About 90 percent of countries in the Asia-Pacific region still have laws and practices that obstruct the rights of people living with HIV and those at higher risk of HIV exposure. The law and its application can have a profound impact on the lives of people, especially those who are marginalized and disempowered. The law is a powerful instrument to challenge stigma, promote public health, and protect human rights.
In light of this, the Global Commission on HIV and Law was officially launched on June 24, 2010. The Global Commission on HIV and the Law is an independent body comprising some of the world’s most respected legal, human rights and HIV leaders.
Across the region, legislation and law enforcement often lag behind national HIV policies, with the result that the reach and effectiveness of HIV prevention, treatment and care programmes are undermined. For example, 19 countries still criminalize same-sex relations and 29 countries criminalize some aspect of sex work. Many countries in the region enforce compulsory detention for people who use drugs and in some cases (eleven countries in Asia) issue the death penalty for drug offences.
In India, the 2009 Delhi High Court ruling striking down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, ‘to decriminalize same sex relations between consenting adults’, has been a very important step in this direction and has generated a lot of expectations and excitement among the people who are either affected by HIV or those with different sexual preferences.
According to J.V.R. Prasada Rao, Special Adviser to the Executive Director UNAIDS: “In spite of recent progress, insufficient coverage of services for people living with HIV, men who have sex with men, transgender people, sex workers and people who use drugs is still a reality and the lack of legal protections just drive these populations underground. If we don’t invest in strengthening legal protections for these populations, we will jeopardize the gains we have made in the region. This also means stepping up action to tackle inappropriate criminalization.”
“It’s really hard for us to implement life-saving services like HIV counseling and needle/syringe programs (NSP) when the police are empowered to walk into our centers and arrest who they like. Who would want to come into a drop-in center where safety and confidentiality cannot be ensured? The police are too powerful, and no one has trained them in the value of harm reduction services,” stresses Karyn Kaplan, whose organization, Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG), has advocated for harm reduction since 2002.
Kay Thi Win, Population Services International, Myanmar, has addressed key obstacles that keep sex workers from accessing HIV services, hampering progress in reducing new infections and providing treatment and care. “Everyday we confront brutal realities–arrest, violence, discrimination. Sex workers in the region are routinely denied access to health services. They are frequently harassed and often face criminal charges and detention,”
The afternoon plenary at ICAAP (International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific) Saturday 27th August will discuss legal impediments to universal access which also enhance stigma and discrimination. The discussion will highlight the role played by the legal environment in facilitating or hindering universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support the global response to date.
