FORUM: Remove laws that harm. Create laws thet empower. Zero Discrimination Day 2022.
On Zero Discrimination Day, 1 March, we
celebrate the right of everyone to live a full and
productive life—and live it with dignity.
Zero Discrimination Day highlights how people
can become informed about and promote
tolerance, compassion, peace and, above all, a
movement for change. Zero Discrimination Day is
helping to create a global movement of solidarity
to end all forms of discrimination. Follow the conversation by using the hastags #ZeroDiscrimination
For Zero Discrimination Day 2022, UNAIDS is highlighting the urgent need
to take action against discriminatory laws.
In many countries, laws result in people being treated differently, excluded
from essential services or being subject to undue restrictions on how they live
their lives, simply because of who they are, what they do or who they love. Such
laws are discriminatory—they deny human rights and fundamental freedoms.
People may experience more than one form of discrimination. A person may
experience discrimination because of his or her health status and because of his
or her race, gender identity or sexual orientation, compounding the effects on
the individual and the wider community.
Laws—such as laws on sex work, same-sex sexual relations, the use or
possession of drugs for personal use and the non-disclosure, exposure or
transmission of HIV—may discriminate by criminalizing conduct or identity.
Other laws may prevent people from accessing benefits or services. Girls may
not be allowed to go to school if they are pregnant or women may not be able
to access financial services without their husband’s permission. Laws may also
impose parental consent for adolescents to access health services or restrict the
entry, stay and residence of people living with HIV.
States have a moral and legal obligation—under the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, human rights treaties, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development and other international obligations—to remove discriminatory laws and to enact laws that protect people from discrimination.
Some of the rights that people can use to contest discriminatory laws include the following:
• The right to equal treatment before the law.
• The right to an education.
• The right to economic opportunities.
• The right to privacy.
• The right to dignity.
• The right to health.
• The right to association.
• The right to a fair trial.
Everyone has a responsibility to hold states accountable, call for change and contribute to
efforts to remove discriminatory laws. The first steps to making a change are to know the
law, recognize that laws can discriminate and highlight discriminatory laws to others.
LAWS THAT CAN CONTAIN
DISCRIMINATORY PROVISIONS
Laws can affect people in different ways. It is not always obvious whether a law will contain
discriminatory provisions, and it is not always obvious from the name of the law. Examples of
laws that can contain discriminatory provisions include the following:
• Marriage and civil union laws.
• Parental consent laws that affect access
by young people to services.
• Workplace legislation.
• Laws that govern the education or
health sector.
• Laws that limit access to services and
that exclude certain people based on,
among other things, their gender
identity, race, nationality or
socioeconomic status.
• Banking and insurance laws.
• Migration and citizenship laws.
• Public order and security laws.
• Property laws.
• Inheritance laws.
• Laws that regulate sexual conduct.
• Laws that regulate access to
reproductive health services.
• Laws that punish people owing to their
health status, such as HIV or pregnancy.
• Laws that punish people who use drugs.
AIDS RESPONSE LAWS THAT
CHANGED IN RECENT YEARS.
In June 2020, Gabon reversed a law that made same-sex sexual relations
punishable with six months in prison and a large fine.
Bhutan decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations in 2021.
In July 2020, Sudan repealed the death penalty for consensual same-sex sexual
relations.
The national laws of 79 countries do not criminalize non-intentional HIV
exposure/transmission and there are no reports of people being arrested or
prosecuted for HIV transmission in recent years.
Twenty-eight United Nations Member States recognize same-sex marriage.
Botswana's High Court ruled in favour of decriminalizing homosexuality in 2019.
TAKE ACTION
Five actions for individuals
1. Highlight discriminatory laws, so we can all
advocate for change—post your initiatives for zero
discrimination on social media.
2. Be an ally, call out discrimination when you see it.
3. Demand change from your parliamentarian,
ombudsperson or human rights organization.
4. Start a petition to change the law.
5. Donate time, money or expertise to an organization
that is working for law reform, or start one yourself.
Five actions for civil society
organizations
1. Start a campaign to change a law. Highlight
discriminatory laws, so we can collectively advocate
for change.
2. Provide support and a safe space, including legal
support and pastoral care for people who experience
discrimination.
3. Conduct awareness-raising sessions on human
rights in a workplace, school, clinic or peer network.
4. Convey a request to remove discriminatory laws to
your representative in parliament or local
government, United Nations office or national body
responsible for monitoring human rights in the
country.
5. Adopt and promote a policy that prevents and
protects against discrimination in the civil society
organization workplace.
Five actions for partners and
donor organizations
1. Inform yourself about discrimination and its impact
on the people affected.
2. Adopt and promote a policy that prevents and
protects against discrimination in the donor
organization workplace.
3. Commit to prioritizing the reform of discriminatory
laws in health and development programmes.
4. Ensure that funding goes towards human rights,
law reform, legal aid and legal education.
5. Work with local organizations that are affected by
discriminatory laws or that are working on law reform.
FACTS ABOUT DISCRIMINATION
WOMEN
• More than 50 countries maintain nationality laws that discriminate on the
basis of sex.
• Twenty-five countries have nationality laws that deny women the right to confer
their nationality on their children on an equal basis with men.
• Only 10 countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia,
Luxembourg, Portugal and Sweden) offer full legal protection to women.
• In 18 countries, husbands are legally allowed to prevent their wives from working.
• One hundred and four countries have laws that prevent women from working in
specific jobs.
• Countries that have explicitly sex discriminatory family laws include Iraq and
Nigeria, where domestic violence is explicitly allowed, and the Bahamas, India,
Singapore and Yemen, where marital rape remains legal.
• Laws that prevent daughters from inheriting the same proportion of assets as sons
exist in 39 countries.
PEOPLE WHO USE DRUGS
• In 2020, 35 countries retained the death penalty for drug offences.
• In at least 67 countries, drug use or consumption and/or possession of drugs for
personal use is a criminal offence.
SEX WORKERS
• At least 98 countries criminalize some aspect of sex work.
• Selling and/or buying sex is partially or fully criminalized in at least 39 countries.
• At least five countries report that people can be prosecuted or punished for
carrying condoms.
SAME-SEX SEXUAL RELATIONS
• In six United Nations Member States—Brunei, the Islamic Republic of Iran,
Mauritania, 12 northern states of Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen—the death
penalty is the legally prescribed punishment for consensual same-sex sexual
relations.
• In five additional United Nations Member States—Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar,
Somalia (including Somaliland) and the United Arab Emirates—certain sources
indicate that the death penalty could potentially be imposed for consensual
same-sex sexual relations, but there is less legal certainty on the matter.
• As of December 2020, 69 states criminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations.
TRANSGENDER PEOPLE
• In 13 countries, specific laws criminalize transgender people, punishing them with
prison, corporal punishment and, where same-sex sexual relation laws are also
used against transgender people, even death.
• It’s not possible to legally change your gender in at least 47 United Nations
Member States.
PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV
• In 2020, 92 countries reported to UNAIDS they had either specific or general laws
that criminalize HIV transmission, exposure or non-disclosure.
• At least 20 countries worldwide still impose travel restrictions of some form against
people living with HIV.
• Across 19 countries with available data, approximately one in five people living
with HIV reported having been denied health care (including dental care, family
planning services and sexual and reproductive health services).
MANDATORY HIV TESTING
• In 2018, 59 countries reported maintaining mandatory HIV testing for marriage,
work or residence permits or for certain groups of people.
YOUNG PEOPLE
• Forty countries reported to UNAIDS in 2021 that they have laws requiring
parental/guardian consent for adolescents to access hormonal or long-lasting
contraceptives.
• One hundred and eight countries reported that parental/guardian consent is
required for an HIV test, 43 countries for HIV self-testing, 92 counties for HIV
treatment and 22 countries for access to pre-exposure prophylaxis.
• Some countries provide certain exceptions to parental/guardian consent based on
demonstrated maturity: 10 countries for hormonal or long-lasting contraceptives,
15 countries for HIV testing, eight countries for self-testing and nine countries for
HIV treatment.
• The age cut-off of parental consent laws varied by service. The majority of
countries that reported having requirements for parental/guardian consent had an
age cut-off of 18 years, with exceptions in a few countries, where adolescents as
young as 14 years could access a service without parental/guardian consent.
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