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.
“Victory for LGBT associations”, congratulates Me Etienne Deshoulières in a press release. “People living with HIV will now be able to serve in the national police, without discrimination related to their state of health”, writes the one 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 discrimination denounced”, greets the lawyer.
In a decree “relating to the specific health conditions required for the exercise of functions relating to the bodies of active civil servants of the national police services”, published in the Official Journal on November 25, the government has thus put an end to “Sigycop”, a device for assessment of the physical fitness of future police officers.
Applied strictly, this evaluation based on a rating of 1 to 6 “classified as unfit people living with HIV, who were therefore excluded from the national police”, underlines Me Deshoulières.
Firefighters and gendarmes not affected by the repeal
This repeal does not currently concern either the gendarmes or the firefighters, but the lawyer anticipates that this could be done soon “in order to globally align with the new regulations applicable to the police”.
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 AFP.
The latest scientific studies have shown that HIV-positive people receiving antiretroviral treatment have an undetectable viral load and do not transmit HIV.
