Showing 1 - 15 of 15 Results for "criminal law"

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Repealing laws, policies and practices that criminalize same-sex sexual activity and exacerbate stigma and discrimination against LGBT communities can promote greater access to HIV prevention, treatment and care among MSM and, more broadly, LGBT communities.
Advancing Human Rights and Access to Justice for Women and Girls
2 studies Gray IV, V MSM, criminal law, stigma and discrimination
Laws that criminalize consensual adult sexual behavior, including same-sex conduct and sex work need to be repealed and the impact of such law reform needs to be more thoroughly evaluated. [See %{c:7}]
Advancing Human Rights and Access to Justice for Women and Girls
1 study
Laws and practices that obstruct adolescents’ access to services, such as parental consent requirements, age, and marital status requirements, must be aligned with the actual behavior of adolescents. Studies found that legal requirements restricted adolescents from getting tested for HIV even if they were sexually active and at risk for HIV. "There is a strong evidence base that the stigma, discrimination and criminalization affecting adolescent key populations aged 10 to 17 is intensified due to domestic and international legal constructs that rely on law-enforcement based interventions dependent upon arrests, pre-trial detention, incarceration and compulsory ‘rehabilitation’ in institutional placements," particularly among adolescents who sell sex or inject drugs (Conner, 2015: para 1).
Increasing Access to Services
1 study
Efforts are needed to further research and repeal laws that criminalize HIV non-disclosure, exposure or transmission — including vertical transmission of HIV—, which can discourage people from testing for HIV, and undermine the relationship between patients and physicians and other service providers. Because women are more likely to be tested, legal mandates to disclose HIV-positive serostatus may discourage women from accessing needed services and may lead to increased risk of abandonment and violence (see sections on VAW, HTC, etc).
Advancing Human Rights and Access to Justice for Women and Girls
1 study
Decriminalization of drug possession and drug use and legalized comprehensive harm reduction services can significantly reduce HIV infections among people who use drugs, compared with persistent or growing rates in countries where such services are restricted or blocked by law. (Global Commission on HIV and the Law, 2012: 29). [See also %{s:11}]
Advancing Human Rights and Access to Justice for Women and Girls
6 studies Gray IIIb, V Czech Republic, Portugal, criminalization, drug use, methadone, needles, opiate substitution therapy Canada, China, Estonia, Switzerland
Efforts are needed to reform laws that criminalize drug use and/or drug possession for personal use and to eliminate compulsory drug detention and instead, provide people who use drugs with access to HIV and health services, including harm reduction, and voluntary, effective evidence-based drug dependency treatment. Detention centers are administered by police, military or other national government public security authorities and operate outside the formal criminal justice system with detainees held without trial or right of appeal; those detained are not allowed to leave voluntarily (Wolfe, 2012). Studies found that female IDU were not given reproductive health services, including PMTCT services in compulsory detention and/or prison settings. Detoxification programs were substandard and ineffective. Despite high rates of HIV, antiretroviral treatment is largely unavailable in compulsory drug detention centers. IDUs who have started antiretroviral treatment should be able to continue treatment in prison with access to medical supervision. [See also %{s:11}]
Advancing Human Rights and Access to Justice for Women and Girls
1 study
Decriminalization of sex work can promote access to health care and support safer working conditions, including safer sex practices, among sex workers.
Advancing Human Rights and Access to Justice for Women and Girls
5 studies Gray IV, V criminalization, sex work Asia, Australia, New Zealand
Advancing Human Rights and Access to Justice for Women and Girls
Strengthening the Enabling Environment
*Respecting, protecting and fulfilling womens rights, particularly the rights of the most marginalized women, is increasingly understood as fundamental to an effective HIV response. Laws reflecting unequal gender norms that discriminate against women may limit their ability to protect themselves from HIV infection. In many countries where women are most at risk for acquiring HIV, laws to protec...
Integrating legal education and services into health care settings can help ensure that women are able to secure their rights.
Advancing Human Rights and Access to Justice for Women and Girls
6 studies Gray IIIa, IV, V HIV-related discrimination, legal assistance, people who use drugs, post-exposure prophylaxis, property rights, rape, violence against women, wills Kenya, Ukraine, Zambia
Investment in women’s groups, especially positive women’s networks, can result in policy engagement and change to better meet women’s health and human rights needs.
Promoting Women’s Leadership
3 studies Gray IIIb, V leadership, self-efficacy, training programs, women’s empowerment, youth Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Nepal, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe
Female Sex Workers
Prevention for Key Affected Populations
Sex workers, whose work involves sexual relations with multiple partners, are a key group of women who need access to comprehensive sexual health services, including HIV prevention, treatment and care. Programs that enhance sex workers' ability to use condoms are also vitally important (Lafort et al., 2010; Pisani, 2008). Unprotected sex with multiple partners puts sex workers at risk of HIV ac...
Staying Healthy and Reducing Transmission
Treatment
"Me, I try to tell the man that, 'In this house we have been found with this problem. We should accept it. I should not point a finger at you. You, too, should not point a finger at me. Just buy your protection.' And so, little by little what he does now is different from what he did in the past." --Malawi woman living with HIV (Mkandawire-Valhmu and Stephens, 2010: 691)Successfully treated peo...
Antenatal Care - Testing and Counseling
Safe Motherhood and Prevention of Vertical Transmission
In 2007, only an estimated 18% of pregnant women were offered HIV tests (ITPC, 2009). "The purpose of antenatal VCT should be to help a woman prepare for a possible positive HIV diagnosis [and] to provide her with information about PMTCT options" (De Bruyn and Paxton, 2005: 145). In developing country settings, between eight and ten percent of women report having received PMTCT interventions (P...
HIV Testing and Counseling for Women
Knowing ones HIV serostatus is the first step in getting the appropriate treatment and care. According to UNAIDS, fewer than 40% of those living with HIV are aware of their serostatus (UNAIDS, 2010c). In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, more than 80% of people living with HIV do not know their positive serostatus (Anand et al., 2009). Global consensus exists that greater knowledge of HIV status is ...
Antenatal Care - Treatment
Safe Motherhood and Prevention of Vertical Transmission
Antiretroviral treatment (ART) for women living with HIV is vital to ensuring safe motherhood and reducing vertical transmission. But not all pregnant women access treatment. For women in high-income countries where access to triple therapy during pregnancy has been the standard of care and is near universal, rates of vertical HIV transmission are as low as 0.4%, for example, in Canada (Forbes ...