European Court Faults Greece For Exposing HIV Status Of Sex Workers

The European Court of Human Rights has censured Greece for infringing upon the privacy rights of women who were arrested and publicly revealed in 2012 as HIV-positive sex workers, purportedly posing a threat to public health.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Photo: Udo Pohlmann/Pixabay

On Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights declared that Greek authorities had breached the privacy rights of a cohort of women who, in 2012, were apprehended and publicly disclosed as HIV-positive sex workers, purportedly posing a threat to public health.

Eleven Greek women brought the case to the court based in Strasbourg, France. Among them, ten had faced arrest and charges, accused of deliberately attempting to cause significant bodily harm by engaging in purportedly unprotected sexual activities with clients.

The 11th woman, erroneously identified as a sex worker due to a mistaken identity with her sister, was not involved in sex work. Regrettably, five of the original petitioners in the case have since passed away.

The court determined that Greek authorities had infringed upon the privacy of two women by compelling them to undergo blood tests, and that of four women by publicly disclosing their personal information. In response, it granted a total of €70,000 in damages.

“The information disseminated concerned the applicants’ HIV-positive status, disclosure of which was likely to dramatically affect their private and family life, as well as social and employment situation since its nature was such as to expose them to opprobrium and the risk of ostracism,” the court said. Adding that the prosecutor who ordered the publication of the women’s personal information “had not examined … whether other measures, capable of ensuring a lesser degree of exposure for the applicants, could have been taken.”

In Greece, prostitution is legal, and sex workers are mandated to undergo routine health examinations.

However, before the 2012 elections in Greece, the then-health minister, Andreas Loverdos, advocated for a crackdown on unlicensed brothels in response to a rise in reported HIV cases. He expressed concerns about a growing trend where customers engaged in unprotected sex with prostitutes for an extra fee.

Charges were brought against over 30 women, and authorities publicly disclosed the personal information, pictures, and HIV status of the majority of them. The accusation against these individuals was that they intentionally jeopardised their clients by engaging in unprotected sex.