The Center for HIV Law and Policy is a national legal and policy resource and strategy center for people with HIV and their advocates. Launched in 2005, CHLP works to reduce the impact of HIV on vulnerable and marginalized communities and to secure the human rights of people affected by HIV. We support and increase the advocacy power and HIV expertise of attorneys, community members and service providers, and advance policy initiatives that are grounded in and uphold social justice, science and the public health. We do this by providing high-quality legal and policy materials through an accessible web-based resource bank, cultivating an interdisciplinary support network of experts, activists and professionals, and coordinating a strategic leadership hub to track and advance advocacy on critical HIV legal, health and human rights issues.

 What you’ll find here:  Our Resource Bank contains many types of materials on a broad array of topics, and we add new items on a regular basis. Click “Resource Bank” on the left to see current resource areas, then click the topic to see the description of materials contained there. (A number of materials apply to more than one topic and are cross-listed, to make it easier to find what you want.) You will find legal briefs, court opinions, expert commentary, medical and legal research and presentations, and other information intended to inform and support sound HIV advocacy.

Let us know what you think.  Have the materials you’ve found here been useful? Are there materials you need and have been unable to locate? What else would you like to see? Did you find the site reasonably easy to navigate? Please take a moment to complete the CHLP's user feedback form, or drop us a line at info@hivlawandpolicy.org; we appreciate your time in giving us feedback.

Would you like to share your own work and resources?  We know that the trenches of HIV legal policy advocacy have many unsung heroes, and that local and legal services lawyers and advocates are doing high-quality work on behalf of people with HIV. Some of that work is included here, in CHLP’s Resource Bank. We would like to feature more resources from local experts, while saving others approaching an issue for the first time the need to “recreate the wheel.” If you have pleadings, briefs, court opinions or related materials that could provide good advocacy models, please contact us at info@hivlawandpolicy.org.  

Recent News

Larry Gostin, internationally recognized public health lawyer, calling on the CDC to revise its policy on HIV-infected health care workers, says: "It is now time." A decade after the last push to revisit the stigmatizing CDC policy, Larry Gostin is once again raising the issue.

Click here to read Professor Gostin's remarks.

 

CHLP Launches Briefing Paper.  Just in time for the holidays, CHLP debuts its Briefing Paper with the Center's latest news and updates. The newsletter is available online and as a pdf.

Click here to view Briefing Paper online.

Click here to download Briefing Paper pdf.

 

 

 

Human Rights Principles Need to Guide U.S. Response to AIDS ... On the advent of World AIDS Day, CHLP emphasized that rights violations that impede the response to the AIDS epidemic globally are also a critical problem in the United States. To read CHLP's press release, click on Recent News.

At the 2006 United Nations High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, world leaders reaffirmed that “the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all is an essential element in the global response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.” Yet, 25 years into the AIDS epidemic, this “essential element” remains the missing piece in the fight against AIDS. "Human Rights and HIV/AIDS: Now More Than Ever," a declaration endorsed by the Center for HIV Law and Policy and published by the Open Society Institute with input from HIV human rights specialists from around the globe, sets out 10 reasons why law and human rights should occupy the center of the global HIV/AIDS struggle.  To read the declaration, click here.

Medical, Service, Religious and Legal Organizations across the country endorse 15 fundamental principles to guide effective expansion of HIV testing. Click on Recent News to read more or visit CHLP's Web site: Expanding the Availability and Acceptance of Voluntary HIV Testing: Fundamental Principles to Guide Implementation