Re : India to Bar Foreigners with HIV from Entering Country

[Guest guest]

Greetings from Ziteng,

We a local NGO in Hong Kong that advocates the legal and social rights of local

and migrant sex workers. We have read your forwarded email on the above subject,

and are surprised that India, a democratic nation, would be considering such a

policy

While we have no in depth knowledge of the Indian Constitution, a policy that

bars foreigners with HIV from entering your beautiful country would be

discriminatory, and in violation of human rights.

The reason is this. A discriminatory policy can only be justified if the basis

of its discrimination bears a nexus to the class against which it discriminates.

Assuming that the basis behind this policy is to reduce the risk of HIV

infection amongst Indian people, the class (foreigners with HIV) should be

barred, only if it can be shown that discrimination of this class would

effectively support its purpose.

Regardless of the media's portrayal, it would be wrong and bias to assume that

all foreigners with HIV would perpetuate and exacerbate the HIV/AIDS problem in

India. While there may be some instances of infection through sexual encounters,

blood transfusion or drug abuse, it would be more sensible to assume that

foreigners with HIV, would be less likely to engage in these high-risk

activities, knowing their own condition. More importantly, the solution to

solving the problem may be more internal - that is through public education,

improving of social and economic conditions, empowering sex workers to better

protect themselves, for example. Blaming external influences, and reinforcing

social bias, may be missing the crux of the problem.

Ziteng

E-mail: <ziteng@...>

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