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Global Network of People living with HIV
(GNP+)

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Type: Position papers and guidance

Ahead of UNGASS 2011 GNP+ sent a message to the governments of the members states attending the UN meeting. In our message we demanded the following:

  • GNP+ calls on governments to commit to respecting, protecting, and fulfilling the human rights of people living with, affected by, and vulnerable to HIV
  • GNP+ calls on governments to commit to achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support (universal access) by 2015
  • GNP+ calls on governments to commit to recognising and responding to the needs of men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender people, sex workers and people who use drugs
  • GNP+ calls on governments to commit to the greater and more meaningful involvement of people living with HIV in national regional and global levels of the HIV response
  • GNP+ calls on governments to commit to introducing and promoting laws that protect the rights of people living with, affected by and vulnerable to HIV. Governments should review their laws, practices and policies and amend any that cause barriers to accessing HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services
  • GNP+ calls on governments to commit to recognising and responding to the needs of women and girls, particularly women and girls living with and most affected by HIV
  • GNP+ calls on governments to commit to country level HIV responses that are transparent and accountable to those most affected by HIV

Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention highlights the importance of placing the person living with HIV at the centre of managing their health and wellbeing. As a step towards operationalising Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention, GNP+ and UNAIDS have developed Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention: A Policy Framework (January 2011). The Policy Framework provides the broad concepts that represent the first steps towards operationalising Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention.

The Policy Framework informs the development and implementation of operational guidelines that reflect linkages between a wide range of policies and programmes aimed at supporting and improving the health, dignity and prevention needs of people living with HIV. The Policy Framework has been developed through intense consultation with networks of people living with HIV, civil society, governments, UN cosponsors and donors globally.

Reproduced from the Good Practice Guide on the Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV (GIPA), published in 2010 by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+).

The present document is a compilation of some of the laws that can help create a legal environment which enables universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support (i.e protective laws) or that can block such access for people living with HIV, sex workers and their clients, men who have sex with men and people who use drugs (i.e. punitive laws). Corrections to the information herein are welcome and will be reflected in any future update of this document.

Available in English and French.

For more specific information on HIV and the law, go to the crminalisation scan website

With treatment and care becoming increasingly available, PLHIV are regaining their health, living longer, fulfilling lives, and planning for their futures. This includes decisions about sex, sexuality and the possibility of starting or expanding families. Despite this, there still prevails an underlying assumption that one’s sexual and reproductive life stops when one becomes HIV positive. Often society at large, health care workers, decision makers and even PLHIV themselves hold this assumption.
For a person living with HIV, dealing with sex means dealing with difficult issues at vulnerable moments and in vulnerable settings. Often people living with HIV are expected to disclose their HIV status before engaging in sexual relations – in some countries it is even a legal obligation, even though this may lead to (gender-based) violence. People living with HIV are expected to initiate and engage in safe sex strategies to prevent the transmission of STIs or transmitting HIV to one’s sexual partner(s). With regards to family planning, people need to be able to make well- informed decisions around conceiving, pregnancy, preventing mother to child transmission and breastfeeding.

Available in English, French, Russian and Spanish

Several countries have recently introduced laws to criminalise HIV transmission, or exposing another person to the virus. Prosecutions are increasing. A number of jurisdictions have used general laws against serious bodily harm in cases where someone is accused of knowingly transmitting HIV or willingly exposing others to HIV transmission. Subject to controversy, these measures are sparking debate and concern among policymakers, legal and public health professionals, international organizations and civil society, on whether criminal law is applicable in such cases and if such application is accomplishing or damaging public health goals such as Universal Access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. PLHIV see criminalisation as a violation of their fundamental human, sexual and reproductive rights.
The vast majority of PLHIV does not want to transmit HIV and are concerned about transmission. To penalize the person living with HIV where transmission occurs discriminates against the person that is positive, in favor of the person that is negative when in fact both parties share responsibility.

Available in English, French, Russian and Spanish