The Limiting Role of Criminal Law in Minimizing the Spread of Hiv/Aids in Nigeria

Olubayo Oluduro

Abstract


The paper examines some of the reasons for the increase in the criminalization of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) endangerment across the globe and whether or not these laws have had any significant impact on the spread of the disease. Rather than criminalizing HIV in Nigeria, the paper calls for such cases to be treated under the existing traditional criminal law or public health law offences of the State.
Key words: Criminal law; Nigeria; Prosecution; Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)

Résumé: L'article examine plusieurs raisons de l'augmentation de la criminalisation liée au danger du virus de l'immunodéficience humaine (VIH) à travers le monde et tente de savoir si ces lois ont eu un impact significatif sur l'expansion de la maladie. Plutôt que de criminaliser le VIH au Nigeria, l'article demande de traiter certains cas dans le cadre des infractions du droit pénal traditionnel en vigueur ou du droit public de la santé de l'état.
Mots-clés: Droit penal; Nigeria; Poursuite; Virus de l'immunodéficience humaine (VIH); Syndrome d'immunodéficience acquise (SIDA)

Keywords


Criminal law; Nigeria; Prosecution; Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS);Droit penal; Nigeria; Poursuite; Virus de l'immunodéficience humaine (VIH); Syndrome d'immunodéficience acquise (SIDA)

Full Text:

PDF

References


Adeyemi, A.A. (1968). Sentencing of Imprisonment: Objectives, Trends and Efficacy. In Elias T.O. (Ed.), The Prison System in Nigeria. Papers Submitted at the National Conference on the Prison System, Lagos, University of Lagos.

Adeyemi, A.A. (1977). The Contribution of the Court to the Development of Penal Policy. In A.B. Kasunmu (Ed.), The Supreme of Nigeria 1956-1970 (pp.136-152). Ibadan: Heinemann Educational.

Adeyemi, A.A. (1990). Administration of Justice in Nigeria Sentencing. Law, Development and Administration in Nigeria, Lagos: LAWDEV. FMOJ.

Adeyemi, A.A. (1988-1991). Death Penalty in Nigeria: Criminological Perspectives. Nigerian Current Law Review.

Ahmed, A. et al. (2009). Protecting HIV-positive women's human rights: recommendations for the United States National HIV/AIDS Strategy. Reproductive Health Matters, 17 (34), 127-134.

Albertyn, C. (2000). Using Rights and the Law to Reduce Women’s Vulnerability to HIV. Canadian HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review.

Allen, M.J. (2001). Elliott & Wood’s Cases and Materials on Criminal Law (8th ed.). London: Sweet & Maxwell.

Annan, K. (2001). Addressing a Special Session of the United Nations, quoted in Kopelman, L.M. (2002). If HIV/AIDS is Punishment, Who is Bad?. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 27(2).

Burris, S. et al. (2007). Do Criminal Laws Influence HIV Risk Behavior? An Empirical Trial. Ariz. St. L.J., 39, 467-519.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2001). HIV and AIDS- United States, 1981-2000. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 50(21), 429-456.

Centre for the Right of Health (CRH), (2001). HIV/AIDS and Human Rights: Summary of Cases. Lagos, Nigeria.

Chipfakacha, V.G. (1997). STD/AIDS Knowledge, Beliefs and Practices of Traditional Healers in Botswana. AIDS Care, 9, 417-425

Closen, M.L. et al. (1994). Criminalization of an Epidemic: HIV/AIDS and Criminal Exposure Law. Arkansas Law Review, 46.

Csete, J., et al. (2009). Vertical HIV Transmission should be Excluded from Criminal Prosecution. Reproductive Health Matters, 17(34), 154-162.

Elliott, R. (2000). Criminal Law and HIV/AIDS: Strategic Considerations. Canadian HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review, 5(4). UNAIDS publication.

Gegax, T.T. (1997). The AIDS Predator, Newsweek, 58, quoted in Shriver, C.M. (2001). State Approaches to Criminalizing the Exposure of HIV: Problems in Statutory Construction, Constitutionality and Implications. N. Ill. U.L. Rev., 21, 319-353.

Gostin, L. (1989). The Politics of AIDS: Compulsory State Powers, Public Health and Civil Liberties. Ohio St. L.J., 49, 1017-1058.

Gostin, L. (1989). Public Health Strategies for Confronting AIDS: Legislative and Regulatory Policy in the United States. J. Am. Med. Assoc., (261), 1621.

Gostin, L. & Mann, J.M. (1994). Towards the Development of a Human Rights Impact Assessment for the Formulation and Evaluation of Public Health Policies. Health and Human Rights, 1(1), 58-80.

Gupta, G.R. (2000). Gender, Sexuality and HIV/AIDS: The What, The Why, and The How. Canadian HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review. UNAIDS publication.

Hamblin, J. (1994). HIV and Public Health Policy: Why Individual Matter. African Network on Ethics, Law and HIV. Proceedings of the Intercountry Consultation, Dakar, Senegal 27 June-1 July. UNDP publication.

Immananagha, P.E.J. et al. (2004). Traditional Healers’ Practices and the Spread of HIV/AIDS in South Eastern Nigeria. Tropical Doctor, 34, 79-82

Jackson, H. (2002). AIDS in African - Continent in Crisis. SAFAIDS.

Klugman, B. (2000). Sexual Rights in Southern African: A Beijing Discourse or a Strategic Necessity. Health and Human Rights, 4(2).

Lazzarini, Z. et al. (2002). Evaluating the Impact of Criminal Laws on HIV Risk Behavior. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 30(2), 239-253.

Malera, G.T. (2007). The Efficacy and Limits of Criminal Punishment as a Means of Preventing the Spread of HIV/AIDS in Malawi. Malawi Law Journal, 1(1), 48-61.

Mann, J.M. et al. (1994). Health and Human Rights. Health and Human Rights, 1(1), 6-23.

Markus, M. (1999). A Treatment for the Disease: Criminal HIV Transmission/Exposure Laws. Nova. L. Rev., 23, 847-879.

McArthur, J.B. (2009). As the Tide Turns: The Changing HIV/AIDS Epidemic and the Criminalization of HIV Exposure. Cornell L. Rev., 94, 731-736.

Moore, F.S. (1978). Law as Process: An Anthropological Approach. London: Routledge & K. Paul.

Morris T. & Morris P., Pentoville, quoted in Adeyemi A.A. (1999). Sentencing: Principles and Practices. In Burning Issues in Civil and Criminal Procedure and Practice: Essays in Honour of Hon. Justice Omotunde Ilori, Lagos: International Legal Research House publication.

Mosiello, J. (1999). Why the Intentional Sexual Transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Should be Criminalized Through the Use of Specific HIV Criminal Statutes. N.Y.L. Sch. J. Hum. Rts., 15, 595-624.

Mswela, M. (2009). Cultural Practices and HIV in South Africa: A Legal Perspective. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 12(4), 172-214.

Neave, M. (1998). ‘Sexual Industry and the AIDS Debate, 1988.’ In Legal and Ethical Issues Raised by HIV/AIDS, Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography (2nd ed.). Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network UNAIDS.

Pearshouse, R. (2008). Legislation Contagion: Building Resistance. HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review, 13(2-3).

Peltzer, K. et al. (2006). HIV/AIDS/STI/TB Knowledge, Beliefs and Practices of Traditional Healers in KwaZulu-Natal. South Africa AIDS Care, 18(6), 608-613.

Piot, P. (2000). Putting Third First: Critical Legal Issues and HIV/AIDS. Canadian HIV/AIDS Policy and Review, UNAIDS publication.

Sanon, P. (2009). Advocating Prevention over Punishment: the Risks of HIV Criminalization in Burkina Faso. Reproductive Health Matters, 17(34), 146-153.

Stein, A. (2004). Should HIV Be Jailed? HIV Criminal Exposure Statutes and their Effects in the United States and South Africa. Washington University Global Studies Law Review, 3, 177-198.

The News. (2005). Tradition to Tackle AIDS.

UNAIDS Handbook for Legislators on HIV/AIDS. (1999). Law and Human Rights, Annotated International Guidelines. Geneva, Switzerland: UNAIDS/IPU.

UNAIDS World AIDS Campaign 2002-2003. (2002). A Conceptual Framework and basis for Action: HIV/AIDS Stigma and Discrimination. UNAIDS.

UNAIDS HIV/AIDS and Human Rights International Guidelines. (1998). Second International Consultation on HIV/AIDS. Geneva, 23-25 September, 1996, UNAIDS Publication.

UN Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. (2001, June). Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS, 24-25.

UNFPA. (2002). Preventing HIV Infection, Promoting Reproductive Health: UNFPA Response.

Vernazza, P. et al. (2008). Sero-Positive People that do not have any other STI and are following an Effective Regime of ARVs are Uninfectious through Sexual Contact. Swiss Medical Bulletin, 89(5).

Walker, N. (1987). Crime and Criminology: A critical Introduction. Oxford University Press: Oxford Oxfordshire and New York.

Webber, D.W. (2000). HIV/AIDS Legal Issues in the United States. Canadian HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review, UNAIDS publication.

Wolf, L.E. & Vezina, R. (2004). Crime and Punishment: Is there a Role for Criminal Law in HIV Prevention Policy? Whittier L. Rev., 25, 821-887.

World Health Organization (WHO). (2007). Maternal Mortality in 2005: Estimates Developed by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank. Geneva: WHO.

Internet sources

AIDS Law. (2005). Criminalization of HIV/AIDS,’ Legal and Ethical Issues Raised by HIV/AIDS- Literature Review. Available from: http://www.aidslaw.ca/maincontent/otherdocs/biblio/b-3.htm

AIDS Law. (2005). Legal and Ethical Issues Raised by HIV/AIDS- Annotated Bibliography. Available from: http://www.aidslex.org/site_documents/R002E.pdf

AVERT Averting HIV/AIDS. The History of HIV and AIDS in America. Available from: http://www.avert.org/aids-history-america.htm

Axam, H. et al. (1999). AIDS Law Project South Africa, Response Paper to the SA Law Commission’s Discussion Paper. Available from: http://www.hri.ca/partners/alp

Bassir O. The Proper Role of Criminal Law in Checking the Spread of AIDS. Available from: http://www.helium.com/items/196232-the-proper-role-of-criminal-law-in-checking-the-spread-of-aids

Burris, S. et al. The Criminalization of HIV: Time for an Unambiguous Rejection of the Use of Criminal Law to Regulate the Sexual Behaviour of those with and at Risk of HIV. Available from: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1189501

Cameron, E. et al. (2008). HIV is a Virus, not a Crime: Ten Reasons Against Criminal Statutes and Criminal Prosecutions. Journal of the International AIDS Society, 11, 7. Available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1758-2652-11-7.pdf

Cameron, E. (2009). Criminalization of HIV Transmission: Poor Public Health Policy. Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review, 14(2). Available from: http://www.aidslaw.ca/publications/interfaces/downloadFile.php?ref=1603

Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. (2008). Does Criminalizing HIV Exposure make Sense? Available from: http://www.aidslaw.ca/publications/publicationsdocEN.php?ref=847

Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. (2007). Legislation Contagion: the Spread of Problematic New HIV Laws in Western Africa. HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review, 12(2-3). Available from: http://www.aidslaw.ca/publications/interfaces/downloadFile.php?ref=1275

Chirawu, S. Sex, Rights and the Law in a World with AIDS. Gender, HIV/AIDS and the Law in Zimbabwe. Available from: http://www.aids2031.org/pdfs/gender%20hivaids%20and%20the%20law%20in%20zimbabwe.pdf

Durojaye, E. Violence Against Women and HIV/AIDS. Available from:

www.genderand aids.org/…/Violence%20Against%20Women%20and%20HIV.doc

Flock, J. Missouri Toughens Law on “Super-Transmitters.” Available from: http://www.cnn.com/CNN/bureaus/chicago/stories/9711/aidskillerfolo/index4.htm

Greater Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (2005). Europe and Terrence Higgins Trust. Criminalization of HIV trans­mission in Europe. A rapid scan of the laws and rates of prosecution for HIV transmission within Signatory States of the European Convention of Human Rights. Available from: http://www.gnpplus.net/criminalisation/rapidscan.pdf,

Grover, A. (2010). Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health. United Nations General Assembly Human Rights Council Fourteenth session A/HRC/14/20. Available from: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/14session/A.HRC.14.20.pdf

HIV Verdict on a Virus. Public Health, Human Rights and Criminal Law. Available from: http://www.ippf.org/NR/rdonlyres/D858DFB2-19CD-4483-AEC9-1B1C5EBAF48A/0/VerdictOnAVirus.pdf

IRIN News. Nigeria: Child rape in Kano on the Increase. Available from:

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=76087

Jürgens, R. et al. (2008). 10 Reasons to Oppose Criminalization of HIV Exposure or Transmission. Open Society Institute publication, US. Available from: http://www.icaso.org/resources/10reasons_20081201.pdf

Ogden, J. et al. (2009). Sex, Rights and the Law in a World with AIDS. Meeting Report and Recommendations. International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) publication. Available from: http://www.icrw.org/docs/2009/Sex-Rights-and-the-Law.pdf

Sudhinaraset, M. (2008). Reducing Unsafe Abortion in Nigeria. In Brief, New York: Guttmacher Institute, No. 3. Available from: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2008/11/18/IB_UnsafeAbortionNigeria.pdf

Weait, M. (2008). In HIV Verdict on a Virus, Public Health, Human Rights and Criminal Law. Available from: http://www.ippf.org/NR/rdonlyres/D858DFB2-19CD-4483-AEC9-1B1C5EBAF48A/0/VerdictOnAVirus.pdf.

Wolf, L.E. & Vezina, R. (2005). Is there a Role for Criminal Law in HIV Prevention? Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) and the AIDS Research Institute publication. University of California, San Francisco. Available from: http://www.caps.ucsf.edu/pubs/FS/pdf/criminalizationFS.pdf

UNAIDS Policy Brief. (2008). Criminalization of HIV Transmission. Available from: http://data.unaids.org/pub/basedocument/2008/20080731_jc1513_policy_criminalization_en.pdf

UNAIDS Report on the Global AIDS epidemic. (2009). Available from: http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2009/2009_epidemic_update_en.pdf




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/j.css.1923669720110703.027

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c)



Reminder

  • How to do online submission to another Journal?
  • If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:

1. Register yourself in Journal B as an Author

  • Find the journal you want to submit to in CATEGORIES, click on “VIEW JOURNAL”, “Online Submissions”, “GO TO LOGIN” and “Edit My Profile”. Check “Author” on the “Edit Profile” page, then “Save”.

2. Submission

Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/css/submission/wizard

  • Go to “User Home”, and click on “Author” under the name of Journal B. You may start a New Submission by clicking on “CLICK HERE”.
  • We only use four mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.org

 Articles published in Canadian Social Science are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 

Canadian Social Science Editorial Office

Address: 1020 Bouvier Street, Suite 400, Quebec City, Quebec, G2K 0K9, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail:caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture