DRAFT LEGISLATION ON HIV/AIDS

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DRAFT LEGISLATION ON HIV/AIDS - Announcement from Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS

Unit

Dear Friends,

We write this email to inform you about the aforementioned subject - a

legislation on HIV/AIDS for India.

Lawyers' Collective HIV/AIDS Unit has been requested by Kapil Sibal, Member of

Parliament and the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to prepare a draft

legislation on HIV/AIDS to be presented to Parliament in April 2003. This

initiative has received the commitment of resources from the Indian government.

We are very excited about this opportunity but also feel a great sense of

responsibility toward civil society in ensuring that its concerns are reflected

in the law.

As we commenced on this task we felt the need to begin by undertaking a

comprehensive examination of legal developments around HIV/AIDS in other

countries in order to contextualise the Indian experience within the global

picture of the pandemic and borrow from other legislative experiences to create

the basis for a draft legislation for India. This work has led us to preparing

Background Papers on the legal, ethical and human rights issues that HIV/AIDS

has raised over the course of the epidemic. At present we continue to work on

these papers. The next phase of the process is drafting the legislation which

will be based on human rights models present worldwide with particular emphasis

on common law regimes that are similar to India. Protecting and promoting the

rights of people living with HIV/AIDS (PWA), as well as those affected by the

epidemic and those most vulnerable to it, is central to creating an environment

whereby stigma, violence and inequity is reduced, if not eradicated. It has been

observed and established that the creation of a non-discriminatory environment

based on principles of human rights is the best public health strategy in

controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS. Thus, the goal for the process we are

undertaking is to create a comprehensive law which protects the rights of PWA as

well as has the scope to provide anti-discrimination protections for other

marginalised groups.

We recognise that any legislative measure that attempts to address the

prevention of HIV infection and mitigation of the impact of the epidemic must be

informed by the experiences of people living with and working in the field of

HIV/AIDS. With this in mind, the Unit proposes to conduct a Nationwide

Consultation on the draft legislation on HIV/AIDS by involving and learning from

representatives of the various sectors that are impacted by the epidemic. The

consultation process, which is scheduled to take place between February and

April 2003, is envisaged to entail three different processes in order to be able

to exchange views with the widest spectrum of individuals and institutions as

feasible. These are:

a.. 2 National Consultations: Focusing on PWA and on representatives from

vulnerable communities (MSM, Sex Workers, IDU etc.). It has been the Unit's

experience in the past that PWA and those from vulnerable communities are often

inhibited from expressing their views before representatives of the healthcare

community and law enforcement machinery. For this reason, National Consultations

will be held separately for these communities although the Unit plans to involve

PWA and vulnerable communities as resource people for the Regional Consultations

as well.

b.. 6 Regional Consultations: Focusing on individuals, institutions and other

stakeholders in HIV/AIDS-related issues (NGOs working on HIV/AIDS as well as

those working in areas related to HIV/AIDS e.g. women's NGOs, healthcare

institutions and healthcare workers, trade unions, management, law enforcement,

educational institutions, counsellors and other individuals and institutions).

c.. 'Call-for-comments' Consultations: These will be done through our website,

by email and by posting the Background Papers with the Draft Legislation to

individuals and institutions who would like to express their views but may not

be able to attend the meetings.

After the consultations we will integrate the feedback into the draft

legislation and annex the report of the entire consultation to the draft itself.

We feel that one of the most critical aspects of successful rights-based

HIV/AIDS legislation is the involvement of an informed civil society committed

to broad-based community mobilising on these issues. To this end, we hope that

you and all your colleagues will participate actively in this process to ensure

the creation of a law that meets the needs of the people it affects most. We

will be sending periodic updates on the consultation and other processes as the

logistics are finalised. Please feel free to pass this information on to

individuals or organisations who may be interested in this process and would

like to contribute in some form.

Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit: 7/10 Botawala Building, 2nd Floor, Horniman

Circle, Fort, Mumbai 400023

Tel: 022-22676213/9 Fax: 022-22702563 Email: aidslaw@... Website:

www.lawyerscollective.org