HIV criminalisation - increases transmission

Its 2016!! Great. But how is the year going to be as far as HIV is concerned. There are things I am still worried about and I feel, this is the year to deal with such. There are laws in most parts of Southern Africa especially in Zimbabwe that still criminalise HIV transmission and exposure.

In Zimbabwe, criminalisation of HIV is known as willful or deliberate transmission of HIV. In the Zimbabwean law, willful transmission is defined as the failure to disclose one's status or take precautions for preventing the transmission of HIV. The law is used to prosecute people for transmitting HIV or exposing others to HIV.

 Picture taken from: www.hivjustice.net

The call to apply criminal law to HIV exposure and transmission is often driven by a well-intentioned wish to protect women, and to respond to serious concerns about the ongoing rapid spread of HIV in many countries, coupled with the perceived failure of existing HIV prevention.

This law is a deliberate way of fanning discrimination, here is why.

1. Women will be deterred from accessing HIV prevention, treatment, and care services, including HIV testing:

Many women fear violence and rejection associated with disclosure and an HIV + diagnosis. The criminalisation of HIV transmission or exposure may generate additional obstacles to healthcare for women. Prevailing stigma, discrimination and other violations of rights, including the lack of assured confidentiality, already pose a barrier to HIV prevention and testing services.

2. Women are more likely to be blamed for HIV transmission:

Women are often the first to know their HIV positive status; particularly as governments move towards provider-initiated HIV testing and counseling in pre-natal settings. Thus, women are more likely to be blamed by health staff, by their intimate partners, their partners’ families, and their communities for ‘bringing HIV into the home.

3. Women will be at greater risk of HIV-related violence and abuse:

While violence increases women’s risks of HIV transmission, women’s HIV-positive diagnosis also increases the risks of violence. The fear of violence deters women from disclosing their HIV status. Research indicates that young positive women are ten times more likely to experience violence and abuse, than their HIV negative counterparts. There are also increasing reports of women being killed by their partners for ‘bringing HIV into the family’.

4. Criminalization of HIV exposure or transmission does not protect women from coercion or violence:

Sexual violence and rape, including marital rape, place women worldwide at risk of HIV transmission. Laws against sexual violence, where they exist, are often poorly enforced. Similarly, government policies and guidelines that call for providing sexual violence survivors with necessary medical treatment, including emergency contraception to prevent pregnancy and post-exposure prophylaxis to prevent contracting HIV, are often not implemented.

5. Women’s rights to make informed sexual and reproductive choices will be further compromised:

The patriarchal context of society undermines the power of many women to make informed choices, including sexual and reproductive choices. As a result, women are often not in a position to negotiate the conditions of sex, including whether or not to engage in sex, as well as to negotiate condom use. Women also often have limited access to sexual and reproductive health and rights information to inform their choices, and to access non-discriminatory and unbiased sexual and reproductive healthcare services.

While these concerns are legitimate and must be urgently addressed, closer analysis reveals that criminalisation does not prevent new HIV transmissions or reduce women’s vulnerabilities to HIV. In fact, criminalisation harms women, rather than assists them, while negatively impacting on both public health needs and human rights protections.