EIT: Venäjän maahantulojärjestelmä syrjivä, kun se sulkee pois HIV-positiiviset

Euroopan ihmisoikeustuomioistuin (EIT) on tänään antamassaan tuomiossa katsonut, että Venäjän maahantulojärjestelmä on HIV-positiivisia kohtaan syrjiä. EIT otti ratkaisussaan huomioon sen selkeän konseksuksen, mikä HIV-positiivisten osalta maahanmuutossa ja matkustamisessa vallitsee muualla Euroopassa ja kansainvälisesti, eikä nähnyt Venäjän esittäneen mitään konkreettisia seikkoja sen tueksi, miksi syrjivä kohtelu olisi sen tapauksessa hyväksyttävää.

EIT:n lehdistötiedotteesta:

In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of Novruk and Others v. Russia (application no. 31039/11, 48511/11, 76810/12, 14618/13 and 13817/14) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:

a violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights read together with Article 8 (right to private life and family), and no violation of Article 34 (right of individual petition) of the European Convention.

The case concerned the entry and residence rights of HIV-positive non-Russian nationals.

The Court reiterated that the right to enter or settle in a particular country was not guaranteed by the European Convention. A State had to, however, exercise its immigration policies in a manner which was compatible with a foreign national’s human rights, in particular the right to respect for his or her private or family life and the right not to be discriminated against.

The Court notably found that the legislation aimed at preventing HIV transmission, which was used in the present case to exclude the applicants from entry or residence, had been based on an unwarranted assumption that they would engage in unsafe behaviour, without carrying out a balancing exercise involving an individualised assessment in each case. Given the overwhelming European and international consensus geared towards abolishing any outstanding restrictions on entry, stay and residence of people living with HIV, who constitute a particularly vulnerable group, Russia had not advanced compelling reasons or any objective justification for their differential treatment for health reasons. The applicants had therefore been victims of discrimination on account of their health status.

The Court also found that the defective legislation which gave rise to the proceedings in the applicants’ case amounted to a structural problem which could generate further repetitive applications. Noting, however, that legislative reform was currently under way in Russia, the Court decided at this stage not to formulate any general measures about the proper implementation of its present judgment.

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