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Q&A: “Criminalisation of HIV/AIDS Will Not Help Us”

Interview with HIV/AIDS activist Gracia Violeta Ross Quiroga

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 11 2008 (IPS) - As the United Nations winds down a major two-day conference to take stock of the global response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the problem of persistent discrimination against people living with the virus has been high on the agenda.

This is somewhat ironic, civil society groups say, in light of the fact that HIV-positive delegates wishing to attend the meeting at U.N. headquarters in New York were themselves forced to apply for an “HIV visa waiver”, a process that can take three months or longer, requires a personal interview at the U.S. Embassy and places a permanent mark in the person’s passport.

Since 1987, non-U.S. citizens living with HIV have been denied from entering or transiting through the United States – even those wishing to enter to attend conferences, conduct business, or visit relatives – unless they secured such a waiver. U.S. President George W. Bush promised on World AIDS Day in 2006 to implement a permanent categorical waiver, but there has been little follow-up.

Gracia Violeta Ross Quiroga, a Bolivian member of the Developing Countries NGO Delegation to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, told IPS that more than 30 countries have almost absolute travel restrictions for people with HIV/AIDS.

“Over 70 countries have long-term travel restrictions. People can’t migrate or immigrate to places like the U.S. and China,” she said.

“One of the things with the United States is that they couldn’t even hold international AIDS conferences here that included people with HIV/AIDS,” Ross noted.

This week, 345 organisations from around the world signed a letter addressed to heads of state and U.N. missions asking governments to publicly lift such restrictions, which they described as “increasingly obsolete and discriminatory in a world with more access to treatment and ever-increasing mobility”.

IPS correspondent Am Johal met with Ross, a co-founder of Bolivia’s first organisation for people with HIV, outside the offices of the deputy secretary-general this week during the U.N. meeting.

IPS: How have travel restrictions for people living with HIV/AIDS been raised as an issue in the international arena?

GVRQ: These are ongoing discussions between civil society and the international system. These methods, to deny access to a country or the right to work, or to marry in some countries – it is a clear violation of human rights. People don’t want learn about these restrictions and take responsibility for them. Some countries prohibit marriage. Others, for travel and working. Also, in some countries, mothers can be taken to prison because their children are infected with HIV/AIDS through delivery. This type of criminalisation will not help us.

Those who are pushing for reform on human rights principles are arguing that there is no evidence to suggest that there will be increased prevalence of HIV/AIDS. On the contrary, more will be impacted because people will choose not to travel with their medication, which will in turn affect their health. Two-thirds of people with HIV/AIDS are not even aware that they have it so only those documented with the virus are impacted negatively. This is an irrational response.

There has also been criticism of the World Health Organisation that they haven’t been forceful enough in criticising this travel restriction policy. Some civil society organisations are critical of what they feel is a circular argument – that there is no evidence to suggest that there isn’t any negative impact from allowing people with HIV/AIDS to travel. On the contrary, civil society argues that there is no evidence to suggest that allowing people with HIV/AIDS to travel leads to an increase in transmission of the disease.

This debate just began again due to some discussions initiated by the Global Fund in China. It’s not the first time we are talking about this though. UNHCHR (the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights) are engaged in processes that will make recommendations. My fear is that the discussions will end there. Some of the conventions on migration also need to be addressed – my feeling is that most of these negative policies have a basis in xenophobia. The will of the countries is towards closing borders. This is just one of those excuses. It is so naive in a global world that is connected more and more, that we would actually close borders. People will lie about these diseases.

IPS: Would you foresee that civil society organisations will cite nation-states both at U.N. bodies and other international human rights organisations regarding their human rights violations of people living with HIV/AIDS?

GVRQ: We need to talk more to each other. They are asking civil society to do so much. We don’t know the many challenges to come regarding HIV/AIDS. Many countries may not even know that migrants are so vulnerable. We will attack the problem from different fronts. We will work with human rights organisations and others that provide support for migrant populations at the borders. The work of the European Treatment Action Group and others is great on this issue, but we are not doing this in a coordinated way. We are not pushing this forward consistently around human rights, migration, access to treatment. We need to engage better with nation-states and other organisations which can help advance this issue.

IPS: You’ve said that the enemy is the virus, not the person living with HIV/AIDS. Can you explain some of the other challenges that exist?

GVRQ: People have the right to move, to live their life. For the U.S., you can apply for an exemption to travel, but you will not get the visa and you won’t get the waiver. You will be marked by your status at every port. This goes against the basic human rights standards, despite our status. They are choosing to pass these policies and assume that we are crossing borders with the specific aim of spreading HIV/AIDS. People are not migrating to transmit HIV/AIDS – they are trying to work. The implications of these policies is that they are growing the stigmatisation of the disease and driving these issues underground, which is exacerbating the problem.

IPS: Anything else?

GVRQ: I just wanted to say that 3 percent of the human population is moving to other places for employment or short stays – half of them are young people or women. The issue of status and rights is a much bigger issue if you are a migrant. Nation-states have to begin by not denying our reality and looking at the issue with honesty and courage. Migration and movement is a part of human history. We have to have the courage to speak about these issues.

Migrant workers travel to another country, and then, after being there for a while at the destination country, they get evicted from there. They are then deported. Who is responsible here? There is a kind of denial of their status and refusal to take responsibility.