Using the law to secure our rights: AIDS Action Europe workshop in Vienna

Six member organisations of AIDS Action Europe presented at this workshop a selection of legal cases which have been won for people living with HIV using national, European and international human rights and discrimination law. 

The cases all had in common the fact that the HIV status of the individual resulted in exclusion or other negative consequences. Cases presented:

• exclusion from personal development training (Sweden)
• exclusion from medical education (Switzerland)
• a prisoner who was denied medical care (Ukraine)
• dismissal of a hairdresser (Netherlands)
• refusal of medical procedures (Northern Ireland)
• criminalisation of HIV transmission (Hungary)

The cases clearly demonstrated how the law can be used effectively to advocate for change and better protection of the rights of people living with HIV. At the same time, it became very clear that these successes at the legal and societal level, many times leads to severe loss, hurt or disadvantage for the individual who was courageous enough to start a legal case and disclose his or her HIV status.

AIDS Action Europe has uploaded all these presentations to its Clearinghouse and we encourage others to also share successful court cases and testimonies of people that took the lead to address discrimination and exclusion at www.hivaidsclearinghouse.eu.