The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network[1] promotes the human rights of people living with and vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, in Canada and internationally, through research, legal and policy analysis, education, and community mobilization. The Legal Network is the only national, community-based organization in Canada working exclusively in the area of policy and legal issues related to HIV/AIDS.
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Human rights violations worsen the impact of HIV/AIDS. The Legal Network therefore seeks to bring about a world in which: (1) the human rights of people living with HIV/AIDS and those affected by the disease are respected, protected and fulfilled; and (2) laws and policies facilitate HIV prevention efforts, as well as care, treatment and support for people living with HIV/AIDS. The Legal Network's research, analysis, education and advocacy touches on a range of issues:
Aboriginal Communities
Criminal Law
Discrimination
Drug Policy and Harm Reduction
HIV Testing
Immigration and Travel
Income Security
Microbicides and Vaccines
Prisons
Privacy
Sex Work
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Treatment (including global access to treatment)
Women's Rights
The Legal Network produces an extensive range of publications[2] on numerous HIV-related legal and policy issues, including info sheets, Q&A documents, briefing papers, submissions to governments and other advocacy materials, commentaries and research articles in journals, and full-length research and analytical reports.
Since 1994, the Legal Network has published the HIV/AIDS Policy & Law Review[3] (originally the Canadian HIV/AIDS Policy & Law Newsletter). Providing analysis and summaries of current developments in HIV/AIDS-related policy and law, the Review promotes education and the exchange of information, ideas, and experiences from an international perspective. Approximately three issues are published annually. Every issue of the Review is published in full in English and French; occasional special issues are published in additional languages (e.g. Russian, Spanish). The Review regularly includes a supplement highlighting key legal and human rights issues at the biennial International AIDS Conferences.
Legal Network News[4] reports several times a year on the Legal Network's activities. The Legal Network produces an annual report.[5]
The Legal Network's resource centre houses academic literature, books, court decisions, community reports, conference proceedings, government documents, newsletters, position papers, and unpublished research in the area of legal, ethical, and policy issues raised by HIV/AIDS. The collection includes documentation on a wide range of issues such as HIV testing and confidentiality, sex work and HIV, human rights and discrimination, prisons and HIV/AIDS, and debates on the criminalization of HIV transmission, in both the English and French languages. The holdings of the resource centre are searchable online.[1]