AIDS 98 Immigration Rights Resolutions

Twelfth World AIDS Conference
Community Rendez-Vous
Immigration Rights Resolutions

1. We call on governments to stop the deportations of people living with HIV and to abolish the Double Punishment of prison sentence followed by deportation. Deportation is inhumane and degrading treatment. Deportation is a form of torture. Deporting a person living with HIV to a country where treatment doesn’t exist means condemning that person to a death sentence.

2. We call on UNAIDS, in partnership with front-line immigrant rights organisations doing work around this issue, from both North and South, to initiate a consultation about this issue to document the practice of deportation and to bring together NGOs, international organisations, and governments to discuss what will have to be done for deportations to be stopped.

3. We demand that governments, pharmaceutical multinational companies, and international organisations respect the principle of access to the best available treatment and care on the basis of need (and not immigration or economic status).

4. Third World communities settled in the North face extreme vulnerability to HIV due to their social and economic conditions. They face violent racism and structural domination on a daily basis.

In the North, Third World people often find out about their HIV status only upon falling ill, because they are the last in line for access to HIV testing. They are often the ones whose HIV infection remain untreated.

Worse, in somes cases, they face the threat of deportation, often after they have started treatment, to a country where treatment simply doesn’t exist.

There can be no "Bridging the Gap" without equality and recognition for HIV prevention programmes for Third World communities settled in the North, as well as equality in support, care, and access to treatment.

We call on GNP+ and ICW to support self-organisation efforts by Third World people living with HIV in the North. We expect these organisations to come to the forefront to offer their support in the the defense of immigration rights and access to care for our communities.

We call on GNP+ and ICW to contribute to ongoing efforts by immigrant rights organisations to document human rights violations (including deportations and denial of treatment) which are responsible for thousands of unnecessary AIDS deaths of Third World people living in the rich countries of the North.

Geneva, 27 June 1998