July 25, 2018<\/p>\n
Today we welcome an important development<\/a>\u00a0in the ongoing fight against HIV criminalization in Canada and around the globe.\u00a0 At the 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018), underway this week in Amsterdam, 20 of the world\u2019s leading HIV scientists published a peer-reviewed \u201cExpert Consensus Statement on the Science of HIV in the Context of the Criminal Law.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Their consensus? \u00a0In most instances, the per-act possibility of transmitting HIV ranges from low to none. <\/span><\/p>\n Today\u2019s announcement reinforces what the Legal Network has been stating for some time: simply put, the law is out of step with current HIV science.<\/strong><\/p>\n The global Expert Consensus Statement has been endorsed by more than 70 leading scientists from 46 countries, as well as by the International AIDS Society (IAS), the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV\/AIDS (UNAIDS).\u00a0 The Legal Network joins civil society organizations from around the world, including our partners in the HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE movement, in welcoming this global scientific consensus.<\/p>\n The Expert Consensus Statement released today provides expert opinion regarding individual HIV transmission dynamics (i.e., the \u201cpossibility\u201d of transmission), long-term impact of chronic HIV infection (i.e., the \u201charm\u201d of HIV), and the forensic application of phylogenetic analysis (i.e., whether or not this can be used as definitive \u201cproof\u201d of who infected whom).<\/p>\n You can learn more about the evidence in the Statement from the short summary and a Frequently Asked Questions document, both available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n