Faith groups applaud proposed US rule to lift HIV travel ban

 

HIV and AIDS Campaign, Press Release, 17 August 2009: Fifty-four churches and Christian organizations, networks of people living with HIV and individuals have sent a letter to the United States’ Department of Health and Human Services welcoming a proposed revision to current US regulations that ban people living with HIV from entering or transiting through its borders without a special waiver.

Explaining their support for the proposed change, the church organizations emphasize that the current ban “serves no justifiable public health purpose” and rather “entrenches discriminatory practices against people living with HIV who wish to travel to the US”.

Linda Hartke, coordinator of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), noted that civil society organizations, including the EAA and its members, have campaigned vigorously for two years for countries to remove travel restrictions against people living with HIV. There are still about 60 countries worldwide with such restrictions.

“These restrictions should be a relic of our past irrational fears about the spread of HIV,” Hartke states. “Preventing people living with HIV to travel for work, visit family, or enjoy a holiday has no impact on public health or the provision of health care, “ she emphasizes, “but it does have a huge personal toll and contribute to people hiding their status or going off their treatment for fear of discrimination.”

The EAA letter also notes that “the ban has been a significant barrier to churches, mosques, temples and people in the U.S. having the privilege to engage directly in dialogue and action with people living with HIV from other countries.”

In the US, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America took the lead in submitting a letter signed by 21 faith-based organizations.

“The fear that once surrounded the spread of HIV that paralyzed the response of the international community, including many faith organizations, has been replaced by facts,” states the ELCA letter. “Informed by our work both domestically and internationally in the fight against AIDS, we believe that eliminating the HIV-specific grounds for inadmissibility to the United States will help reduce stigma and discrimination against HIV-positive persons, enhance U.S. leadership in the global fight against AIDS and allow our ministries to more effectively partner with those most severely affected by HIV and AIDS in the world.”

 The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance

The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance is a broad international network of churches and Christian organizations cooperating in advocacy on food and HIV and AIDS. The Alliance is based in Geneva, Switzerland. For more information, see www.e-alliance.ch

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