Enforcement of HIV Criminalization in Tennessee

Williams Institute analysis of data from the state of Tennessee about individuals who were convicted of an HIV crime and placed on the state’s sex offender registry (SOR). In addition to the registry data, the report also analyses detailed data from 77 case files of those on Tennessee’s SOR who resided and were prosecuted in Shelby County, home of Memphis.

Making Change Happen: Advocacy and Citizen Participation

The Making Change Happen workshop brought together innovative activists and thinkers to reclaim advocacy and citizen participation as deep and ongoing processes of organizing, consciousness raising, political empowerment and social transformation to benefit the poor and marginalized. This report is structured around the key themes addressed during the meeting:

  • Engagement in advocacy – When is a policy space strategic and when is it just window dressing?
  • Issue-based struggle or struggle-based issue  – Linking social transformation and policy advocacy
  • Who’s who in advocacy – Identity, representation and legitimacy
  • How to assess success – Evaluation for learning

Women’s Leadership in issues of decriminalization: Experience of the EECA region

The compendium brings together research from the women’s community, examples of documented personal stories and court cases. All the collected materials demonstrate how criminalisation of HIV is a global problem and how it is linked to gender-based violence. Experts believe that criminalising laws do not protect against HIV infection, but only make women worse off in society.

Beyond Blame: Challenging HIV Criminalisation

In this special report published in ‘Mujeres Adelante @ AIDS 2014’, Felicita Hikuam of ARASA describes the highlights of this International AIDS Conference pre-conference (held on Sunday, 20 July 2014 in Melbourne, Australia) which focused on working to end the overly broad criminalisation of HIV non-disclosure, exposure and transmission.

Beyond Blame: Challenging HIV Criminalisation at AIDS 2016

On 17 July 2016, approximately 150 advocates, activists, researchers, and community leaders met in Durban, South Africa, for Beyond Blame: Challenging HIV Criminalisation – a full-day pre-conference meeting preceding the 21st International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) to discuss progress on the global effort to combat the unjust use of the criminal law against people living with HIV. Attendees at the convening hailed from at least 36 countries on six continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America). This report presents an overview of key highlights and takeaways from the convening grouped by the following recurring themes: Key Strategies Advocacy Tools Partnerships and Collaborations Adopting an Intersectional Approach Avoiding Pitfalls and Unintended Consequences.

HIV Criminalization in Canada: Key Trends and Patterns

Provides a snapshot of the temporal and demographic patterns of HIV criminalization in Canada from 1989 to 2020, also updating information on the outcomes of criminal cases. Finds people are often convicted in cases involving negligible or no risk of HIV transmission, and that criminal law is increasingly used against people living with HIV from marginalized populations.

HIV Criminalisation in the EU/EEA: a comparative 10 country report

In 2018-2019 the European HIV Legal Forum conducted a project on HIV-criminalization in 10 EU Member States (Austria, Czechia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania, and the United Kingdom). The project produced a comparative legal report based on legal survey launched in the 10 countries. One of the main findings of the project showed that regardless of scientific advance in understanding the risk of HIV infection, there is a gap between the scientific knowledge and the understanding of judges, prosecutors and police of the issue due to lack of trainings and national guidelines and media still plays an important but negative role in shaping the discussion around HIV-criminalisation thus sustaining and increasing the stigma against people living with HIV. The report also shows that HIV-criminalisation disproportionately affects key populations,  women, people of colour, and the poor and homeless.

Molecular HIV Surveillance: A global review of human rights implications

Provides a detailed explanation of what MHS is and how it is used across the globe, including how the technology works, where it is being conducted, and by whom. The paper describes growing human rights concerns relating to the use of this technology and goes on to list a number of recommendations for the use of MHS which were gathered from an international literature review and from members of an Expert Advisory Group.