The third US ‘HIV Is Not a Crime’ Training Academy co-organised by two HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE Steering Committee members, the SERO Project and Positive Women’s Network – USA, took place between June 3-6 at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis.
Anchored by six plenary sessions, where expert panels of people living with HIV, advocates, lawyers and parliamentarians delved into rich discussions, including the experiences of survivors of HIV criminalisation; the intersection of race and gender in criminalisation; and what legislative champions do behind the scenes to move bills. Participants also had 20 breakout sessions to choose from throughout the three days.
The Training Academy also included participation from advocates and legal experts from Belize, Canada, Colombia and Mexico, and for the first time included a plenary session on HIV criminalisation the Latin American region.
In addition, the opening, closing and plenary sessions were all streamed live on Facebook (archived here), allowing real-time international participation.
Both of these latter initiatives were supported by HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE.