IN ADVANCE OF LANDMARK SUPREME COURT CASE, SUPPORTERS WORLDWIDE CALL ON CANADA TO STOP CRIMINALIZING PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV
Monday, February 6, 2012 - Canadian criminal law requires people living with HIV to disclose their status
before engaging in behaviour that involves a "significant risk" of transmitting the virus. Yet people have been charged, and
convicted for not disclosing their status, even though their activity did not pose a significant risk of HIV transmission.
This is a miscarriage of justice. Further, it has contributed to a climate marked by anxiety, fear, stigma and
misinformation that undermines HIV counselling, education and prevention efforts. This puts all Canadians at greater risk.
On February 8, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear two landmark cases on this important issue. We, the undersigned, respectfully
ask that the Court use this opportunity to explicitly reconfirm that people living with HIV are not criminals in cases where the
threshold of significant risk is not met - including cases where condoms are used or the HIV positive person was being successfully
treated with antiretroviral drugs. We ask that the Court instruct lower courts that significant risk must be determined on the
basis of the best available scientific evidence, not on assumptions, prejudice or fear.
Finally, we call on the provincial and territorial Attorneys General to follow suit and adopt guidelines to limit prosecutions
in cases of HIV non-disclosure. These prosecutions are not helpful in putting an end to this epidemic, and the radical
over-extension of the criminal law is counter-productive and damaging.
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Contact:Janet Butler-McPhee
Director of Communications, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
Telephone: +1 416 595-1666 ext. 228,
jbutler@aidslaw.ca
Signatory List:
Acción Ciudadana Contra el Sida Venezuela (ACCSI)
Action Canada for Population and Development / Action Canada pour la population et le développement
Action positive VIH/sida
African and Caribbean Council on HIV/AIDS in Ontario (ACCHO) / Conseil des Africains et Caraïbéens sur le VIH/sida en
Ontario (CACVO)
Africans in Partnership Against AIDS (APAA)
Afrihealth Info rmation Projects / Afrihealth Optonet Association
AIDES
AIDS Action Now!
AIDS Committee of Durham Region
AIDS Committee of Guelph and Wellington County
AIDS Committee of Ottawa / Comité du sida d'Ottawa
AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT)
AIDS Community Care Montréal / Sida bénévoles Montréal
AIDS and Human Rights Research Unit, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
AIDS Network
AIDS New Brunswick / Sida Nouveau-Brunswick
AIDS Programs South Saskatchewan, Inc.
AIDS & Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA)
All Nations Hope AIDS Network
Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention (ASAAP)
L'A.R.C.H.E. de l'Estrie
Asia pacific network of people living with HIV/AIDS (APN+)
Assaulted Women's and Children's Counsellor/Advocate Program
Associação Mulher, Lei e Desenvolvimento (MULEIDE)
Association of Substitution Treatment Advocates of Ukraine (ASTAU)
Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations / Fédération australienne des organisations du SIDA
B.C. Civil Liberties Association
Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (Black CAP)
Blood Ties Four Directions Centre
Bruce House
Bureau local d'intervention traitant du sida (BLITS)
Bureau régional d'action sida (BRAS Outaouais)
CACTUS-Montréal
Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network / Réseau canadien Autochtone du SIDA
Canadian AIDS Society / Société canadienne du sida
Canadian Associaiton of Nurses in AIDS Care (CANAC) / Association canadienne des infirmières et infirmiers en sidologie (ACIIS)
Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
Canadian Harm Reduction Network
Canadian Hemophilia Society / Société canadienne de l'hémophilie
Canadian Working Group on HIV and Rehabilitation (CWGHR)
Central Alberta AIDS Network Society
Centre des R.O.S.É.S. de l'Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Centre for Health Policy and Innovation with the World Health Organization
Centre for the Study of AIDS
Centre Sida Amitié
CF "VIRTUS", Ukraine
Coalition des organismes communautaires québécois de lutte contre le sida (COCQ-Sida)
Coalition Internationale Sida (Coalition PLUS)
Coalition Sida des Sourds du Québec
Corporation Félix Hubert d'Hérelle
Danish AIDS Foundation (AIDS Fondet)
Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe e.V
Development for Peace Education Lesotho
Dopamine
ÉMISS-ère
European Aids Treatment Group (EATG)
Faculté des Sciences de la Santé, Université d'Ottawa / Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa
Fondation d'aide directe - sida Montréal
Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé (FRSQ)
Fundación Huésped
Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) / Forum mondial sur les HSH et le VIH
Global Network of People living with HIV - North America / Réseau mondial des personnes vivant avec le VIH - Section nord-américaine
Global Network of Sex Work Projects
Groupe d'entraide à l'intention des personnes séropositives itinérantes et toxicomanes (Organisme GEIPSI)
Groupe sida Genève
Hassle Free Clinc
HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario (HALCO)
HIV Justice Network / Réseau Justice VIH
Intervention Régionale et Info rmation sur le Sida, Estrie (IRIS Estrie)
Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development (ICAD) / Coalition interagence sida et développement (CISD)
International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW Global) / Communauté internationale des femmes vivant avec le VIH
John Mordaunt Trust
M.A.I.N.S - Bas St. Laurent
M.I.E.L.S-Quebec
Maggie's Toronto Sex Workers Action Project
Maison Plein Cour
Maison Re-Né
Médecins du Monde Canada
Most at Risk Populations' Society in Uganda
National AIDS Trust (NAT)
National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS
Observatoire du sida et des sexualités
Ontario AIDS Network
Peel HIV/AIDS Network
People's Health Movement ( South Africa )
Pharmacies Martin Duquette
Pivot Legal Society
Le Planning Familial (MFPF)
Point de Repères
PolitiQ - Queers solidaires
Portail VIH/sida du Québec
Positive Living BC
Positive Women's Network
Positive Vibes Trust
POZCO
Public Personalities Against AIDS Trust
Queensland Positive People
Registered Nurses' Association of Ontartio
Santamaria Fundación
Scarlet Alliance , the Australian Sex Workers Association
School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town
Sero-stigma & Empowerment Resource Organization (SERO)
Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD)
St. Stephen's Community House
Stella, l'amie de Maimie
Tanzania Network of Women living with HIV and AIDS (TNW+)
Toronto HIV/AIDS Network (THN)
Toronto People With AIDS Foundation
University Research Chair in Forensic Nursing, School of Nursing , Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa
Victoria AIDS Resource & Community Service Society
Warning
Wezesha
Women and Law In Southern Africa Research and Education Trust
YouthCo
About the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
Since 1992, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network ( www.aidslaw.ca ) has been promoting
the human rights of people living with and vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, in Canada and internationally, through research, legal and policy
analysis, education, and community mobilization. The Legal Network is Canada 's leading advocacy organization working on
the legal and human rights issues raised by HIV/AIDS.
Reproduced with permission - "Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network"
Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
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