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"An epidemic of flawed laws" makes it difficult to fight HIV/AIDS
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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A high-level independent UN commission has found that the application of “flawed laws,” punitive legislation and human rights violations hamper the response to HIV/AIDS. Today, 78 countries criminalize same-sex sexual relations. In Iran and Yemen, sexual intercourse between men is punishable by death.
The Commission's report provides evidence that punitive laws, including those targeting drug users, sexual minorities and women, hinder effective HIV responses and waste resources. Such laws cost lives.
“Weak laws should not stand in the way of an effective response to HIV,” said Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). She added that, in adopting the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS in 2011, UN member states committed to reviewing laws and policies that hinder an effective response to HIV. One of the key tasks of the Commission was to take this process to the next level in some countries and accelerate it in others.
The report by the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, which includes former heads of state and leading experts in the fields of law, human rights and health, drew on extensive research and personal testimony from more than 1,000 people in 140 countries. The commission was sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). It found that punitive laws and discriminatory practices exist in many countries around the world.
For example, some countries have laws and practices that fail to protect women and girls from violence, exacerbate gender inequality, and increase their vulnerability to HIV. Legislation that criminalizes groups most at risk of HIV infection, including men who have sex with men, sex workers, and injecting drug users, is also rampant. Such regulations drive people underground, where they have no access to prevention and treatment programs. Some countries have laws that criminalize the behavior of people who keep their HIV status secret and put others at risk of infection.
Thus, in more than 60 countries around the world, HIV-infected individuals who expose others to the risk of infection are subject to criminal liability. In 24 countries, including the United States, more than 600 HIV-positive people have been convicted of such crimes. These laws and practices make people reluctant to undergo HIV testing and disclose their HIV status.
In 78 countries, same-sex sexual relations are criminalized. In Iran and Yemen, sexual intercourse between men is punishable by death. In Jamaica and Malaysia, same-sex relations are punishable by long prison terms.
‘Epidemic of bad laws’ hampers fight against HIV/AIDSIn some countries, including Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Malaysia and the Philippines, laws criminalise proven harm reduction measures for injecting drug users. By contrast, countries that have legalised harm reduction measures, such as Switzerland and Austria, have succeeded in virtually eliminating new infections among injecting drug users.
More than 100 countries around the world criminalize some aspects of sex work, leading to economic and social exclusion of prostitutes. Legislation also prevents them from accessing essential health services and HIV prevention.
Over the past three decades, scientific discoveries and billions of dollars in investment have dramatically expanded access to HIV prevention and treatment, helping countless individuals, families and communities. Yet the Commission’s report finds that many countries are wasting resources enforcing laws that undermine these critical investments.
“Too many countries waste vital resources enforcing archaic laws that ignore scientific knowledge and perpetuate stigma,” said the commission’s chair, former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.