The Deputy will be aware that when he raised this matter in the Dáil last March, the Minister for Foreign Affairs undertook to consult with our Community partners on the possibility of making a joint demarche of the Twelve to the US authorities. As a result of these consultations, our partners agreed that a demarche, expressing our concerns regarding US visa and immigration policy in relation to people with HIV or AIDS, should be made in Washington. The Irish Embassy in Washington made that demarche to the US authorities earlier this week.
The demarche recalled the Twelve's consistent opposition to restrictions on the movement of HIV positive travellers on the grounds that it amounts to stigmatisation and discrimination. It pointed out that travel restrictions are ineffective in preventing either the introduction or the spread of the virus. With regard to US law specifically, the Twelve welcome the modifications to the law made by the US authorities in April to facilitate delegates attending the San Francisco AIDS conference and the World Haemophilia Conference in Washington. However, they believe that the measures adopted are still insufficient in that US legislation still imposes restrictions on HIV travellers. Accordingly the Twelve have decided not be be represented at ministerial level in San Francisco.
The demarche urged the US authorities to take further action to bring their domestic legislation into line with the principles to which they and the Twelve have subscribed at international fora such as the World Summit of Health Ministers, January 1988 and the World Health Assembly, May 1989.
