In April 2022, the HIV Legal Network and the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation made this submission to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, focusing on systemic racism and human rights violations by law enforcement officers against Africans and people of African descent, in the context of Canada’s drug laws and policies. […]
Publication Topic Archives: Discrimination
Submission to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and of people of African descent
Canada: Drug policy and economic, social, and cultural rights — Submission to the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
“Canada is a party to the three main UN drug control conventions, which aim to control illicit drugs by reducing supply and demand, in particular through requiring States Parties to adopt varying degrees of prohibitions and sanctions on a range of designated controlled substances, while also providing some degree of (often contested) flexibility for States […]
Factum of the Interveners at the Supreme Court of Canada: R. v. Lloyd
“Globally, prisons disproportionately incarcerate people from marginalized communities, who, in turn, are disproportionately affected by conditions such as drug dependence, HIV, and hepatitis C virus. … Section 5(3)(a)(i)(D) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (the “MMS Provision”) mandates that the persons to whom it applies serve a one year prison sentence, whatever their health condition. The […]
In Conversation with … Ron Rosenes
Ron Rosenes is a member of the Legal Network’s Advocates Circle and a past Vice Chair of the Canadian Treatment Action Council who has been working on HIV-related issues for more than twenty-five years. He was recently awarded the Order of Canada for his community work. How have your background and lived experience influenced your […]
Know Your Rights

This series of 8 brochures (now available in 7 languages, including Arabic, Chinese and Spanish) addresses the privacy rights and disclosure obligations of people living with HIV in a variety of day-to-day contexts.
Canadian Scientists Take Important Stand: Criminal Law Currently Goes Too Far in Prosecuting HIV Non-Disclosure
Uganda’s ‘Jail the Gays’ Bill Institutionalizes Hate, Undermines Health and Human Rights
Joint letter to UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé re: Russia and the Fourth Conference on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
“On behalf of advocates for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), we write to express our concerns about the Fourth Conference on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECAAC) which is being organized with great influence from its host, the government of the Russian […]
Civil Society letter to Canadian Senate re: support of Bill C-279: An Act to Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (Gender Identity)
“The following organizations, representing a broad cross section of civil society groups from across Canada, urge the Senate to pass Bill C-279, the Gender Identity Bill, as drafted and without delay, to ensure that the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Canadian Criminal Code protect the human rights of all people in Canada.”