Recent reports of HIV-related arrests and convictions in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are drawing renewed attention to the continued use of criminal law against people living with HIV in Central Asia.
In Dushanbe, Tajikistan, authorities reported in August that ten people had been detained since the beginning of 2026 on suspicion of deliberately transmitting or exposing others to HIV. According to information reported by the HIV Justice Network, more than 60 people were allegedly placed at risk, and criminal proceedings were initiated under Article 125 of the Tajik Criminal Code. Those convicted could face prison sentences ranging from three to ten years.
Two recent cases in neighbouring Uzbekistan further illustrate the issue. On 13 August 2026, a court in the Tashkent region sentenced a man to three years’ imprisonment under Article 113(4) of the Criminal Code following alleged HIV transmission to two women.
Only two weeks earlier, on 29 July, a woman in the Surxondaryo region had been convicted under provisions concerning HIV exposure and transmission and sentenced to four years of restricted liberty. These cases are not isolated: numerous HIV-related prosecutions have been documented in Uzbekistan in recent years.
A wider debate after AIDS 2026
These developments come shortly after the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) in Rio de Janeiro, where HIV criminalisation again emerged as an important issue for scientists, communities and human rights advocates.
The HIV Justice Network estimates that 83 countries continue to maintain HIV-specific criminal laws. Between 2013 and 2026, its Global HIV Criminalisation Database documented enforcement across 156 legal jurisdictions in 96 countries, including both HIV-specific offences and general criminal laws.
The persistence of these laws raises a fundamental question: while HIV has been transformed by four decades of scientific progress, have legal systems evolved at the same pace?
Today, antiretroviral treatment enables people living with HIV to live long and healthy lives. Crucially, the scientific evidence underpinning Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U) is unequivocal: a person taking effective antiretroviral therapy who maintains an undetectable viral load does not sexually transmit HIV.
Yet criminal laws and judicial practices in many countries may still treat HIV according to assumptions developed before these scientific advances.
The ERNA perspective: health before stigma
From an RCRC perspective, HIV-related laws and policies should be guided by humanity, non-discrimination and public health evidence.
People living with HIV must be able to access prevention, testing, treatment and care without fear of stigma, exclusion or disproportionate punishment. The IFRC has long recognised that an effective HIV response requires not only prevention and treatment, but also action against stigma, discrimination and legal barriers to healthcare.
From this humanitarian perspective, criminalisation should never become a substitute for effective public health policy.
A clear distinction should be maintained between cases involving a proven intention to cause harm and the broader criminalisation of HIV status, non-disclosure or situations in which transmission did not occur or was scientifically negligible or impossible.
UNAIDS recommends limiting criminal law to exceptional cases involving intentional transmission and ensuring that contemporary scientific evidence — including treatment, viral suppression and actual transmission risk — is properly considered.
Science must reach the law
Overly broad criminalisation may itself undermine public health by increasing fear of testing, disclosure and engagement with healthcare services. The objective should instead be to create conditions in which people feel safe to test, safe to seek treatment and safe to remain in care.
This is particularly important for populations already affected by stigma or exclusion, including people who use drugs, migrants, people in detention and other vulnerable communities.
The recent cases in Central Asia therefore offer an opportunity for dialogue among health authorities, legislators, judicial institutions, National Societies, civil society and people living with HIV.
ERNA believes that:
- HIV status alone must never be equated with dangerousness;
- modern HIV science, including U=U, should inform legislation and judicial practice;
- criminal sanctions should be limited to exceptional cases of proven intentional harm;
- people living with HIV must have access to confidential testing, treatment and support without discrimination;
- public-health responses should promote responsibility through information, prevention and access to healthcare, rather than stigma.
Effective HIV policy does not require choosing between individual responsibility and human rights. Both must be protected.
More than four decades into the HIV response, science has fundamentally transformed what it means to live with HIV. Our laws, policies and public attitudes must evolve with it.
For ERNA, the message is clear: replace fear with knowledge, stigma with solidarity, and legal responses based on outdated assumptions with approaches grounded in science, prevention and care.