August 10, 2009

Human Rights Advocates Decry HIV Criminalization in Africa

AIDS advocates and human rights groups are criticizing the so-called African Model Law on HIV/AIDS, which criminalizes HIV/AIDS exposure and transmission, allAfrica.com reports. Such groups claim the laws hinder HIV prevention and treatment efforts on the continent.

The law was drafted four years ago when representatives from 18 countries met in N’djamena, Chad, to develop a model law on HIV/AIDS for West and Central Africa.

“If being HIV positive is being regarded as a crime, people will be less likely to get themselves tested,” said Johanna Kehler, director of the AIDS Legal Network (ALN), a South African nongovernmental organization that aims to protect the human rights of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.

ALN also said that laws against mother to child transmission (MTCT) should be banned. Mothers in Sierra Leone who transmit HIV to their infants can be fined or jailed for up to seven years, or both.

HIV criminalization laws affect women more than men, Kehler said, because women tend to know their status more. This is because they go to clinics more often, especially during and after pregnancy.

So far, 58 countries around the world have passed laws that prosecute HIV transmission. Out of 33 countries considering such legislation, 20 are in Africa.

Search: criminalization, Africa, African Model Law on HIV/AIDS, AIDS Legal Network, mother to child, Sierra Leone

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Kathleen Davis, Roopville, 2009-09-08 18:16:02
No mother should be punished for transmitting HIV to her child. What about the father? Why are women held solely responsible? This will only keep women from getting tested which will rob them of the chance for any available medicine that would prevent transmission in the first place.

Michael, Haslett, 2009-08-11 10:33:51
This is so wrong. If someone gets infected with HIV, they should not be punished for it like this. If a woman gets pregnant and passes the virus unto the child, she can't help it. Its a shame that they are say, woman who are HIV should not get pregnant. We need to fight in every country that wants to or has made it a crime to have HIV.