Move to criminalise non-disclosure of HIV status to partners

The organisations’ proposals include declaring that non-disclosure of a person’s HIV-positive status includes rape, says a Business Day report, noting that in many countries, the intentional or reckless infection of a person with the human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) is considered to be illegal. The move may place a legal duty of routine medical testing, followed by a duty of disclosure on those who have actual or imputed knowledge of their condition, but the move ignores the social reality that the stigma associated with HIV may make disclosure difficult. The bone of contention is whether there is a legal duty on a person who is infected to disclose his or her HIV-positive status and if not, what the consequences for such non-disclosure would be, says Tinyiko Ribisi, a candidate attorney at Bowman Gilfillan Attorneys. Full Business Day report