Defence minister says HIV-positive people are now allowed to join French army

HIV-positive people will now be able to join the army, France's defence minister, Sebastien Lecornu, said on France 2 TV on Monday. It follows similar moves in November 2022 for police.

France's Defence minister Sébastien Lecornu inspects troops on 20 April, 2023. © AFP - Sébastien Bozon

The decree, proposed by France's interior minister Gérald Darmanin, "will be published in the coming days" and will apply to the "gendarmerie, the fire brigade of Paris and Marseille, and all the armed forces", Lecornu told Les Quatre vérités TV programme on Monday.

"Having HIV will no longer be a criterion for discrimination," he stressed.

Être séropositif ne sera plus une barrière à l’entrée des forces armées.

Nous avons fait évoluer les critères d’aptitudes afin de mettre fin à cette discrimination. pic.twitter.com/yqpiNXQ8Qf

— Sébastien Lecornu (@SebLecornu) May 8, 2023

Until now, the medical criteria for integration did not allow HIV-positive people to access these professions.

At the end of November 2022, this discrimination in hiring people living with HIV had already been lifted for police officers.

Physical fitness assessment system

The defense ministry, whose health service is in charge of the recruitment of military gendarmes and firefighters, will modify "Sigycop" - a physical fitness assessment system used in several civil service professions.

When strictly applied, this assessment classified HIV-positive people as unfit.

The latest scientific studies have shown that HIV-positive people receiving antiretroviral treatment have an undetectable viral load and do not transmit HIV.