![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/english_header.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Lesotho](\"https:\/\/assets.nationbuilder.com\/aidslaw\/mailings\/2932\/attachments\/original\/Lesotho.png?1669136236\" "\\"Lesotho")
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A win in Lesotho and more updates from DRC<\/h2>\n
Last month, the Lesotho High Court struck down a section of the\u00a0Sexual Offences Act<\/em>\u00a0imposing the death sentence for people living with HIV convicted of sexual offences.\u00a0The Court ruled that the death penalty\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 when imposed solely based on a person\u2019s HIV status\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 was discriminatory and amounted to inhumane treatment. The Legal Network, as part of HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE (HJWW), supported this challenge, including by ensuring that expert scientific evidence on HIV was brought before the Court.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>We welcome the court decision that put an end to this terrible injustice in Lesotho. Read our joint statement\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n To learn more about our work in Africa, check out our\u00a0new podcast,\u00a0<\/strong>Pas un crime<\/strong><\/a>, available on our website as well as on Anchor FM and Spotify. Our first French-language episode features senior policy analyst C\u00e9cile Kazatchkine in conversation with Modeste Mambo Amisi, executive director of HODSAS, a sexual health and human rights organization based in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. The Legal Network and HJWW have been supporting HODSAS for several years in their efforts to combat HIV criminalization and increase legal literacy among key populations in DRC. Modeste\u2019s testimony about sex workers being arrested because of their\u00a0alleged<\/em>\u00a0HIV positive status and their capacity to fight back thanks to this legal literacy demonstrates how our collective efforts can have\u00a0immediate and dramatic impact.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n With the continuing war in Ukraine, our work in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) region is made both more urgent and more complicated.<\/strong>\u00a0In Russia, the situation for human rights advocates is fragile as many organizations face loss of funding or risk sanctions or imprisonment.\u00a0But even so, we are finding ways to continue our research and to speak up for those who are targeted because of their HIV status.<\/strong>\u00a0This fall, we released our report into\u00a0tuberculosis in Russia<\/a>\u00a0as of August 2022. And in the coming months, we will have a study analysing access to social and medical services for people with HIV and disabilities. This study talked to 10 people living with HIV in Russia, along with three social workers. All people involved in the study had experience with injection drug use and lived with HIV. According to the preliminary results, people living with HIV and disabilities experienced increased barriers to accessing social and health services during COVID restrictions. There are also indications of similar limitations due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, both because of an influx of people with disabilities as the war continues and because of sanctions imposed on Russia.<\/p>\n In the meantime, Mikhail Golichenko, the senior policy analyst with the HIV Legal Network who leads this critical work, is participating in STEP UP training development, an international initiative for EECA countries concerning HIV and human rights.<\/strong>\u00a0He will also be participating in the EECA judges forum on HIV criminalization.<\/p>\n HIV criminalization in the EECA was the topic of our first English-language episode of Not a Crime, too. If you haven\u2019t yet listened to it, you can find it\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and on Anchor FM and Spotify.<\/p>\n We are very pleased to introduce\u00a0Andr\u00e9 Capretti<\/a>, our newest policy analyst. Andr\u00e9 will be working on our Caribbean portfolio, including ongoing cases in Jamaica and the constitutional challenge in\u00a0Dominica<\/a>. He comes to us with experience from the federal government, Amnesty International, and in civil litigation.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve wanted to work at the HIV Legal Network since law school when I first learned about their advocacy and efforts to reform laws and policies that affect marginalized populations. Their leadership both on the global level and here in Canada has been inspiring, and I\u2019m very pleased to be able to join them now to work in this critical area,\u201d he says.<\/strong>\u00a0Welcome, Andr\u00e9!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot happening at the HIV Legal Network, both in Canada and around the world, and we need your help to keep this going.<\/strong>\u00a0Give before the end of the year and your donation will be matched, dollar-for-dollar, by Charlie\u2019s Challenge!\u00a0We are making a real difference in the lives of thousands of people living with and affected by HIV and criminalization of all kinds, but we can\u2019t do it alone.<\/strong>\u00a0Please give today!<\/p>\n DONATE TODAY!<\/a><\/p>\n In solidarity,<\/p>\n The HIV Legal Network<\/p>\n P.S.\u00a0Join Dr. Laura Bisaillon for the launch of her new book,\u00a0Screening Out: HIV Testing and the Canadian HIV Experience<\/em>, on Wednesday, November 30, 4:00-5:30 p.m. (EST), sponsored by the HIV Legal Network. The launch will be in person at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in Toronto and on Zoom.\u00a0Register now<\/a>\u00a0to hear about the first-ever analysis of the medical, legal, and bureaucratic practices governing the federal immigration medical program, told from the perspective of the very people toward whom exclusionary health policy is directed.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"publication_topics":[153,148],"publication_type":[177],"publication_language":[184,185],"class_list":["post-23141","publication22","type-publication22","status-publish","hentry","publication_topics-lgbtq-rights","publication_topics-criminalization","publication_type-legal-network-news","publication_language-english","publication_language-french"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication22\/23141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication22"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/publication22"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication22\/23141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23165,"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication22\/23141\/revisions\/23165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"publication_topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication_topics?post=23141"},{"taxonomy":"publication_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication_type?post=23141"},{"taxonomy":"publication_language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication_language?post=23141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"White](\"https:\/\/assets.nationbuilder.com\/aidslaw\/mailings\/2932\/attachments\/original\/Russia_TB_report_cover.png?1669136318\" "\\"White")
<\/p>\nMore news from EECA<\/h2>\n
![\"Red](\"https:\/\/assets.nationbuilder.com\/aidslaw\/mailings\/2932\/attachments\/original\/ribbon_over_world.png?1669136382\" "\\"Red")
<\/p>\nNew policy analyst working on Caribbean advocacy<\/h2>\n
\n![\"Rights](\"https:\/\/assets.nationbuilder.com\/aidslaw\/mailings\/2932\/attachments\/original\/3801_HIVLN_CharliesChallenge_EmailBanner-01.png?1669136429\" "\\"Rights")
<\/p>\nHelp us bring Rights Within Reach!<\/h2>\n