People living with HIV, the virus responsible for AIDS, can since the end of November join the national police after the repeal by the government of an order discriminating against them in hiring, we learned on Tuesday, December 13, with a lawyer for LGBT associations and the fight against the disease.
“Victory for LGBT associations: people living with HIV will now be able to serve in the national police, without discrimination related to their state of health”writes in his press release Etienne Deshoulières, who had appealed to the Council of State in December 2020 on behalf of seven organizations. “After contesting the arguments of the associations on the merits, the Ministry of the Interior finally changed its position, repealing the decree at the origin of the denounced discrimination”welcomes the lawyer.
End of the physical fitness assessment system for future police officers
In a decree “relating to the specific health conditions required for the exercise of functions relating to the body of active civil servants of the national police services”published at Official newspaper on November 25, the government put an end to Sigycop, a device for assessing the physical fitness of future police officers. Strictly applied, this evaluation based on a rating from 1 to 6 “classified as unfit people living with HIV, who were therefore excluded from the national police”emphasizes M.e Deshoulieres.
This repeal does not currently concern the gendarmes or the firefighters, but the lawyer anticipates that this could be done “in the coming days in order to globally align with the new regulations applicable to police officers”.
On the military side, the Ministry of the Armed Forces refused, in April, to modify the Sigycop system also in force to integrate its ranks, in a letter to the Council of State consulted by Agence France-Presse. The latest scientific studies have shown that HIV-positive people receiving antiretroviral treatment have an undetectable viral load and do not transmit HIV.