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When being sick is a crime
In Africa, the continent hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, laws criminalising HIV are already on the books in Guinea-Bissau, Niger and Sierra Leone. Moreover, a growing number of countries have implemented HIV-specific laws that criminalise HIV transmission, or affect HIV-positive people in relation to basic freedoms, such as the right to have a family or the right to travel.
New laws are being debated in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, among others. Supporters argue such laws are firmly rooted in human rights and would offer some recourse to the HIV-positive, while protecting those who are HIV-negative.
Countering these views, some AIDS activists say these laws could drive the pandemic further underground and undermine gains made in encouraging voluntary testing, if knowing your status could expose you to being accused of committing a crime.
PlusNews - IRIN's award-winning HIV/AIDS news and analysis service - examines the issues and looks at the possible consequences in a new In-Depth package for World AIDS Day 2008:
Crime and Punishment: Criminalisation and HIV. Read the report here
