From Frontiers: http://www.frontiersla.com/positivefrontiers/2013/07/25/think-russia-is-scary-look-at-greece
Karen Ocamb
7/25/2013
Et tu, Bruté? So much attention is being paid now to the anti-gay horror unfolding in Russia that the LGBT community and health care advocates are completely missing an equally horrifying new law in Greece.
The idyllic birthplace of lesbian poet Sappho and Greek mythological gods such as Adonis may not be so alluring now that another Adonis—Greek Health Minister Adonis Georgladis—has reinstated a measure that not only requires mandatory HIV testing but enables Greek police to stop anyone—including tourists—they suspect of being HIV-positive and force them to be tested.
This is from HIV Plus Magazine:
“Health minister Adonis Georgladis has reinstated Public Health Decree 39A, a 2012 measure that allows police to detain people suspected of being HIV-positive and force them to be tested, according the Greek news outlet ENET. The measure also urges landlords to evict tenants who are HIV-positive (as a public health threat).
In April 2012, the measure was the catalyst for the forced testing of hundreds of women. The 17 that were discovered to be HIV-positive were splashed across media outlets, with their personal information and photographs published for the world to see. They were characterized by police as “prostitutes” despite the fact that there no evidence was ever provided to back up the accusations. After the women were detained for months, the regulation was repealed and they were sent home.
Now that same measure is being implemented again.
Greece has been seen as increasingly fearful of people with HIV. Rates of the virus have risen over 200% since 2011, most likely due to increased drug abuse and rising unemployment among young adults, which is now over 20%. According to the Hellenic Center for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV infections among injecting drug users has doubled from 206 to 487 since 2011. At the same time, HIV prevention budgets have taken a major cut, from 35 million Euros in 2010 to 20 million last year.
Continue reading at: http://www.frontiersla.com/positivefrontiers/2013/07/25/think-russia-is-scary-look-at-greece
