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OGOCHUKWU IBEKWE [ Profil ] |
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Call on governments to lift HIV travel restrictions
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May 31st, 2008 - 12:22:24 |
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In advance of the United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS in New York from June 10 -11, World AIDS Campaign and the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance urge organizations to sign onto a letter from civil society to the UN missions and Heads of State of countries that impose travel restrictions on people living with HIV.
We join with other members of civil society in condemning such restrictions as discriminatory and in contradiction to the commitments made through the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration. We urge governments that continue to impose travel restriction on people living with HIV to lift these, whether short or long-term.
Signatures for the letter will be collected via email until June 5. To sign on, email the name of your organization and country to universalaccess2010 (at) icaso.org. Signatures will also be collected during the civil-society pre-meeting taking place the day before (June 9) of the High Level Meeting in New York.
Background When the HIV and AIDS epidemic was identified in the early 1980s and little was understood about the disease, many countries established travel restrictions in an effort to prevent the virus from entering their borders. Such measures included mandatory HIV testing for persons seeking entry to the country and negative HIV status declarations by would-be entrants. Based on these mandatory tests and declarations, a number of countries have excluded from entry people living with HIV or people suspected of being infected.
Despite the medical advances that have made HIV a manageable disease, and a general consensus from the public health community that travel restrictions are inappropriate and discriminatory in nature, over 70 countries still impose some form of restrictions, citing two main reasons to protect the national public health and to avoid the economic costs of providing health care and social assistance to people affected by HIV and AIDS.
These travel restrictions can take on different forms, including restrictions on people wishing to enter or remain in a country for a short stay such as business, personal visits or tourism; or for longer periods, such as labour migration, employment, asylum or refugee resettlement, or study. Of the countries with restrictions in place, some 10 countries bar people living with HIV from entering or staying in their country for any reason or length of time.
Countries requiring special attention include United States, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Armenia, Brunei, China, Qatar, South Korea, Libya, Moldova and Oman. To read more, please click here.
The 2001 Declaration of Commitments on HIV/AIDS saw governments agreeing to enact, strengthen or enforce as appropriate legislation, regulations and other measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination against, and to ensure the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by people living with HIV/AIDS, and in the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS governments committed to intensifying efforts to eliminate all forms of discrimination directed towards people living with HIV and AIDS. Also, the report of the consultation on international travel and HIV infection of the WHO, April 1987 states HIV-related travel restrictions have no valid public health rationale and may in fact undermine HIV prevention and other efforts to stop the epidemic.
Unfortunately, these commitments are not being kept.
What can YOU Do? As part of a wide coalition of civil society organizations, we encourage you to sign on to letter below and take other steps as an individual or as an organization to join the call to countries to lift any form of HIV-related travel restrictions policies and/or laws.
Sign on to the letter by sending your organizations name and country to universalaccess2010 (at) icaso.org no later than June 5.
Find out the status of any travel restrictions imposed by your country. The list of countries with HIV-related travel restrictions is always changing. Check up-do-date information before you advocate with a specific government. (For more detailed information country-by country, visit www.eatg.org/hivtravel or www.aidshilfe.de)
Use the upcoming 2008 UN High Level Meeting on AIDS as a moment to press for new commitments (and action) by your own government and others to remove travel restrictions. This could be a very positive example of progress.
Use the 2008 UN High Level Meeting on AIDS to begin to strategize about national level action to oppose HIV-related travel restrictions.
Inform the media about the issue and the discriminatory practices of many countries.
Do not hold international conferences in countries with HIV-related travel restrictions. Future UN High Level Meetings or Reviews on AIDS should not be held in countries with such restrictions.
Raise awareness among your networks and constituency about the travel restrictions. Many people are not even aware that such restrictions exist.
Advocate with others: Create a letter writing campaign to officials in your government. You can advocate at all levels of government: from your local representatives all the way up the President or Prime Minister. Work together with other religious communities, civil society organizations and networks of people living with HIV. Make sure you let the media know about your plans.
Lobby your government officials to speak out against HIV-related travel restrictions at 2008 UN High Level Meeting on AIDS.
The information on country restriction status is taken from the web site of the European AIDS Treatment Group, and based on a survey which was originally done by the German AIDS Federation in 1999 and has been continually updated. The information has not been independently verified. See http://www.eatg.org/hivtravel/
Click here to read the letter.
For more information, please visit:
EATG website: www.eatg.org/hivtravel
Deutsche AIDS Hilfe website: www.aidshilfe.de
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Ibekwe Ogochukwu Alexander,
South East and State Coordinator
Association of Positive Youth in Nigeria (APYIN)
EX-Officio, National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN)
Project Coordinator, Health Link Organization Ekwulobia.
alexodegreat.tigblog.org alexodegreat
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