Open Society Institute Publication Counters HIV-Specific Criminal Laws
OpenForum | April 27, 2009 | 0 Comments
Dominic d’Souza, a leading AIDS activist in India, did not know why he was arrested in February 1989, until he saw a medical report. His crime? Being HIV-positive. After he had donated blood several months earlier (which later tested positive for the virus), the hospital contacted the local police, who acted in accord with the province’s Public Health Act and detained him. Under the Act, detention for HIV-positive individuals was mandatory. He was held in a dirty, cramped, former TB sanatorium against his will for the next 64 days. Shortly afterward, this particular Act was amended to eliminate the mandatory detention of infected patients, but other oppressive, discriminating HIV laws exist throughout the world. Read more