Publication Type: Advocacy

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

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. … Read more

Submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights: Review of Bill C-5, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act

In April 2022, Sandra Ka Hon Chu, on behalf of the HIV Legal Network and the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation, deputed at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights about Bill C-5, An Act to Amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The remarks focused on the section … Read more

Positive Women: The Films

In 2012, the Legal Network was fortunate to team up with filmmaker Alison Duke and four amazing women living with HIV in Canada on a project exploring the profound effects of criminalization on their lives. The result of this collaboration was Positive Women: Exposing Injustice (2012), a documentary film shown in Canada — and around the … Read more

Failure of drug prohibition and criminalization to protect children

The HIV Legal Network, in collaboration with the Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation, made a submission on drugs and drug policy to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, as it reviewed Canada’s compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the … Read more

HIV CRIMINALIZATION IN CANADA: KEY TRENDS AND PATTERNS (1989-2020)

In Canada, a person living with HIV can go to prison and be registered as a sex offender for life for not disclosing their HIV-positive status to a sexual partner in some circumstances. People are usually charged with (aggravated) sexual assault, due to the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling that HIV non-disclosure can sometimes amount … Read more

Submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights: Review of the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act

In February 2022, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights undertook a review of The Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act. The HIV Legal Network appeared before the Committee to describe how human rights violations against sex workers have escalated with the passage of the law, which has fueled stigma, … Read more

HIV, Human Rights, and Sex Work in Canada: Submission to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 47/17 entitled “Human rights in the context of HIV and AIDS”

A growing body of research confirms that the criminalization of any aspect of sex work, including the criminalization of clients, sex workers, and third parties in sex work, violates sex workers’ human rights and is in itself a social determinant of health by creating barriers to accessing health care services and building relationships with health … Read more

Submission to the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity

In response to the call for input from the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (to inform his presentation to the 50th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council), the HIV Legal Network makes this submission regarding human rights violations against LGBTQ+ people in the … Read more

Centering Health, Respecting Rights: Understanding the Science, Public Health, and Human Rights Implications of Policing in the Context of HIV and Hepatitis C

On February 8, 2022, Wilfrid Laurier University’s Centre for Public Safety and Well-Being and the HIV Legal Network hosted a webinar about the science, public health, and human rights implications of HIV and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) as it relates to the provision of policing services. In this webinar, we explored how police forces in … Read more