Abstract
The criminalization of HIV non-disclosure represents a significant issue of concern among people living with HIV, those working across the HIV sector, public health practitioners, and health and human rights advocates around the world. Recently, the government of Canada began a review of the criminal law regarding HIV non-disclosure and invited feedback from the public about potential reforms to the Criminal Code. In light of this public consultation, this commentary examines social science research from Canadian scholars that documents the intersecting damaging effects of HIV criminalization. Canadian social scientists and other researchers have shown that HIV criminalization is applied in uneven and discriminatory ways, impedes HIV prevention efforts, perpetuates HIV stigma, and has a damaging impact on the daily lives of people living with HIV. We argue that there is an urgent need for reforms that will significantly restrict how the criminal law is applied to HIV non-disclosure.
Résumé
La criminalisation de la non-divulgation du VIH est une question très préoccupante pour les personnes vivant avec le VIH, celles qui travaillent dans le secteur du VIH, les praticiens et praticiennes de la santé publique et les porte-parole de la santé et des droits de la personne du monde entier. Récemment, le gouvernement du Canada a amorcé un examen du droit criminel portant sur la non-divulgation du VIH et a invité le public à commenter d’éventuelles réformes du Code criminel. À la lumière de cette consultation publique, notre commentaire porte sur les études en sciences sociales menées au Canada qui font état des effets croisés préjudiciables de la criminalisation du VIH. Des spécialistes des sciences sociales et d’autres chercheuses et chercheurs canadiens ont montré que la criminalisation du VIH est appliquée de façon inégale et discriminatoire, qu’elle nuit aux efforts de prévention du VIH, qu’elle perpétue la stigmatisation liée au VIH et qu’elle a des effets dommageables sur la vie quotidienne des personnes vivant avec le VIH. Nous soutenons qu’il existe un besoin urgent de réformes pour restreindre de façon appréciable l’application du droit criminel à la non-divulgation du VIH.
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While this commentary is focused on Canadian social science research and addresses the context of HIV criminalization in Canada, HIV criminalization is a global phenomenon and social science research worldwide has highlighted its myriad harms (Bernard et al., 2022; Csete et al., 2023; Hoppe, 2018; Weait, 2011).
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CH, MF, AM, and EM first had the idea for the commentary. CH performed the literature search and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors commented on, critically revised, and added additional references to subsequent versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Hastings, C., French, M., McClelland, A. et al. Criminal Code reform of HIV non-disclosure is urgently needed: Social science perspectives on the harms of HIV criminalization in Canada. Can J Public Health 115, 8–14 (2024). https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-023-00843-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-023-00843-9