Publications

The HIV Legal Network made this submission to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee (“Committee”) in advance of its review of Canada’s periodic report, detailing our concerns about Canada’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). This submission provides information on violations of Articles 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, and … Read more

We hope you’ll read our 2024-25 annual report — Securing Rights: Using Our Values to Meet the Moment — to find out more about the kind of positive change we’re making and get a glimpse of what we hope to accomplish in 2026.

In 2007, the HIV Legal Network (Legal Network) published Hard Time: HIV and Hepatitis C Prevention Programming for Prisoners in Canada, exploring health and harm reduction policies and practices in Canada’s provincial, territorial, and federal prisons. Then, as now, the Legal Network confirmed that everyone benefits from improved healthcare in prison, and that imprisonment is … Read more

Canada must ensure that women, trans, and gender-diverse people have access to gender-responsive and culturally safe healthcare, including harm reduction programs, in prison.

Indigenous people in Canada have long been subjected to mass incarceration, due to the enduring legacy of colonialism and ongoing racism. In 2023, Indigenous people represented 32% of the federal prison population, while making up just 5% of the total adult population. In fact, the increasing incarceration of Indigenous women has resulted in Indigenous women … Read more

Submitted Wednesday, November 20, 2024 to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women.

The creation of our annual report always gives us a unique opportunity to look back at a year’s worth of important work with hindsight, clarity, and pride. As you will see in Raising the Bar — our 2023/24 annual report — our successes and challenges don’t begin and end with the flip of a calendar … Read more

Submission on sex work, women who use drugs and gender-based violence, and HIV criminalization. Joint submission with the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition on drug policy and harm reduction, with sections on women and gender-diverse people in relation to (1) gender-based violence; (2) HIV prevention, access to culturally appropriate and gender-sensitive harm reduction services, and drug decriminalization; … Read more

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 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