The African HIV Policy Network (AHPN) has launched a campaign calling on the UK government to stop the deportation of people living with HIV to countries where access to HIV treatment is not readily available or affordable. The campaign, Destination Unknown, is also asking MPs to sign a House of Commons Early Day Motion, which “notes that there is a clear contradiction between the UK’s policy aim of universal access to treatment for all those who need it by 2010 and the deportation of people living with HIV who are on treatment to countries where treatment is not readily available or affordable.”
In May 2005, a House of Lords ruling (‘N’ [2005] UKHL31) concluded that the deportation of a person living with HIV to a country where he or she was unlikely to receive adequate HIV treatment was not incompatible with their right to be free of inhumane treatment under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The decision essentially authorised the deportation to their countries of origin of hundreds of HIV-positive people living in the UK whose applications for asylum have been rejected, regardless of whether HIV treatment is accessible or affordable.
Zackie Achmat, the founder and chair of the AIDS lobby group, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), called on the UK government to “take its human rights obligations seriously” at Tuesday’s campaign launch at Positive East, a north-east London HIV support centre utilised by many HIV-positive Africans. “People living with HIV should not be denied access to HIV treatment,” he said. “If medication is not readily available or affordable in their home countries, they should not be deported. They have a right to lifesaving treatment.”
The AHPN believes that there is a clear contradiction between the UK's policy aim of universal access to HIV treatment for all those who need it by 2010 and the deportation of people living with HIV who are on treatment to countries where treatment is not readily available or affordable.
Rhon Reynolds, AHPN’s Senior Policy Officer and Deputy CEO notes: “The UK has demonstrated strong leadership in calling for HIV treatment for all by 2010. However, people continue to be deported to countries where access to HIV treatment is difficult. This contradiction must be addressed. People living with HIV should not be deported until HIV treatment is more widely available.”
He added that there are strong cost and public health arguments supporting a Home Office policy change. In particular, HIV-positive individuals awaiting removal may go underground and fail to keep hospital appointments, resulting in an increased risk of illness, and higher likelihood of costly emergency and/or inpatient treatment.
The Destination Unknown Campaign is also calling for MPs to sign an Early Day Motion (EDM 1556), sponsored by Neil Gerrard (Labour MP for Walthamstow), which states that:
This House notes that there is a clear contradiction between the UK's policy aim of universal access to treatment for all those who need it by 2010 and the deportation of people living with HIV who are on treatment to countries where treatment is not readily available or affordable; further notes that the withdrawal of treatment increases the body's vulnerability to opportunistic infection and will result in drastically shortened life expectancy; and welcomes the launch of the African HIV Policy Network's campaign calling on the Government to allow HIV positive people on HIV treatment to stay in the United Kingdom until they are able to return home when access to antiretroviral treatments becomes more widely available.
More information about the campaign and the Early Day Motion can be found on AHPN’s Destination Unknown webpage.