Colombia has gotten rid of a 1920 law that barred foreign “idiots,” “cretins,” alcoholics and people suffering from various mental illnesses from entering the country.
The Colombian Constitutional Court scrapped the law which was designed to protect Colombians from foreign illnesses as they were understood in 1920. Law 28 as it is known states that those suffering from “mental alienation, which also includes, mania, general paralysis, chronic alcoholics, those with ataxia, epileptics; idiots; cretins; cripples whose condition impedes their ability to work,” according to Pulzo.
Law 28 promoted discrimination and violated fundamental rights to equality according to the Constitutional Court. The Court specifically stated: “The law violates the principle of human dignity by using expressions such as ‘idiots,’ ‘cretins’ or ‘cripples’ that in and of themselves offensive and exclusionary and promote prejudices and pejorative visions which are maintained and promoted.”
Up until 2010, if an HIV-positive foreigner interested in traveling to the U.S. either on a short term visa or to be a permanent resident, they could be denied entry into the U.S., reports Immigration Equality. President Obama lifted the HIV-related travel ban in January 2010. Oman, Yemen, Qatar, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan have banned the entry of HIV-positive travelers according to LiveStrong.
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