On September 21, 2023, the HIV Legal Network hosted the “Violence Against Women (VAW) Shelter Harm Reduction Roundtable” in Toronto, Ontario. The Legal Network invited front-line staff, directors, and peers from VAW shelters, emergency shelters, and transition houses across Canada. Our goal was to learn from these shelters and transition houses, which are engaged in … Read more
In 2023, the federal Standing Committee on Health began a study on the ‘Opioid Epidemic and Toxic Drug Crisis’. The HIV Legal Network, together with the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation, submitted a joint brief in 2024 detailing key legal determinants of health that have spurred the toxic drug crisis, focusing on the need for … Read more
In 2023, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (the UN Committee of independent experts in charge of overseeing the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) announced that it would prepare its first ever General Comment on drug policy to describe how drug laws and practices affect the enjoyment … Read more
In response to a call from the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls for input for their report on “prostitution and violence against women and girls,” the Legal Network made a submission outlining the impacts of criminal, immigration, and other laws targeting sex workers as a primary source of state violence and … Read more
In December 2023, three petitioners challenging Barbados’ anti-LGBT laws before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights made further submissions in relation to their initial 2018 petition, documenting several legal developments in LGBT rights since that time.
HIV self-testing is a powerful tool, particularly if delivered through an approach that meets people where they are. Making self-tests available can promote uptake by offering people privacy, independence, and control as they decide when and where to take an HIV test. By increasing access and empowering individuals, HIV self-testing is an innovative way to … Read more
We urge the government to reject Bill S-224 and adopt a human rights-based approach to human trafficking that centers labour rights, migrant rights, and sex workers’ rights and addresses the numerous structural barriers including poverty, precarious immigration status, and lack of access to affordable housing, health and social services that contribute to the risks of … Read more
Joint Submission to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 52/24 entitled “Contribution of the Human Rights Council with regard to the human rights implications of drug policy”