uganda. David was well known to the Delegation, our partners and constituencies and his tireless work was inspiring to us all.
27 January 2011 by Amy Coulterman[PDF][print]
“Human rights are no longer considered peripheral to the AIDS response. Human rights are an essential tool of public health. 80% of countries explicitly acknowledge or address human rights in their national AIDS strategies. However, 80 countries still have punitive laws against people with HIV which pose significant challenges to the AIDS response”
Read more at Management Sciences for Health’s blog on a discussion on the reality facing vulnerable populations: the risk of exposure to HIV, the lack of prevention and treatment programming targeted at these populations, the stigma and discrimination they face and the human rights violations affecting these groups.
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