After the Panic, HIV Travel Bans Remain

Laws restricting travel by persons with HIV/AIDS are based on fear and should be scrapped, UNAIDS' executive director recently told the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Bangkok, Thailand.

Michel Sidibe acknowledged the laws are remnants from an era when AIDS was highly feared and poorly understood. "There is no reason to have these travel restrictions now," he said. "There is no public health rationale behind them. They are simply depriving people of their basic human rights."

President Barack Obama acted to remove the decades-old US restrictions in January. Fifty-two nations, however, continue to impose travel restrictions based solely on HIV status.

Five countries - Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, Singapore, and the Turks and Caicos Islands - refuse entry to any person with HIV. Twenty-three deport non-nationals if they are found to be HIV-positive.

Australia does not require tourists to declare their HIV status. But non-nationals over age 15 seeking permanent residency are tested for HIV and may be rejected if positive. All refugees seeking to immigrate are tested before they come to Australia and are automatically refused entry if they carry the virus.

The matter is now among issues being examined in a parliamentary inquiry studying immigration by people with disabilities. The government should reconsider its policies in line with improved treatment outcomes for people with HIV, said Don Baxter, the Australian Federation of AIDS Organizations' executive director.

"And the refugee regulation should be changed," Baxter added. The refugee policy seeks to "remove them from an intolerable situation," Baxter said, but "for refugees who turn out to be HIV-positive, nearly always in an internment camp, we are just condemning them to stay there and get sick there."

Any changes to the policy "would need to be considered in the context of potential impacts on health and welfare expenditure," the Immigration Department said in a statement.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.


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