HIV-positive people will now be able to join the army, announced Monday, May 8, on France 2 the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, who issued an order to this effect.
The decree, on the proposal of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, "will be published in the days to come" and will apply to the "gendarmerie, [to] the firefighters of Paris and Marseille, and [to] all of the armed forces,” said Mr. Lecornu on the program “The Four Truths.” “Having HIV will no longer be grounds for discrimination on principle,” he stressed.
Until now, the medical criteria of aptitude for integration did not allow HIV-positive people to access these professions.
Already lifted for the police
At the end of November 2022, this hiring discrimination targeting people living with HIV, the virus responsible for AIDS, had already been lifted for the police.
The government had repealed by decree the application of Sigycop, a device for evaluating physical fitness used in several public service professions. Applied strictly, this assessment classified HIV-positive people as unfit.
Until now, the Ministry of the Armed Forces, whose health service governs the recruitment of gendarmes and military firefighters, had always refused to modify the Sigycop.
The latest scientific studies have shown that HIV-positive people receiving antiretroviral treatment have an undetectable viral load and do not transmit HIV.
