68 countries still criminalize HIV non-disclosure, exposure or transmission while another 33 countries are known to have applied other criminal law provisions in similar cases, a group of HIV Scientists has disclosed.
Speaking to journalists at the 2018 AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, 20 of the world’s leading HIV scientists who launched an evidence-based consensus statement lamented that People living with HIV continue to be accused, arrested, prosecuted and convicted for non-disclosure, possible or perceived exposure or transmission of HIV.
Expert Consensus Statement co-author and International AIDS Society (IAS) President, Linda-Gail Bekker said that these have occurred in cases where no harm was intended, HIV transmission did not occur, was extremely unlikely or impossible to occur and transmission was neither alleged nor proven.
“Simply put, HIV criminalization laws are ineffective, unwarranted and discriminatory. In many cases, these misconceived laws exacerbate the spread of HIV by driving people living with and at risk of infection into hiding and away from treatment services.”
She further expressed concern that HIV criminalization laws are partly driven by a poor appreciation of the science around HIV adding that the best medical and scientific evidence around HIV transmission would work at informing the justice system.
The statement also stated that limited understanding of current HIV science reinforces stigma and can lead to miscarriages of justice while undermining efforts to address the HIV epidemic.
The 20 co-authors of the Expert Consensus Statement include Nobel Laureate Françoise BarrŽ-Sinoussi of the Pasteur Institute, Salim Abdool Karim of Columbia University, Chris Beyrer of John Hopkins University, Pedro Cahn of Buenos Aires University, Peter Godfrey-Faussett of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Julio Montaner of the University of British Columbia and other leading global scientists with expertise in research, epidemiology and patient care.