Ten things you need to know:

1. Some 67 countries1 deny the entry, stay or residence of HIV-positive people because of their HIV status only.

2. HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay and residence curtail important life activities of people living with HIV and their families.

3. HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay and residence do not protect the public health.

4. Restrictions on entry, stay and residence based on HIV status are discriminatory.

5. The enforcement of HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay and residence can, and does, violate other human rights.

6. HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay and residence can impede effective responses to HIV.

7. Any exclusion of HIV positive people to avoid potential costs of treatment and support should be based on individual assessment and should not single out HIV.

8. Countries without restrictions on entry, stay and residence of HIV positive people do not report any problems.

9. International organizations support efforts to eliminate HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay and residence.

10. You can help to eliminate HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay and residence!

THIS IS HOW YOU CAN HELP:

• Get informed: Find out whether your country, territory

or area has HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay

and residence and/or whether other countries or

areas apply them to you or your fellow citizens when

travelling abroad. Insist that governments that have

such restrictions justify them and provide easily available

information about them so that travellers and migrants

are forewarned.

• Advocate against hiv restrictions on entry, stay and

residence: Write a letter, e-mail or call government

officials, from the Ministry of Interior to the President

or Prime Minister. Urge your country’s leadership to

eliminate such restrictions if they have them, and be a

champion against them at global and regional levels.

• Urge diplomatic intervervention: Urge your government

to protect its own HIV-positive citizens who are caught

up in and harmed by such restrictions and to make

diplomatic efforts on their behalf with the governments

that apply such restrictions.

• Launch public awareness campaigns: Advocate for the

elimination of HIV restrictions on entry, stay and residence

as part of campaigns to urge countries to adhere to the

commitments made in the Political Declaration on HIV/

AIDS (2006), where governments committed themselves

to eliminate all forms of discrimination against people

living with HIV. Urge international organizations

to monitor the existence and impact of such

restrictions and advocate for their elimination.

• Mobilise your community and build coalitions:

Inform others about HIV restrictions on entry,

stay and residence, including AIDS services

organizations, legal and human rights groups,

migrants and labour groups, networks of people

living with HIV, business coalitions and faith

communities; and explore joint strategies to fight

against these counter-productive policies inside

and outside your country.

• Call for expanded aid s programming for mobile

populations: Urge your country to include HIV

programmes in its national response to HIV for

mobile populations, both nationals and nonnationals

- entering, leaving and returning to the

country - as the effective way to address HIV in

the context of mobility.

Planing a trip? Visiting family? Looking to emigrate?If you are HIV positive check HIV travel restrictions on www.plwha.org first,it could save you a wasted journey.