Legal Literacy workshop for HIV positive women

[Guest guest]

Dear friends

Greeting from GSNP+!

We kind acknowledge that in the stream of capacity building of WLHA (Women

Living with HIV/AIDS) in Gujarat GSNP+ (Gujarat State Network for People Living

with HIV/AIDS) has organized a four days ‘Legal Literacy Workshop’ with support

of PWN+ (Positive Women Network) and UNIFEM (United Nations Federation for

Empowerment).

In this workshop thirty women participated from nine districts of Gujarat.

MARG, Delhi has invited as resource organization. The objective of the workshop

was to create awareness among women living with HIV about their rights, and

existing laws and policies, enabling them to empower themselves and other women

to fight against discrimination, and also to provide a space for WLHA to share

their legal problems. In this workshop participants learnt and aware about the

legal rights and procedure under various heads like marriage, property,

mishappining like rape etc. There was active interaction between the facilitator

and the participants in many of the sessions.

This was seen particularly in sessions relating to property and inheritance,

dowry, HIV/AIDS law, and, sex and gender. The initiative was successful in

making the participants aware that:

§ Women have rights in inheritance, marriage, divorce, and custody

§ Women living with HIV cannot be discriminated due to their HIV status

The workshop provided a space for women to express openly what they construed as

sex and gender differences between men and women. It gave them a sense of

support and a feeling of not being ‘alone’.

Issues of WLHA-Gujarat: - Following issues were identified in the workshop

· Widowed HIV positive women do not get share in property.

· WLHA are either sent out of the in-laws homes, or treated very badly in them.

· If the woman is first diagnosed as HIV positive, then her husband divorces

her.

· When a PLWHA goes for treatment to a Government hospital, every body comes to

know about his/her HIV status, as the bed of the person is marked as ‘HIV

POSITIVE’.

· If women practicing commercial sex work are found to be HIV positive, they

are thrown out. As they have no place to go to, they often die on the roads.

· There is nobody to perform the last rites of people who die due to HIV related

illnesses: the woman is left alone to manage the last rites of her husband.

· Doctors do not take consent of people prior to HIV testing. Sometimes, the

result is also not conveyed to them.

The workshop successfully end with bearing positive thoughts and awareness about

of legal laws and rights for women / positive women.

With regards,

Umesh Patel

(President, GSNP+)

E-mail: <gsnpplus@...>