Visa Waiver Programme and HIV positive persons

26.11.2007

WRITTEN QUESTION E-6038/07
by Sophia in 't Veld (ALDE) , Raül Romeva i Rueda (Verts/ALE) , Michael Cashman (PSE) , Baroness Sarah Ludford (ALDE) and Lissy Gröner (PSE)
to the Commission

1. Is the Commission aware that the Visa Waiver Programme of the US does not apply to persons with HIV (along with persons with a criminal record and persons who have been deported from the US)? (http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/vwp_travelerguide.pdf)

2. Does the Commission agree that there are no objective reasons to label an HIV infected traveller as a risk to public health, given that the disease cannot be passed on easily, via air or normal body contact?

3. Has the Commission made any efforts to end this discrimination, in the same way as it is seeking to end visa discrimination on grounds of nationality?

OJ C 191, 29/07/2008