HIV, Stigma, and
Discrimination: The Role
of Law and Policy
AIDS 2013
Plenary
July 1, 2013
Aziza Ahmed
Associate Professor of Law
Northeastern University School of Law
“Why AIDS is Likely To Remain a Gay Disease: The
Rugged Vagina, The Fragile Urethra & The Vulnerable
Rectum“
Discover Magazine 1985
Source: Smithsonian National Museum of American History Division of Medicine and Science
Early Epidemiology and Sexuality
(1981)
Outline
• 1) Criminal Law as a Barrier to Health
Care Service and Delivery
• 2) Laws and Regulations that Govern
Research and Programming on HIV
• 3) Stigma and Discrimination Beyond
the Law
Criminal Law as a Barrier
to Health Care Service
and Delivery
Criminalisation of HIV transmission, Exposure & Non-
disclosure
1. In over 60 countries, it is a
crime to expose another
person to HIV or to transmit it,
especially through sex.
2. Worldwide, countries and
jurisdictions have
promulgated HIV-specific
criminal laws:
 27 countries in Africa
following the N'Djamena
Model Law (2005)
 14 countries in EECA
(Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Moldova, Montenegro,
Serbia, Russia, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and
Uzbekistan )
 11 countries in Latin America
Source: Global Commission on HIV and the Law, 2012
Sex Work
Source: Global Commission on HIV and the
Law, 2012
People who use Drugs
Source: Global Commission on HIV and the Law, 2012
Women and Girls
U.S. Positive Women’s Network
Laws and Regulations
that Govern Research and
Programming on HIV
Anti-Prostitution Loyalty
Oath
(e) LIMITATION—No funds made available to carry out
this Act, or any amendment made by this Act, may
be used to promote or advocate the legalization or
practice of prostitution or sex trafficking.
o Struck down by U.S. Supreme Court in June 2013 - still applies to non-U.S.
based NGOs
Source: United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of
2003, Pub. L. No. 108-25, §2, 117 Stat. 711, 716 (2003) (current version at 22 U.S.C.A.
§§7601(23) (West 2010))
Stigma and
Discrimination Beyond
the Law
“My Body, My Womb, My
Rights” (Namibia)
Acknowledgements
• Mandeep Dhaliwal, UNDP
• Katherine Ott, Smithsonian Institute
• International Community of Women Living with
HIV/AIDS (ICW)
• Positive Women’s Network (PWN)
• Naina Khanna
• Brook Kelly
• Jennifer Gatsi-Mallet
• Beri Hull
• Leo Beletsky
• Tamil Kendall
Select References
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