Bill to Protect Rights of HIV-Infected in Limbo
By Savita Verma, New Delhi, Mail Today, Page 18
17 February 2008
The much-awaited HIV/AIDS Bill, which aims to protect the rights of people living with the virus, is facing further delay. The law ministry has returned the Bill seeking references to an earlier Bill on the issue.
The HIV/AIDS Bill 2007 is the result of a wide-ranging consultation involving various stakeholders from across the country. The Bill has a rights-based perspective and aims to prevent and control the spread of the epidemic.
However, the Bill has not been introduced in Parliament yet. It has, in fact, been sent back to the National AIDS Control Organisation by the law ministry, which was deliberating upon it.
The law ministry wants references to an earlier Bill, which was withdrawn in 1991 as it looked at HIV-infected people “traditionally” and spoke of an “isolation and quarantine” system for them. A meeting next week will discuss both the Bills.
People infected by HIV and those affected by it have started complaining about the delay. The Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit, which had drafted the proposed law, alleged the Bill has been pending with the government for the past two years.
“We thought it would be introduced in the last session of Parliament. But that didn’t happen. They must introduce it in the Budget session,” Raman Chawla from the Lawyers’ Collective said. “Our Bill has come a long way and has gone through several rounds of discussions. It takes the private sector within its ambit to protect the confidentiality and rights of HIV-infected people,” he said.
The Bill assures that consent is necessary for HIV testing. “If you test people without their consent, the stigma and discrimination resulting from a positive diagnosis could drive people away from tests,” he said.
In a bid to put pressure on the government, the Indian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (INP+) has collected over 20,000 signatures since August last year in support of the Bill. It plans to present the signatures to the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday.
People infected by the virus are often discriminated against in healthcare institutions and hospitals fail to maintain confidentiality, Naresh Yadav, vice-president of INP+ said.
“Discrimination on the basis of HIV status is in contrast to the strategy of protecting the rights of those affected by the virus. It is most important to have an anti-discriminatory component in the law,” Denis Broun, country coordinator, UNAIDS, said.
savita.verma@mailtoday.in
Source: Mail Today
