GHT Homepage News EU Equality Draft Directive - HIV Missed Out

EU Equality Draft Directive - HIV Missed Out
15th Jul 2008

International calls for draft EU Equality Directive to provide explicit protection from discrimination for people living with HIV from diagnosis

The draft Directive provides an important opportunity to establish consistent legal protection from discrimination for all EU citizens. However, the current draft Directive does not mention people with HIV, despite the persistently high levels of stigma and discrimination experienced across Europe.

Time to build on Dublin Declaration
The European Union has previously committed itself to combating discrimination against people living with HIV. The Dublin Declaration on Partnership to Fight HIV/AIDS in Europe and Central Asia commits member states to:

combat stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS in Europe and Central Asia, including through a critical review and monitoring of existing legislation, policies and practices with the objective of promoting the effective enjoyment of all rights for people living with HIV/AIDS and members of affected communities.

Vilnius Declaration too
This is reaffirmed in the Vilnius Declaration where there is a commitment to

continue to develop and implement relevant legislation, in particular with a view to prohibiting discrimination, inter alia in employment, on the grounds of HIV status ....


Disability as defined does not mention HIV
Despite these commitments, disability-related provisions in EU equality law do not contain a definition of disability that explicitly includes HIV positive status. This leaves member states free either to protect or not to protect people living with HIV from discrimination from the point of diagnosis.

Europe-wide HIV discrimination
There are now over 700,000 people living with HIV across the EU, and this number is rising. We know that discrimination against people living with HIV is pervasive across all EU member states.

The recent report from UNAIDS, undertaken by WHO Europe, on ‘Progress on Implementing the Dublin Declaration’ identifies continuing discrimination as a real challenge. The seminar report from the National AIDS Trust and AIDS Action Europe ‘Legislation and Judicial Systems in relation to HIV and AIDS’ [2007] highlights discrimination in provision of goods and services, employment, healthcare, data protection, family rights and the legal system. Such discrimination is a breach of fundamental human rights and is a significant barrier to an effective public health response to this epidemic.

The European Union must take definitive action to make a reality of the Dublin and Vilnus Declarations by ensuring that this new Directive explicitly and clearly outlaws discrimination against all people living with HIV across the EU from the point of diagnosis.

NAT (the National Aids Trust) is asking HIV organisations to sign an international request for HIV to be made explicit in the definition of disability.

For further information about the campaign (deadline 15 August) to bring an end to HIV discrimination across the European region you may contact policyandcampaigns@nat.org.uk

The draft EU Equal Treatment Directive is attached.

Related Downloads:

draft EU Equal Treatment Directive