HIV and the Law: Risk, Rights & Health UNDP, The Global Commission on HIV and the Law (2012)

The final report of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, representing 18 months of investigation, convenings, comment solicitation and review of the scientific literature, addresses the role of the law around the globe in both protecting and punishing people living with HIV. Examining the overuse of the law, particularly in North America, to criminalize non-mainstream consensual adult behavior (e.g., sexwork, drug use, sexual intimacy of PLWH) and to limit immigration, the report catalogues the negative impacts of these legal practices on the goals of ending the AIDS epidemic. The report demonstrates how punitive laws are fueling the epidemic and rendering marginalized groups more vulnerable to HIV. The Commission makes recommendations for governments and international bodies in how to shape and reform law to ensure an effective, sustainable response to HIV that is consistent with human rights obligations and protects marginalized groups, including sex workers, MSM, transgender people, prisoners and migrants.