HIV Organisations Call for Reform of Victoria’s Criminal Laws
Thursday 10 July 2014 @ 9.08 a.m. | Crime
In a joint policy discussion paper focusing on the repeal of section 19A of the Crimes Act 1958 (VIC), the Victorian AIDS Council (VAC) and Living Positive Victoria (LPV) stated that reform needed to happen in order to achieve the goal of eliminating HIV transmissions by 2020.
The call for local law reform is a response to the release on 17 May 2014 of the AIDS2014 Melbourne Declaration. The Declaration, announced by the organisers of the 20th International AIDS Conference, came 9 weeks ahead of AIDS 2014, to be held in Melbourne this month (July 2014). This gathering of scientists, policy leaders and community will be the largest ever health congress held in Australia.
AIDS2014 Melbourne Declaration
The AIDS2014 Declaration focuses on the need to address multiple legal barriers in the global HIV response, in order “to defeat HIV and achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support”.
Legal barriers the AIDS2014 Declaration identifies include criminalisation and discrimination globally based on “gender, age, race, ethnicity, disability, religious or spiritual beliefs, country of origin, national status, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a sex worker, prisoner or detainee, because they use or have used illicit drugs or because they are living with HIV”. These legal barriers are set to be a major focus of international attention at AIDS2014.
Criminal Laws Focusing on HIV Transmission
Criminal laws targeting transmission or exposure of others to HIV have been criticised globally as counterproductive to HIV prevention efforts. Victoria has Australia’s only HIV-specific criminal provision on the statute books.
Section 19A of the Crimes Act 1958 carries a 25 year maximum penalty for intentional HIV transmission. It treats HIV infection as exceptional and applies a uniquely higher penalty than for other crimes of violence.
In comparison, Sections 17 and 18 of the Crimes Act 1958 (causing injury both recklessly and intentionally respectively) only carry maximum penalties of 15 years imprisonment.
VAC chief executive Simon Ruth said:
“Section 19A… is a remnant of a time when HIV infection was almost invariably fatal...Today, with improvements to HIV treatments that ensure people with HIV can lead healthy, productive lives, section 19A serves no useful purpose.”
While rarely prosecuted, the two organisations stated that section 19A falsely characterises people living with HIV as a threat to public safety, and that it contributed to the stigmatisation of HIV and people living with HIV. They also said that this stigma was one factor that discouraged people from being tested, seeking treatment, and disclosing their HIV status to sexual partners.
International and Domestic Reactions
Respected international organisations, including UNAIDS and the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, have strongly condemned the use of criminal laws as a way to control HIV.
Victoria has a well-developed public health process that engages with people to encourage the adoption of safer sexual practices.
This process is a highly effective alternative to the criminal law that is accepted and supported by community organisations as the best way to respond to allegations of risky behaviour.
Living Positive Victoria and VAC are calling for an end to HIV criminal prosecutions in all but the most extreme cases, and a renewed emphasis on the public health process:
"Section 19A is a relic of the past, and today it is doing more harm than good. It's time for it to go."
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