Criminalising HIV Transmission !

There is no doubt that the deliberate HIV transmission is not only criminal but also immoral in today’s society. It is likened to injecting someone with slow killing poison. Many countries especially in Africa and Europe are moving to wards criminalizing the deliberate transmission of the HIV virus. The punishments range between spending time in Jail, cash fines some have even proposed death sentences for those convicted of this offence.

The controversy surrounding this issue has sparked off some heated debates. The big questions are whether these laws will be able to deter the behavior and work to reduce HIV transmission.

We have to take into account the different cultural setups for the different societies. In many of these societies about 80 percent of the HIV transmissions occur during sexual encounters. Prosecution of these cases would be incredibly difficult especially were there is mutual consent of both parties. In Africa women are blamed for ‘bringing the disease at home’ and no blame goes to the men.
Many families in Africa are actually polygamous families with multiple partners. A big percentage of the victims in such cases never really know for sure where they contracted the disease. If they do they are not willing to tell.

Isn’t criminalization of this practice too far fetched wouldn’t public health laws and policy do the job better. There are laws already in place against rape medical malpractice including gross negligence and intentional acts. There are also laws against murder and man slaughter. Is it necessary to separate AIDS laws or would it be easier to incorporate them into the already existing laws

Who is the victim?
Wouldn’t such laws discriminate against the already victimized individuals? Would such laws violate the fundamental human rights of the AIDS victims? What kind of message are such laws sending to those living with HIV and or AIDS? Wouldn’t these laws interfere with other efforts already in place to fight the Spread of the disease? Such as women AIDS clinics that help detect and educate women living with HIV. What about the laws concerning privacy of patients.

We also have to think about the implementation of such laws.
If intent is required how would that be determined? Especially in instances of prostitution also situations involving husbands and wives.
What kind of sentences will be appropriate for such offences?

The UNAIDS paper produced in 2002 on criminal law, public health and HIV transmission recommends that

‘….criminal law should only be used in certain kind of cases as a last resort after public health laws and policies have failed to achieve desired goals…’

Even though this move is intended to reduce the HIV, AIDS transmission criminal law approach is just the wrong prescription as Michaela Clayton put it in her speech on August 6th at in Mexico city ‘it is bad public policy’