Russia: Proposed law would force people with HIV to join database, submit fingerprints
A law has been proposed in Russia that would force anyone with HIV to join a database, and submit their details and fingerprints to the government.
RT reports that the amendment, proposed by State Duma deputy Roman Khudyakov, will create a mandatory database for people with ‘dangerous contagious diseases’.
Registration to the database would be enforced for anyone who is found to have HIV.
The newspaper reports that the amendment has broad support from the government, and the draft has been approved by the Federal Migration Service, Interior Ministry, Emergencies Ministry and Prosecutor General’s Office.
Khudyakov argues that fingerprinting people with HIV is necessary because it would ‘make it easier to fight crime’, as well as reducing the chance that someone could escape the database.
According to HIV Plus Mag, stigmatisation of people with HIV in Russia has increased in recent years, since Vladimir Putin signed what is widely deemed a ‘gay propaganda’ law, and the move “will further persecute those groups and all people with HIV regardless of gender or orientation”.
