Official data shows that in the first 10 months in 2012, 703,781 Russians had the virus, of whom 90,396 died. In nearly 60% of new cases, drug injection using dirty needles was the cause of infection. Meanwhile, worldwide, the number of new infections in adults has stayed broadly stable for the past four years.

The executive director of the UN's HIV/Aids agency, Michel Sidibe, told BBC News last week that Russia was among a number of countries still failing to use the right strategies in tackling the virus.

About 200 Russians now contract HIV/Aids every day, Vadim Pokrovsky, head of Russia's federal centre for the fight against the virus, said on Wednesday.

Speaking to Russia's Ria-Novosti news agency, he warned that unless preventative action was taken, the number of cases would approximately double every five years.

The data released by his centre shows that in the first 10 months of 2012, a total of 4,398 children were infected with HIV by their mothers, of whom 529 died.

Russia has one of the worst heroin problems in the world, exacerbated by its proximity to Afghan smuggling routes and the lack of effective anti-drug action, such as the provision of clean needles.

Nearly 39% of new cases of HIV in 2012 were transmitted during heterosexual sex while sex between men accounted for just under 1% of new infections.

59.4% caused by dirty needles among drug users

38.9% caused by sex between men and women

other cases include children infected by mothers

Figures from first 10 months of 2010, supplied by Russian federal anti-HIV/Aids centre.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Russia reports 12% rise in HIV - 200 new cases a day

Statement by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the Grandmothers Advocacy Network

We are profoundly disappointed that Parliament has decided to reject reason and overwhelming evidence by defeating Bill C-398, which would have ensured greater access to affordable medicines for people dying of treatable diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in developing countries. By choosing to believe the blatant lies and misinformation circulating about this bill, MPs who voted against the bill have reneged on Parliament’s earlier pledge and have betrayed people in developing countries — including hundreds of thousands of children — who need medicines to prevent suffering and death, including from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Bill C-398 would have streamlined Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) by cutting red tape that is wholly unnecessary and proven fatal to the future use of the system. The bill would have made it easier for both developing countries and generic drug manufacturers supplying medicines to use CAMR to help save lives and reduce suffering. A previous iteration of the bill (Bill C-393) was overwhelmingly passed in the House of Commons in the last Parliament — before it died in the Senate with the election call. That bill enjoyed support from members of all parties in the House of Commons, reaffirming that this should be a non-partisan issue. Bill C-398 had the support of medical and legal experts, humanitarian activists, faith leaders, AIDS and international development organizations across the country and health activists around the world. Dozens of prominent Canadians supported the call to action, and 80% of the public supports fixing CAMR according to a national opinion poll.

Bill C-398 reintroduced to the House of Commons the same amendments that very strong majority had already previously endorsed. It was a second chance to finish the job of fixing CAMR and supporting developing countries with needed, lower-cost medicines.

It is a travesty that the Harper Government, having made much of its initiative on maternal and child health, would now turn its back on an opportunity to help people dying of treatable diseases — through a smart policy that that would have cost no taxpayer money and, in fact, would make Canada’s frozen foreign aid dollars even more effective, by harnessing the power of generic competition to get less expensive medicines to developing countries. A government that preaches the virtues of markets and “value for money” chose to disregard both; instead, it prioritized its incorrect reading of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules on protecting patents over a workable mechanism for supplying more affordable, life-saving medicines to developing countries struggling with the ravages of the AIDS pandemic and other public health burdens. This is shamefully callous and a discriminatory double-standard for which those who can least afford it pay the ultimate price.

We wish to thank the many champions of this bill, from all political parties, who took Bill C-398 through the legislative process. The fight is not over. Too much is at stake.

But the bottom line is this: after more than eight years of waiting for Canada to deliver on its pledge to help get more affordable medicines to Africa and other developing countries, the world will still have to wait — and people will die preventable deaths because too many Parliamentarians did not have the courage to do the right thing.


About the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network ( www.aidslaw.ca ) promotes the human rights of people living with and vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, in Canada and internationally, through research and analysis, advocacy and litigation, public education and community mobilization. The Legal Network is Canada’s leading advocacy organization working on the legal and human rights issues raised by HIV/AIDS.

The Grandmothers Advocacy Network (GRAN) is composed of volunteer grandmothers and grand-others from across Canada ( http://grandmothersadvocacy.org ). We act as a Canadian voice for Africa’s sub-Saharan grandmothers who are caring for millions of children made vulnerable by AIDS. We work for changes in Canadian policies to improve their quality of life.

Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network: Parliament betrays people in developing countries needing medicines 

Это заявление о поддержке подписано действующими и бывшими работниками правоохранительных органов в поддержку политики и практики эффективного контроля общества за распространением эпидемии ВИЧ среди уязвимых групп и широких слоев населения, против негативного влияния, оказываемого ненадлежащим применением мер уголовного и административного законодательства, стигматизации и дискриминации, которым подвергаются уязвимые группы населения.

Роль правоохранительных органов в противодействии ВИЧ

Правоохранительные органы всегда играли одну из ключевых ролей в защите и сохранении здоровья общества. Так и сейчас, предотвращение распространения ВИЧ является сложнейшей задачей защиты здоровья общества, в решении которой органам правоохраны отведена роль огромной значимости. Политика и практика снижения вреда, как неотъемлемая часть ответа на эти вызовы, демонстрирует прагматичный, доказательный и универсальный подход, на практике подтвердивший свою эффективность в противодействии распространению эпидемии ВИЧ во всех регионах мира (см. Приложение 3).

Профилактика и снижение уровня преступности, укрепление общественной безопасности – это главные цели и преимущества программ снижения вреда. Даже если рискованное поведение выходит за рамки закона, правоохранительные органы обладают значительными возможностями для создания среды, позволяющей представителям уязвимых групп защитить себя и общество от связанного с этим вреда, включая ВИЧ.

Правоохранительные органы, как ключевые партнеры реализации этих программ, имеют возможность облегчить и расширить доступ к услугам по профилактике и лечению ВИЧ. Органы правоохраны (особенно полиция и работники пенитенциарной системы) могут внести значительный вклад в укрепление здоровья населения, активно участвуя в этих программах и поддерживая их проведение.

Секторы правоохраны и здравоохранения должны работать в партнерстве, чтобы разрабатывать и продвигать законодательную базу, политику и практику, направленные на достижение общих целей профилактики ВИЧ через укрепление общественной безопасности и снижение преступности. Возможности укрепить потенциал правоохранительных органов в сфере профилактики ВИЧ через укрепление общественной безопасности и снижение преступности лежат как в области непосредственных совместных усилий в этом направлении, так и в области более эффективного распределения ресурсов.

Основные поддерживаемые принципы

Подписавшиеся считают следующие принципы ключевыми в вопросах работы полиции с представителями групп риска:

Поддерживать вмешательства по профилактике трансмиссии ВИЧ среди и от потребителей инъекционных наркотиков, секс - работников, мужчин, имеющих секс с мужчинами и в других группах риска.

Поддерживать все услуги, ориентированные на снижение вреда от потребления незаконных наркотиков (например, профилактика смертей от передозировок).

Поддерживать подход к секс – работе, основанный на сохранении здоровья и соблюдении прав человека, и все услуги, ориентированные на снижение вреда, которому подвергаются секс - работники (включая, насилие и заражение инфекциями, предающимися половым путем).

Поддерживать правильное применение норм административного и уголовного законодательства так, чтобы оно не подрывало усилий программ по профилактике ВИЧ среди уязвимых групп населения.

Способствовать обеспечению беспрепятственного доступа к услугам профилактики и лечения ВИЧ/наркомании/болезней, передающихся половым путем, включая подходы, разработанные для взрослых и для подростков.

Везде, где это возможно, находить и применять все возможности и подходы, альтернативные аресту и уголовному преследованию, снижая общественные затраты на работу своих учреждений и других институтов криминальной юстиции, снижая продолжительность пребывания представителей уязвимых групп в заключении и избегая дополнительного нежелательного воздействия и вредных последствий уголовного преследования.

Поддерживать всестороннее обучение и создание новых образовательных стратегий для работников правоохранительных органов, разработку политики и реалистичных индикаторов оценки работы по обеспечению беспрепятственного доступа к основным услугам по профилактике ВИЧ.

Оставайтесь в курсе событий политики в отношении наркотиков, подписавшись на IDPC Ежемесячные Alert.

Заявление о поддержке работниками правоохранительных органов стратегии снижения вреда и политики профилактики ВИЧ-инфекции 

Statement of Support by Law Enforcement Agents for Harm Reduction and Related Policies for HIV Prevention 

as finalised at the Inaugural Meeting of the International Police Advisory Group of the Law Enforcement and HIV Network in Melbourne on 9 November 2012. The statement is available in English and Russian, also attached.

This Statement will be launched at a relevant meeting next year - at the moment, we are seeking funding to launch the Statement at the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna in late April 2013. We will also investigate the possibility of other launches at appropriate venues.

Before the launch, the Law Enforcement and HIV Network needs to get as many signatories as possible for the Statement - of police and other law enforcement officers, both serving and retired.

All any police officer needs to do to sign up to the Statement is to forward their name and rank - and affiliation (police or other law enforcement agency), but only if they want to - to Nicole Turner, the Co-ordinator of LEAHN.

Join the Law Enforcement and HIV Network (LEAHN).

Call for support by law enforcement agents for harm reduction and HIV prevention

Award-winning writer/director Victoria Midwinter Pitt intends to deliver a 25-minute documentary for the internet with the production values and integrity of her previous broadcast films. She will bring together a high-profile cast of eight of the world’s leading frontline drug-law enforcers who all state the 50-year global War on Drugs has failed. The documentary questions why governments refuse to properly address this issue and consider alternatives. The intention of the film is to take this polarising issue, which continues to mount in terms of human and social costs, into the mainstream to force much-needed debate. The challenge of this project is to step way beyond preaching to the converted: in focusing solely on the law enforcers we’ll present a perspective that cannot be ignored, and that has a real chance of shifting the thinking of a great mass of people.

Busted: You have the right NOT to remain silent

 will be made and marketed with the specific aim of going viral world wide and reaching an audience of many tens of millions of people. An intereactive website will give that audience the chance to communicate directly with their governments and demand serious, formal reconsideration of the drug laws.

The director is looking for the support of credible, established organisations throughout the world for the project. They are also intending that this support should ultimately be mutual and that the film and its accompanying website, will connect a new mass of people to the websites and the campaigns of those organisations.

By way of introduction to the film-maker, and for a good taste of the kind of complex difficult story we can bring to a mass audience, you may want to watch the film Rampant: How a city stopped a plague.

Starting on 12th December 2012, a fundraising campaign will be launched 

by the director within the Australian Pozible website. More information will be available soon.

Call for contributions - Busted: You have the right NOT to remain silent

In the last year alone, the governments of the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Ecuador issued new laws or reformed existing ones that criminalise HIV transmission. A statement issued by Alliance Linking Organisations and partners in Latin America and the Caribbean outlines how such laws hinder HIV responses:

“We know that these laws interfere with efforts to prevent HIV, encourage free, confidential HIV testing and counselling, and provide access to health services and the timely treatment of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Criminalisation violates the human rights of people living with HIV and the most vulnerable populations.”

There is a considerable body of evidence – including guidance from UNAIDS - on the negative and damaging effects of such laws. The report by the Global Commission on HIV and the Law: HIV and the Law: Risks, Rights & Health (July 2012) states: “Fundamentally unjust, morally harmful, and virtually impossible to enforce with any semblance of fairness, such laws impose punishments on people living with HIV which affect not only their sexual and reproductive health and rights, but also their attempts to earn a living.”

“We, the undersigned, reject the policies and laws that criminalise the transmission of HIV and the non-disclosure of serological status. We urge communities, civil society, agencies and governments to be watchful of this emerging trend and to actively participate providing information and evidence to ensure that new codes, laws, norms and any changes to existing laws lead to inclusive and positive legal frameworks that can contribute to reduce stigmatisation and discrimination."

“We urge public decision makers to redouble their efforts in the prevention of the transmission of HIV and STIs, with particular emphasis on high risk populations such as transgender people, female sex workers, gay men, men who have sex with men, and people who use drugs.”

Download the full statement in Spanish and English.

For more information on this issue, read related articles from Key Correspondents here.

Read more about the Alliance’s work in Latin America and the Caribbean.

AIDS Alliance sounds warning on criminalisation of HIV

The War on Drugs has failed. After 50 years of prohibition, illicit drugs are now the third most valuable industry in the world after food and oil, all in the control of criminals. Drugs are cheaper and more available than ever before. Millions of people are in prison for drugs offences. Corruption and violence, especially in producer and transit countries, endangers democracy. Tens of thousands of people die each year in drug wars.

The campaign 'Breaking the taboo' highlights that the war on drugs has failed and that it is time to reform drug policies. It calls for governments to break the taboo on drug policy debates and reform. The campaign will be launched on the back of the film with the same name. Please see below the clip of the film:

The launch of the campaign will happen at Google Headquarters in London on the 5th of December and in New York on the 6th of December, while the YouTube release will be on the 7th of December.

Breaking the taboo: New campaign to end the war on drugs

Few of those who enter New York City’s criminal justice system as a result of marijuana possession arrests become dangerous criminals, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

With the 33-page report, “A Red Herring: Marijuana Arrestees Do Not Become Violent Felons,” Human Rights Watch offers new data indicating that people who enter the criminal justice system with an arrest for public possession of marijuana rarely commit violent crimes in the future. Over the last 15 years, New York City police have arrested more than 500,000 people – most of them young blacks or Hispanics – on misdemeanor charges of possessing small amounts of marijuana in public view. While Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the police have said the arrests have helped reduce violent crime, they have never specified how.

“Our findings support those of other researchers who question the public safety gains from massive marijuana arrests,” said Jamie Fellner, senior adviser to the US Program at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report. “Public officials need to explain exactly how placing thousands of people in cuffs each year for possessing pot reduces violent crime.”

Using data provided by the New York Department of Criminal Justice Services, Human Rights Watch tracked until mid-2011 the subsequent criminal records of nearly 30,000 people who had no prior convictions when they were arrested for marijuana possession in public view in 2003 and 2004. Ninety percent of the group had no subsequent felony convictions. Only 3.1 percent were subsequently convicted of one violent felony offense. An additional 0.4 percent had two or more violent felony convictions.

According to Human Rights Watch’s data, the New York City police sweep large numbers of people into the the city’s criminal justice system – particularly young people of color – who do not go on to become dangerous felons. These findings are consistent with and add to research by Harry Levine, a sociologist at Queens College, City University of New York, which shows that the preponderance of marijuana arrestees do not have prior criminal convictions.

Allegations that the city’s marijuana possession arrests are racially discriminatory, violate constitutional rights, and cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars in law enforcement and court expenses are the subject of ongoing litigation and controversy. In June, Governor Andrew Cuomo unsuccessfully attempted to have new legislation passed that would reduce the penalties for marijuana possession in public view by making it a non-criminal violation instead of a misdemeanor. Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelley, and the five district attorneys of New York City all supported the legislation.

Convictions for misdemeanor marijuana possession, and even arrests that are not followed by a conviction, can have far-reaching adverse consequences for those arrested, including by diminishing their opportunities for employment, housing, and loans. Referring to those arrested for criminal possession of marijuana in public view, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has said, “The human cost to each one of these people and their families is serious and it is real.”

“As long as they keep arresting people, and making them pay such a heavy price for possessing marijuana in public view, New York City officials owe the public an explanation for how those arrests contribute to public safety, ” said Issa Kohler-Hausmann, co-author of the report and consultant at Human Rights Watch for this project. “If these arrests have crime control benefits that outweigh the costs, public officials have yet to identify them.”