Activists Urge Lifting of HIV Travel Bans
July 28, 2012
Speaking at the International AIDS Conference in Washington D.C. that concluded Friday, more than 20 top executives of major multinational corporations called for an end to travel bans for people living with HIV. This is the first time the conference was held in a U.S. city in 22 years because of a ban restricting HIV-positive persons from entering the U.S. President Obama lifted the ban two years ago. Many hope remaining countries with bans in place will follow suit.
Marma Palma is an Aboriginal HIV/AIDS advocate from New Zealand who has been living with the virus for 19 years. She defiantly traveled to the U.S. six times while the entry ban for HIV-positive persons was in place. She says her status is a personal matter and no business of any government.
"There [are] only three ways of getting HIV," said Palma. "You can only get it from unprotected sex or sharing needles or mother-to-child transmission. And I am not going to do either of those three things while I am in America. And I felt quite offended that I had to declare that I had HIV."
The U.S. lifted the ban two years ago. There are currently 46 countries that apply some restrictions on HIV-positive people. Many travel bans were put into place in the early days of the epidemic when little was known about the virus.
Advocates argue the restrictions are unnecessary and violate basic human rights.
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