African ILO meeting endorses efforts by employers' and workers' organizations to fight HIV/AIDS

In December 2003, the Tenth African International Labour Organization (ILO) Regional Meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia adopted a resolution on HIV/AIDS calling on African governments to support the efforts of employers and workers to combat HIV/AIDS--by providing an enabling legal and policy framework for workplace action, by providing measures to oppose stigma and discrimination, and by strengthening national AIDS plans through the inclusion of a strategy for the world of work. The resolution also called on workers' and employers' organizations to increase their joint efforts to reduce the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS. Finally, the resolution called on the ILO to give greater priority to its efforts to combat the pandemic in Africa.     

Putting third first: critical legal issues and HIV/AIDS

On 7 July 2000, before the XIII International AIDS Conference, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the AIDS Law Project, South Africa held a one-day satellite meeting on legal, ethical, and human rights issues in Durban, South Africa. Entitled Putting Third First--Critical Legal Issues and HIV/AIDS, the satellite focused on legal strategies to advance the human rights of those most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and to discrimination: people in the developing world, and people who, although they live in the industrialized world, suffer from poverty and marginalization and are at high risk of contracting HIV. The satellite grew out of the ongoing partnership between the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the AIDS Law Project, South Africa, and was co-hosted by UNAIDS.     

Canada announces new funding for domestic and global fight against AIDS

In a flurry of announcements that came just weeks before it called a federal election, the federal government doubled the funding for its domestic HIV/AIDS strategy, doubled its contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and announced a significant contribution to the World Health Organization (WHO) 3 by 5 Initiative. AIDS organizations welcomed the announcements but were critical of the fact that the increased funding for the domestic strategy will take five years to implement. They also criticized the fact that funding for the global initiatives is not new money; it will come out of increases for development assistance previously announced.     

Access to treatment as a right to life and health

In some countries in Latin America, in the absence of leadership from governments, activists have had to resort to the courts to obtain access to HIV/AIDS treatments for people with HIV/AIDS. In his presentation to the XIII International AIDS Conference (abstract TuOrE458), Edgar Carrasco, of Acción Ciudadana Contra el Sida (ACCSI), discusses the process that was followed in Venezuela. The presentation describes the very limited access people with HIV/AIDS had to antiretroviral therapies and treatments for opportunistic infections under Venezuela's health and social security systems. It provides details of lawsuits that were launched on behalf of several individuals living with HIV/AIDS, and that resulted in the courts ordering the government to provide treatments for these individuals and, eventually, for all people with HIV/AIDS in Venezuela. The presentation concludes that recourse to the courts is a useful tool for activists and that civil actions launched on behalf of people with HIV/AIDS can serve as an example for people with other chronic diseases.     

Chinese scholars call for AIDS rules based on respect for individual rights

In June 2002, the UN Theme Group on HIV/AIDS in China published a comprehensive situation analysis and needs assessment of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The report, entitled "HIV/AIDS: China's Titanic Peril", also describes and analyzes current HIV/AIDS legislation and policies. It notes that "laws and regulations that are based on fear and prejudice have contributed to fuelling the epidemic instead of curbing it." The report observes that the targets and goals established in China's five-year Plan of Action (2001-2005) are not consistent with the commitments endorsed in June 2001 at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS. It states that the Plan "continues to present HIV/AIDS as a medical problem, and fails to understand the epidemic as a broader development issue." Even where laws could assist, enforcement remains a huge challenge. For example, in 1998 the National People's Congress passed a law prohibiting commercial blood donations for medical purposes. Nonetheless, the illicit and unregulated blood trade, which has rapidly accelerated the spread of HIV infection in China, has continued. When the alarm was sounded by Dr. Wan Yanhai, coordinator of the AIZHI (AIDS) Action Project, the government response was to arrest him. In the following article, Nick Young, editor of China Development Brief, reviews the findings of three studies commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on the role of the law in response to HIV/AIDS.     

Report on complementary/alternative health care and HIV/AIDS

In 2001, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network published a lengthy report on Complementary/Alternative Health Care and HIV/AIDS: Legal, Ethical & Policy Issues in Regulation. The document is the first in a series of papers to be produced by the Legal Network on priority legal and ethical issues related to HIV/AIDS care, treatment, and support. The article below summarizes the contents of the report.     

输血后艾滋病的司法鉴定

本文综述了近年来输血后艾滋病病毒感染、艾滋病发病情况及其影响因素,强调了按照国家法律,法规,严格控制血液制品进口,采血部门严格筛查,供血单位规范生产,用血医院严把指征,以及受血病人知情理解是避免输血后艾滋病病毒感染和艾滋病法律纠纷的关键。阐述了输血后艾滋病病毒感染及艾滋病发病的司法鉴定工作要点。     

AIDS Law Project receives AIDS and human rights award

The AIDS Law Project, the recipient of the 2nd Annual International Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, has been at the forefront of the struggle for human rights for people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa. It has played a major role in convincing the South African government to implement a national HIV treatment plan.     

A human rights critique of the United Kingdom's HIV response

The National AIDS Trust (NAT) is the United Kingdom's leading HIV policy and advocacy NGO. NAT is committed to promoting a human rights framework for HIV responses through work with communities, governments, professionals, and the private sector, both within the UK and internationally. In this presentation to the XIII International AIDS Conference (abstract WeOrE524), John Godwin and Saul Walker discuss current human rights issues related to HIV/AIDS in the UK, and NAT's perspective on the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights as an advocacy tool.     

United Nations Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS

The United Nations General Assembly Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS calls for a fundamental shift in the response to HIV/AIDS.     

Survey reveals knowledge and attitudes of Canadians regarding HIV/AIDS

According to a national survey, almost two out of every three Canadians think the federal government should be spending more to fight HIV/AIDS. The survey also found that: (a) although most Canadians know a lot about HIV/AIDS, there are some significant gaps in their knowledge; and (b) although most Canadians think HIV/AIDS is a serious problem, the vast majority do not consider themselves to be at risk for HIV infection. Few Canadians blame people for contracting HIV through sex or drug use, but many Canadians are still uncomfortable associating with people with HIV/AIDS in certain settings.     

Drug policy in Canada--the way forward

This article is one of a series commissioned to mark the tenth anniversary of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, discussing past developments and future directions in areas of policy and law related to HIV/AIDS. It takes a critical look at Canada's drug policy. Despite calls for a balanced approach focused on reducing drug-related harm, Canada's method of dealing with problems of illicit drug use has remained prohibitionist in nature, and by far the greatest part of federal funding is devoted to supply-reduction initiatives. Considerable changes in policy and law are needed to significantly reduce the harms associated with injection drug use in Canada. These include developing a comprehensive and integrated strategy, exploring alternative legal frameworks, piloting innovative approaches to reducing injection-related harms, and investing in broad social policies that address the determinants of injection drug use.     

Caribbean: Regional support for HIV/AIDS law and policy reform

In this article, David Patterson describes the second regional training workshop on HIV/AIDS, law, ethics, and human rights, which took place in Georgetown, Guyana in November 2003; and a grant from the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) to the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP). The grant focuses on human rights, prevention, and care and support.     

Draft discussion paper on HIV/AIDS and immigration released

In October 2000, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network released a 57-page draft discussion paper on HIV/AIDS and immigration, reacting to the announcement that HIV testing may become mandatory for all prospective immigrants to Canada. A final version of the paper will be released in early 2001.     

Québec: an outbreak of HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination

In the space of a few weeks in January 2004, actions by three different institutions in Québec combined to threaten the human rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, raise the spectre of mandatory HIV testing, and create unnecessary public fears about the spread of HIV infection. In response to what they called "the worst weeks in recent history for people living with HIV/AIDS in Québec," the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and COCQ-Sida (the Québec coalition of community-based organizations fighting AIDS) called for a province-wide campaign against HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination. A victory was achieved when a Montréal catholic seminary announced that it had backed down from its initial proposal to mandatorily test all applicants for priesthood for HIV, but much more is needed to fight the rapid outbreak of mandatory-testing proposals.     

Barcelona 2002: law, ethics, and human rights. Introducing ARVs in resource-poor settings: challenges and consequences

In most industrialized countries, AIDS mortality has plunged sharply with the advent of antiretroviral therapy. Yet the majority of people living with HIV/AIDS do not have access to modern HIV care, and some experts have argued that introducing such therapy is not a ranking priority. In this article, which is based on a plenary presentation at the XIV International AIDS Conference, Paul Farmer presents the experience of an integrated HIV prevention and care project in rural Haiti, and explores the challenges to national AIDS programs and other bodies in the "least developed" countries as more resources are made available for HIV prevention and care.     

Criminal law and HIV/AIDS: strategic considerations

Richard Elliott's paper on criminal law and HIV/AIDS, an edited and updated version of his presentation at "Putting Third First," sets out five guiding principles for criminal law policy and HIV/AIDS; briefly outlines the rationales for criminalization; discusses three strategic legal questions regarding the criminalization of HIV transmission/exposure; and offers a number of recommendations for consideration of those needing to articulate a well-considered perspective on the ethical, legal, human rights, and public health dimensions of the criminalization of HIV transmission/exposure.     

Mandatory HIV testing used to bar potential immigrants

Last year Canada turned away 75 people with HIV/AIDS because the federal government said that they would place excessive demands on publically funded services. Another 207 people with HIV/AIDS were allowed to enter Canada, mainly because of exemptions to the excessive-demand provisions. HIV/AIDS organizations have objected to the government's policy of mandatory HIV-antibody testing of potential immigrants and have expressed concerns about the way in which excessive demand is calculated.     

Canada: new report on HIV,HCV, and women prisoners

In March, 2003, the Prisoners' HIV/AIDS Support Action Network (PASAN) released Unlocking Our Futures: A National Study on Women, Prisons, HIV and Hepatitis C, a qualitative, evaluative study investigating the perceptions and lived experiences of federally incarcerated women regarding HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C (HCV).     

Update to international guidelines on HIV/AIDS and human rights

On 10 September 2002, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) released a revised international guideline on "Access to prevention, treatment, care and support." The update to Guideline 6 of HIV/AIDS and Human Rights: International Guidelines reflects significant therapeutic, political, and legal developments in this area since the 12 guidelines were originally published in 1998. The new Guideline 6 significantly expands the guidance given to governments on what international human rights norms require of them in relation to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support.