Whatever else Guyana gets wrong, our position in the fight against HIV/AIDS is not one of them.Last Thursday, Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy laid before the National Assembly a report on the deliberations of the Special Committee tasked with facilitating public discussion on the Criminal Responsibility of Persons living with HIV.In his remarks, the Minister said “We all agreed that the willful transmission of HIV is unacceptable and is criminal. But we believe that there are general criminal laws that are adequate to address the willful transmission of HIV. While we accepted that the willful transmission of HIV is a problem, we do not believe that the problem can be resolved by the criminalization of HIV transmission.”He went on to say,Wholesale NBA Jerseys, “The Special Select Committee after deliberations and after hearing the views of individuals and organizations concluded that criminalization of HIV transmission has not been proven to prevent the spread of HIV; it merely encourages individuals not to get tested and increases the stigma and discrimination against those who are positive.This in turn can lead to increased spread of HIV from those who do not know their status. The Committee and those citizens and organizations that came forward to make presentations to the Special Select Committee agreed that stigma and? discrimination? have? proven? to? be? the? most? powerful? drivers? of? the? HIV epidemic.”The issue of criminalization of the transmission of HIV/AIDS has not just troubled Guyanese minds either. Recently, world leading scientists and medical practitioners joined legal experts and civil society representatives to discuss the scientific, medical, legal and human rights aspects of the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure, exposure and transmission.The? meeting which was organized? by? UNAIDS,? took? place? in? Geneva? from? 31 August to 2 September. Participants at the conference reviewed key scientific, medical, public health and legal principles that should inform the application of the criminal law to HIV. They also discussed recent developments in a number of countries where the criminalization of HIV is being reconsidered.Minister Ramsammy noted that over the past two years, an increasing number of countries, all over the world have been questioning or re-considering their laws and practices relating to the criminalization of HIV transmission and exposure:? On 17 February 2011, Denmark’s Minister of Justice announced the suspension of Article 252 of the Danish Criminal Code. This text is reportedly the only HIV-specific criminal law provision in Western Europe and has been used to prosecute several individuals.He went on to point out that in 2010, a similar official committee was created in Norway to inform the ongoing revision of Section 155 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes the willful or negligent HIV infection. In the United States, the National AIDS Strategy adopted in July 2010 raised concerns about HIV-specific laws that criminalize HIV transmission or exposure.Law makers in Switzerland are currently re-considering a draft provision relating to the criminalization of HIV transmission. In the United Kingdom,Cheap Jerseys China, the Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) issued legal guidance on “Intentional or reckless sexual transmission of infection” which sets out how prosecutors should handle allegations of HIV transmission.At? least? three? African? countries—Guinea,? Togo? and? Senegal—have? revised? their existing HIV-related legislation or adopted new legislation that restrict the use of the criminal law to exceptional cases of intentional transmission of HIV. In November 2008, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum, an organization that brings together parliamentarians from all SADC Members States adopted a Model Law on HIV that did not recommend the criminalization of HIV transmission.Ramsammy said, “These positive developments indicate that parliamentarians, prosecutors, judges, health experts, people living with HIV and other key stakeholders across the world are increasingly aware of, and concerned about, the negative public health and human rights impact of the overly broad criminalization of HIV transmission and exposure.”Guyana’s actions were apparently being keenly watched by the International Committee. On the very same evening that Dr. Ramsammy laid the Committee’s report, the Joint United Nations team on AIDS in Guyana issued a statement.Headlined, “Guyana gets it right criminalising HIV won’t work!” the statement congratulated the Parliamentary Committee “for its mature and measured decision.” It was pointed out that “Such a law would have deepened the climate of denial, secrecy and fear surrounding the virus in Guyana and in so doing reduce people’s willingness to learn their status and access treatment

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The police are hunting one of their own who is fingered in a sex racket involving schoolgirls from a city secondary school.The rank managed to escape after he and an accomplice were caught in a Sophia house yesterday with two 15-year-old female students from the city school.This newspaper was reliably informed that neighbours of an ‘A’ Field,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, Sophia house contacted the Schools Welfare and Probation Office,Cheap Jerseys China, informing them that two schoolgirls were seen entering a house.Officials from the department responded and managed to get the two embarrassed schoolgirls out of the house but not before the people from the Welfare department received a verbal thrashing from the constable and his accomplice.The matter was reported to the police but by the time the ranks returned to the house which is owned by the cop’s mother,China NFL Jerseys, the two men had already fled.The two schoolgirls were medically examined and found to be recently sexually active,China NFL Jerseys, which suggested that they were engaged in the activity while in the house on Friday.An all station message was subsequently sent out for the detention of the policeman,NFL Jerseys Clearance, who is attached to the East Coast Demerara division.Friday’s incident was not the first of such kind that the same policeman was involved in.Last year he was accused of luring a young female traffic warden to the same house in Sophia where he had forced sex with her.This was after he had offered her a drop home and then invited her to have a few beers with him at Plaisance.