HIV Justice Network Relaunches Global HIV Travel and Residence Tool: Positive Destinations
Here in Australia and abroad, activists, human rights lawyers, clinicians, public health experts and of course countless people living with HIV have been calling for the repeal of migration law and policy that discriminates against those living with HIV. However, until these discriminatory migration rules are eliminated, people living with HIV, their partners, family and those that support them, will require reliable and up-to-date information on restrictions affecting people living with HIV who want to travel, relocate or migrate.
Recently, the HIV Justice Network relaunched the Global Database on HIV-specific Travel and Residence Restrictions, also known as ‘HIVtravel’. A trusted resource for over two decades, this update to HIVtravel is called ‘Positive Destinations’.
Positive Destinations is a resource designed to equip people living with HIV with reliable and free information about movement and migration across borders, as well as to operate as a portal to resources intended to ‘push for the removal of discriminatory laws, policies and practices’ and ‘promote freedom of movement and challenge stigma worldwide’.
The Positive Destinations website operates as a repository for global information on HIV, travel and migration. It includes a useful visual map, highlighting and explaining which countries place restrictions on migration and travel for people living with HIV and the levels of restriction enforced. A short documentary explaining Positive Destinations, its content and purpose, is available here.
As HIV Justice Network’s Executive Director Edwin J Bernard explains, Positive Destinations reflects a ‘commitment to a world where people living with HIV, in all our diversities, can enjoy our human rights and live in dignity, without fear of unjust criminalisation, regulation or control’. With the rebrand and re-launch of the platform, he explains:
we aim to amplify the voices of those most affected and build a movement that challenges and changes unjust, unscientific policies. Travel or relocation for love, work, family or pleasure should be available to everyone, regardless of HIV status, and we are dedicated to ensuring that every destination is a truly positive destination for all.
In addition to information on entry, stay and residence restrictions, Positive Destinations includes guidance on access to HIV services, links to local organisations for migrants and visitors, as well as news and personal stories from around the world.
Access Positive Destinations
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