DUSHANBE, 15 October 2020 – Judges from across Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) region convened for the second EECA Regional Judges’ Forum on HIV, Human Rights and the Law. The Forum was organized by UNDP, co-hosted by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tajikistan, and held virtually 15-16 October 2020 from Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

Judges, representatives of the National Institute of Justice and UNDP Health, Governance, and Human development specialists from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan participated to address the year 2020 main focus: the criminalization of HIV exposure, transmission, and non-disclosure. The EECA region, where almost all countries have laws that criminalize HIV exposure and transmission, is home to three of the world’s four “leaders” in terms of HIV prosecutions (Russian Federation, Belarus and Ukraine).