CANADIAN HIV/AIDS LEGAL NETWORK APPLAUDS GLOBAL REPORT ON HOW LAWS HELP OR HINDER RESPONSE TO HIV

TORONTO, July 9, 2012 — Decriminalize drugs for personal use.  Repeal laws that criminalize sex work.  Implement comprehensive harm reduction services in prisons.  Ensure access to health services for migrants.  Fully enforce measures to end violence against women and ensure access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services.  Create simple mechanisms for access to lower-cost, generic medicines and adopt a global moratorium on international trade agreements that would limit such access.

These are just a few of the strong recommendations in a powerful global overview released today by the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, a high-level, independent body of global leaders and experts.  The report follows 18 months of extensive hearings and consultations in every region of the world, and comes two weeks before the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C.

At the heart of the report is the Commission’s finding that bad laws and their punitive enforcement are fuelling the HIV epidemic — and conversely, good laws are key to overcoming it.

 

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