The legal and policy healthcare framework must respond to the realities, experiences and rights violations of marginalised people based on their sexuality, gender and occupation. It should also support access to healthcare services without discrimination on any grounds based on race, colour, sex, gender identity or expression, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or any other status.

Laws and policies from the district to the regional levels must decriminalise marginalised people and their dependents based on their “non-normative” sexual practices such as sex work and same-sex practices, or based on drug use and the transmission of infectious diseases. Laws and policies must also clearly set out responsibilities of the state and private sector in upholding the rights of all people to health and create redress mechanisms for when these rights are violated.

Legal & Policy: Read more

Our demands:

• Decriminalisation of non-normative sexual practices such as sex work, same-sex practices, non-marital sex  between consenting adults and between consenting teenagers (recognising sexual experimentation and adolescents’ evolving capacities to give consent).
• Harm reduction policies should not encourage the criminalisation of drug use, buying and consuming drugs, manufacturing or the possession of drugs
• The WHO and UNAIDS must escalate their efforts to develop a comprehensive approach that strengthens primary healthcare and health systems, with built-in indicators of progress, and urge all governments to follow the UN’s International Guidelines on HIV infection and AIDS and Human Rights, as well as take appropriate action in ‘low-prevalence countries’
• Decriminalisation of reproductive health services such as abortions, access to emergency contraception and contraceptives, and universalisation of access to those services
• Decriminalisation of the transmission of infectious diseases such as TB and HIV / AIDS
• Incarcerated and institutionalised people in mental or correctional facilities must have access to healthcare as well as the right give or withhold consent to treatment.
• Health systems, healthcare institutions, healthcare workers and service providers must refuse to play a role in the arrest, detention, violation and objectification of our bodies and our subjection to cruel and degrading treatment
• An end to policies and immigration regulations that discriminate based on people’s TB or HIV status
• Trans* people and health must be depathologised by removing all medical definitions of gender dysphoria. A medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria shouldn’t form the basis of access to hormone therapy or gender-affirming surgery.
• Processes for sex/gender marker change and name change in official and identity documents must be legalised, accessible, affordable and universal.