HIV-Positive Migrants Face Deadly Barriers
UNAIDS Governing Board Meeting on Migrants Should Emphasize Rights

JUNE 18, 2009

International groups, nations and donors should give increased attention to the
protection of human rights and the HIV-prevention and treatment needs of
migrants, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The report was
issued in advance of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board meeting in Geneva
on June 22, 2009.

The 22-page report, "Discrimination, Denial, and Deportation: Human Rights
Abuses Affecting Migrants Living with HIV," http://www.hrw.org/node/83653
describes how discrimination and human rights abuses faced by migrant
populations result in increased vulnerability to HIV infection and barriers to
care and treatment.

"Discriminatory laws and policies that deny migrants' access to prevention and
treatment threaten progress on the global fight against AIDS," said Joseph Amon,
director of the Health and Human Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. "HIV
treatment interruptions can lead to more infections, the development of drug
resistance, and death."

Hundreds of millions of people cross borders annually, travelling and migrating
for work or school, for family reasons, or to flee persecution or natural
disasters. Millions of others move within countries. Yet, even while pledging to
achieve `universal' access to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support by
2010, nations have largely failed to remove barriers and ensure that internal
and international migrants have access to HIV services. Instead, many countries
have discriminatory laws and policies that restrict the entry, stay, or
residence of persons living with HIV and limit the access of internal and
international migrants to treatment. Many countries deport migrants without
considering whether HIV treatment will be available in their country of origin.

In its report, Human Rights Watch called on nations, international agencies and
donors, and nongovernmental organizations to work jointly on law reform and
provision of services to ensure freedom from discrimination and continuity of
treatment for HIV-positive migrant populations worldwide.

Such discriminatory laws and policies can have devastating results. The report
documents:

The deportation of migrants who test positive for HIV in Saudi Arabia.
How the vestiges of an internal registration system hinder access to free health
care for internal migrants in China and Russia.

The striking gap between South Africa's guarantees to refugees, asylum seekers,
and especially undocumented migrants of access to health care and the harsh
reality.
How HIV-positive individuals deported from the United States often face harsh
conditions and a lack of access to health care back in their country of origin.

Nations, international agencies, donors and nongovernmental organizations should
continue to demand that countries that have HIV-related restrictions on entry,
stay, and residence repeal them immediately and entirely, Human Rights Watch
said. Restrictions on access to HIV/AIDS treatment based on origin and
citizenship should be immediately eliminated, and deportation laws sending
people living with HIV to countries where adequate treatment is unavailable
should be reconsidered.

"Since the onset of the epidemic, the vulnerability to HIV infection faced by
migrants has been well known," said Amon. "But donors and governments continue
to fail to ensure that migrants can access HIV-prevention programs and neglect
their urgent need for treatment. Instead of `universal access,' migrants face
denial and deportation."