Some universities require an HIV certificate to move into a dorm. Is that legal?
Groza looked into which universities have such requirements and asked a lawyer how permissible they are.
Some Russian universities ask students for the results of an HIV test when they move into a dormitory. At some, the certificate is on the list of mandatory documents; at others it can be submitted voluntarily; and at most universities there is no such requirement at all. The outlet Groza examined how widespread the practice is and whether a university has the right to request information about a person's HIV status.
There is no single approachEach university sets its own dormitory rules within the framework of the law “On Education.” To the standard set of medical documents — form 086u, a vaccination record and a chest X-ray — some universities ask students to add test results for infections, including HIV. The wording varies: RGGU requests tests for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B and C; Plekhanov University asks for HIV and syphilis tests, including to extend a stay; at MISIS, HIV is folded into a certificate on the absence of infectious diseases. The validity period of the certificate also varies — from ten days to six months — as does the group of students the requirement applies to. The testing is rarely voluntary: only a handful of universities explicitly frame it that way.
For foreign students it is a separate matterMost often the certificate is requested only from foreign students, and here the basis is different. Under the law “On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens,” all foreigners arriving in Russia for more than 90 days undergo a mandatory medical examination that includes HIV diagnostics; if the infection is detected, deportation is possible — with a number of exceptions, for example when the person has close relatives who are Russian citizens. So for a foreign student the examination is tied to migration law and the conditions of their stay, while for a Russian student it stems only from the rules of the particular university.
What the lawyer saysA lawyer specializing in the rights of people living with HIV told Groza that, legally speaking, such a certificate is not required. Test results are information about a person's state of health, and a student is not obliged to disclose their HIV status to the dormitory administration unless the law directly requires it. Mandatory testing is prescribed only for certain categories — donors and medical workers, for instance — but not for those moving into a dorm. Arguments about “caring for other students” or sanitary rules, the lawyer says, do not accord with the law: “HIV is not transmitted through everyday contact… a person living with HIV living in a dormitory does not create any epidemiological danger.”
Federal Law No. 38-FZ explicitly establishes that HIV-positive status cannot be grounds for restricting citizens' rights unless otherwise provided by federal law, and that the university is obliged to uphold the right to education, the prohibition of discrimination and medical confidentiality.
What a student can do if askedIf the certificate is demanded anyway, the lawyer advises not to settle for a verbal refusal but to document the demand step by step and, if necessary, to challenge it: request from the administration a written refusal to accommodate, with reasons and references to the relevant laws (the conflict often ends right there), then submit a written appeal to the rector, and in the event of inaction file a complaint with the prosecutor's office, Rosobrnadzor or a court. Even if the administration already knows of a positive status, refusing accommodation would be unlawful; in that case it is important to keep correspondence and other evidence that HIV status was the actual reason.
Source: Groza.
Some Russian universities ask students for the results of an HIV test when they move into a dormitory. At some, the certificate is on the list of mandatory documents; at others it can be submitted voluntarily; and at most universities there is no such requirement at all. The outlet Groza examined how widespread the practice is and whether a university has the right to request information about a person's HIV status.
There is no single approachEach university sets its own dormitory rules within the framework of the law “On Education.” To the standard set of medical documents — form 086u, a vaccination record and a chest X-ray — some universities ask students to add test results for infections, including HIV. The wording varies: RGGU requests tests for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B and C; Plekhanov University asks for HIV and syphilis tests, including to extend a stay; at MISIS, HIV is folded into a certificate on the absence of infectious diseases. The validity period of the certificate also varies — from ten days to six months — as does the group of students the requirement applies to. The testing is rarely voluntary: only a handful of universities explicitly frame it that way.
For foreign students it is a separate matterMost often the certificate is requested only from foreign students, and here the basis is different. Under the law “On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens,” all foreigners arriving in Russia for more than 90 days undergo a mandatory medical examination that includes HIV diagnostics; if the infection is detected, deportation is possible — with a number of exceptions, for example when the person has close relatives who are Russian citizens. So for a foreign student the examination is tied to migration law and the conditions of their stay, while for a Russian student it stems only from the rules of the particular university.
What the lawyer saysA lawyer specializing in the rights of people living with HIV told Groza that, legally speaking, such a certificate is not required. Test results are information about a person's state of health, and a student is not obliged to disclose their HIV status to the dormitory administration unless the law directly requires it. Mandatory testing is prescribed only for certain categories — donors and medical workers, for instance — but not for those moving into a dorm. Arguments about “caring for other students” or sanitary rules, the lawyer says, do not accord with the law: “HIV is not transmitted through everyday contact… a person living with HIV living in a dormitory does not create any epidemiological danger.”
Federal Law No. 38-FZ explicitly establishes that HIV-positive status cannot be grounds for restricting citizens' rights unless otherwise provided by federal law, and that the university is obliged to uphold the right to education, the prohibition of discrimination and medical confidentiality.
What a student can do if askedIf the certificate is demanded anyway, the lawyer advises not to settle for a verbal refusal but to document the demand step by step and, if necessary, to challenge it: request from the administration a written refusal to accommodate, with reasons and references to the relevant laws (the conflict often ends right there), then submit a written appeal to the rector, and in the event of inaction file a complaint with the prosecutor's office, Rosobrnadzor or a court. Even if the administration already knows of a positive status, refusing accommodation would be unlawful; in that case it is important to keep correspondence and other evidence that HIV status was the actual reason.
Source: Groza.