Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network Releases Report on HIV/AIDS and Immigration

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, a not-for-profit organization dealing with education, legal and ethical analysis and policy development, recently released "HIV/AIDS and Immigration: Final Report," which contains detailed analysis of legal and human rights issues related to HIV and immigration, including 19 recommendations to Canadian immigration officials (Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network release, 9/7). In June, the Canadian federal government revoked a plan to ban entry of HIV-positive immigrants (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 6/13). Last September, Canada enacted a policy that would have required all immigrants entering the country to be screened for HIV and hepatitis B, with those testing positive prohibited from entry. Exceptions were to be made only for refugees admitted from camps overseas or people that have spouses or parents in Canada (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 9/21/00). The report states that people with HIV infection are not a threat to public health and that they should not be "automatically exclud[ed]" on the grounds of their status. The report also recommends that there should be no mandatory HIV testing of immigrants entering Canada. The report is available online at the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network Web site.