The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation opposed the forced registration of HIV-infected people

The Ministry of Justice criticized the initiative of the Ministry of Health on the mandatory registration of HIV-infected people and the introduction of administrative liability for evasion, Kommersant reports with reference to the department’s report sent to the Russian government. The public and scientific community fear that forced recording will only force patients into hiding.

The Ministry of Health held public hearings of the initiative and sent their results to the Ministry of Justice. Having studied the opinions of experts, the department concluded that “the idea of ​​introducing an obligation for HIV-infected people to register, as well as establishing administrative liability for evasion, is not generally supported.”

The head of the Federal AIDS Center, Vadim Pokrovsky, opposed the initiative. He said that patients with other diagnoses are not forced to undergo such a “total count”, and there is no such mechanism anywhere in the world.

Rospotrebnadzor considered that “elements of coercion and pressure” on patients already in difficult life situations “will not contribute to the creation of trusting, partnership relations between the medical institution and the patient.” The Russian Law Academy of the Ministry of Justice and Kutafin Moscow State Law University expressed concern that the initiative could lead to an even greater spread of the disease as people avoid getting tested for HIV.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, relying on the decisions of the UN General Assembly, which thirty years ago declared the inadmissibility of discrimination against people living with HIV, stated that such an initiative would cause “a negative reaction and predictable pressure from foreign partners through a number of international organizations.”

The Institute of Immunology also pointed out that Russia does not have a ready-made system for forced registration, and its creation would require financial, organizational and human resources, but would not guarantee a dynamic reduction in the number of disease cases.

In conclusion, the Ministry of Justice concluded that the introduction of coercive measures is likely to lead to “HIV-infected persons going into the shadows.”

Earlier, in October, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree approving the state strategy to combat the spread of HIV infection until 2020. The document provides for the creation of a unified register of HIV-infected people in the country. The strategy does not say whether registration should be voluntary or mandatory.

In November, the Russian Ministry of Health published draft rules for maintaining a register of HIV-infected people. The government hopes it will help prevent disruptions in the supply of drugs in the regions, but patient advocates worried about data confidentiality. The initiative was also criticized for the fact that the published draft did not say that patients would be included in the register only with their voluntary consent.