Subject: [fem-women2000 589] US entry restrictions on HIV+
From: lalamaziwa <lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org>
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 12:47:46 +0900
Seq: 589
----- Original Message ----- >From: break-the-silence@hdnet.org Sent: Monday, February 19, 2001 10:27 AM To: UNGASS-BTS Subject: US entry restrictions on HIV+ US entry restrictions on HIV+ David Patterson ----- As of 16 February, participation of people with HIV infection in the New York preparatory meetings for UNGASS and of the Special Session itself was still unclear. This includes both HIV positive NGO delegates as well as HIV positive members of national delegations, and other participants. Some ECOSOC-accredited NGOs and other NGOs have decided to write to the President of the General Assembly expressing concern about this issue. This note seeks to place the issue in the broader context of the UN system-wide ban on meetings and conferences on AIDS in countries with short-term travel restrictions on people with HIV. This note is based on the best information I could obtain at the time of writing. If you are HIV positive and need a visa to enter the US, then you should consult an immigration lawyer or local AIDS organisation to ascertain the current situation. Non-US residents entering the United States must generally have a visa. In applying for a visa, applicants must answer yes or no as to whether they are suffering from a communicable disease. (Citizens of some countries can benefit from a 'visa waiver', but they still have to answer this question when filling out the green I94W form at the point of entry.) US government policy is that 'communicable disease' includes HIV infection. Persons with HIV who answer yes to this question may still be granted a US visa under certain conditions, but their HIV status will become known to immigration authorities and they may be refused entry in future on this basis. Persons with HIV who obtain a visa by answering this question falsely risk being refused entry, deportation, and being denied future entry to the United States. The US government could issue either individual waivers or a blanket waiver for the Special Session and its preparatory meetings (or of course it could drop the ban entirely). If individual waivers are to be issued, persons with HIV applying for a visa to attend the Special Session and its preparatory meetings would declare their status and be issued a visa, but as noted above, this will bring their HIV status to the attention of the authorities and may affect their future chances of entering the USA. If a blanket waiver is issued, in effect the definition of 'communicable disease' will not include HIV infection for the period specified in the waiver, so people with HIV infection can truthfully answer no to this question when applying for a visa to attend the Special Session and its preparatory meetings. In the past some UN organizations have invited people with HIV to attend meetings in the United States knowing that these people might lie to obtain visas to do so. This practice is illegal and demeans the integrity of both the UN and the people with HIV invited to attend these meetings. In response to the ban in the USA and some other countries, in 1993, the Organizational Committee (OC) of the UN Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) endorsed a policy of non-sponsorship of international conferences and meetings on AIDS in countries with HIV/AIDS-specific short term travel restrictions, as set out in document ACC/1993/OC/II/CRP.6, and recommended that all organizations of the United Nations system adopt it as a system-wide policy. The ACC is the highest inter-agency coordination body, comprising heads of agencies. The OC decision was noted by the ACC in October 1993(ACC/1993/28). The original WHO policy was in part in response to the resolution of the World Health Assembly (WHA41.24) condemning discrimination against people with HIV infection, as well as relevant resolutions of the General Assembly. The policy refers to both 'international conferences and meetings on AIDS', and specifically excludes training activities, workshops and seminars. The policy states in part: 'Entry requirements which discriminate solely on the basis of a person's HIV-status have no public health justification, violate human rights, stigmatize people with HIV infection or AIDS, and impede implementation of the Global AIDS Strategy. Discretionary waivers of such restrictions for short-term travellers with HIV infection or AIDS do not represent an acceptable limitation of such discriminatory and exclusionary policies. Furthermore, WHO will not attend international conferences on AIDS in countries with such restrictions unless such attendance is deemed essential for promoting WHO's policy of non-discrimination in relation to HIV-infected people and people with AIDS...' 'HIV/AIDS-specific short-term travel restrictions' is defined in the policy as 'HIV/AIDS-specific legislation, regulations and/or written policies requiring any or all of the following in relation to short-term travellers: HIV testing, self-declaration of HIV status, or exclusion of persons known or suspected of having HIV infection or AIDS.' If the ACC policy is to be applied with respect to the UNGA Special Session on HIV/AIDS, this would preclude the participation of the UN system in this meeting in New York. Unless the meeting is moved to a host country without such restrictions, the only acceptable option at this stage would be for the US Government to issue a formal statement to the effect that the restriction is suspended for the period of the preparatory meetings and the Special Session itself (and adequate travel days either side of these periods). It is not acceptable to require persons with HIV to self-disclose to obtain an individual waiver in order to attend the preparatory meetings or the Special Session. Nor would a waiver for the Special Session alone be adequate, as the participation of civil society, including people with HIV, has been stressed in the preparations for the Special Session, and is a principle established since the 1994 Paris Summit. In any case, a discretionary waiver for the UNGASS and the preparatory meetings should be regarded as an extraordinary one-off measure in light of urgency of the issue, and not be considered a precedent for future such meetings. The use of the discretionary waiver clearly contravenes the ACC policy. The UN should affirm that travel restrictions on people with HIV contravene public health principles and international human rights law, and should never be condoned by the United Nations. David Patterson Main Representative to the United Nations in Geneva International Council of AIDS Service Organizations email: david.patterson@attglobal.net --- B R E A K T H E S I L E N C E UN General Assembly - Special Session on HIV/AIDS New York - 25 to 27 June, 2001 You are currently subscribed to break-the-silence as: Leslie_Wright@msn.com To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-break-the-silence-32116O@lists.hdnet.org To join email: join-break-the-silence@hdnet.org To post email: break-the-silence@hdnet.org Coordinated by Health & Development Networks Internet: http://www.hdnet.org with IT support from the Health Systems Trust Internet: http://www.hst.org.za<br clear=all><hr>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <a href="http://explorer.msn.com">http://explorer.msn.com</a><br></p> _________________________________________________________________________ fem-Women2000@jca.apc.org for Women 2000, UN Special Session on Beijing+5 Searcheable Archive http://www.jca.apc.org/fem/news/women2000/index.shtml visit fem-net HomePage for other mailing lists http://www.jca.apc.org/fem