Call for Submissions

WHY A GLOBAL DIALOGUE?

The Global Commission on HIV and the Law’s final report, HIV and the Law: Risks, Rights and Health, was published in July 2012. The report interrogated the relationship between HIV and the law, and included recommendations covering the breadth of the HIV response and drew its conclusions from the latest available scientific evidence and a grounding in human rights principles. The Commission’s recommendations covered the following– stigma and discrimination, criminalisation of HIV transmission, exposure and non-disclosure, key populations, women, children and youth, migrants, access to medicines and intellectual property law. The recommendations were intended to promote laws, policies and practices to drive effective, sustainable responses to HIV consistent with human rights.

The 2018 Global Dialogue will take stock of changes in the global HIV response since 2012, and provide an opportunity for participants including government, civil society, people living with HIV, key populations, development agencies, donors and international organisations to:

1. Discuss the progress in implementing the recommendations of the Commission, share good practices of removing punitive laws, policies and practices that are barriers for effective HIV responses and enforcing protective laws;

2. Discuss the role of political leadership in the removal of punitive laws and the enforcement of protective laws, policies and practices required to address persistent legal and human rights issues on HIV and related co-infections such as tuberculosis and viral hepatitis;

3. Explore the changing financing environment for HIV, human rights and the law; and

4. Discuss new and emerging issues in HIV-related science and the lessons for HIV and the law, and advancing rights-based health responses including for related co-infections such as tuberculosis and viral hepatitis, as well as universal health coverage in the context of achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

WHAT TO SUBMIT?

The submissions should address alone or a combination of the following –

1. Good practices on how the recommendations of the Commission contributed to promoting a positive legal and policy environment for HIV in your community or country.

2. The role of the political leadership in removing punitive laws and enforcing protective laws, policies and practices especially in relation to stigma and discrimination, gender equality, criminalisation of behaviours and groups.

3. The financing environment for addressing punitive laws, policies and practices that impede effective HIV, SRHR and HIV-related health responses, as well as successful models of financing.

4. Opportunities for advancing human rights programmes on HIV, SRHR and HIV-related co-infections such as tuberculosis and viral hepatitis, as well as universal health coverage in the context of achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Submissions should be based on knowledge acquired through direct and personal experience in any of the following means:

1. as a person living with HIV or a related co-infection

2. belonging to a key or vulnerable population

3. providing HIV-related services, including legal and access to justice services

4. monitoring and reforming laws and policies related to HIV or related co-infection

5. sensitizing lawmakers and law enforcement agents

6. providing trainings to healthcare workers on human rights and medical ethics related to HIV

7. conducting legal literacy, human rights advocacy or programming

8. undertaking research and academic work on HIV and the law

9. addressing HIV-related stigma and discrimination, including with the media

HOW TO SUBMIT?

Language

Submissions are welcome in English, French, Russian and Spanish.

Review of Submissions

All submissions should be sent to info@hivlawcommission.org and will be reviewed by a Submission Review Committee responsible for identifying submissions to be shared at the Global Dialogue. The Submission Review Committee will comprise of people living with HIV, representatives of civil society groups and human rights advocates, UN and multilateral entities and working on issues of HIV, human rights, public health and the law.

Confidentiality of Submissions

Submissions can be made at two levels: Public or Confidential. Please clearly state if you would like your submission to remain confidential. If you would like your submission to be treated as confidential, please provide two versions of the submission: (1) a confidential version, which will be viewed only by the Secretariat; and (2) a public version with all confidential information removed, which will be submitted to the Submissions Review Committee.

Please note that while it is not possible for all submissions to be shared at the Global Dialogue, all submissions will contribute to the outcome documents of the Global Dialogue.

Format of Submissions

All submissions must follow the template for submissions provided below:

Letter format: Submissions should be no more than 5 pages long (maximum 2000 words in the main body of the submission), on A4 size paper. Submissions should be in PDF (.pdf), RTF (.rtf) or Word Doc (.doc; docx) format. (Please note if your submission is confidential, only the public version will be shared with the Submissions Review Committee).
Audio/Video format: Submissions in audio or video format should be no more than 10 minutes long. (If your audio or video submission is confidential, please do not mention your name and contact details in the submission. Instead, please include these information in the email accompanying your submission).
Online Audio/Video submissions: Submissions that cannot be sent via mail or email can be submitted online. They may be uploaded on “youtube.com”, or “vimeo.com” using a person account. Please make sure to secure your video as “private” and send us the link and password to your video by email.

WHEN TO SUBMIT?

The deadline for submissions is 22 May 2018 at 23:59 [NY time]

Please note that only 2 submissions per individual or organisation will be accepted.

WHERE TO SUBMIT?

All submissions should be sent to: info@hivlawcommission.org

Subject line should be: “Submission Global Dialogue_<<level of confidentiality>>_<<Submission focus area(s)>>”. (e.g. Submission _Public_Good practices/Financing).