Civil society organizations in Tamil Nadu take the lead in advocating for the HIV/AIDS Bill

[Guest guest]

Civil society organizations in Tamil Nadu take the lead in advocating for the HIV/AIDS Bill

Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit was commissioned by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), India , to draft the ‘HIV/AIDS Bill’ in 2002. The HIV/AIDS Bill aims to provide legal standing for initiatives that help prevent discrimination and guarantee protection for the rights of people living with HIV and other marginalized communities in India . Preparation of this bill involved extensive consultations with civil society agencies including PLHIV networks as well as other stakeholders responding to the HIV epidemic and took nearly 2 years for finalizing it. However, it has not been tabled in the Indian Parliament yet.

In 2007, to gain support for tabling the HIV/AIDS bill in the Indian parliament, INP+ along with Lawyers collective HIV/AIDS Unit organized a signature campaign among its membership and supportive signatures were presented to the officials in the Prime Minister’s Office in February 2008.

To support and show solidarity with the Ministry of Health Family Welfare, Government of India to strengthen its efforts in addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic, INP+ and Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit, have organized a national level and a state level consultation meeting on the HIV/AIDS bill in the first quarter of 2008.

In both these meetings, participants strongly articulated the need to have a coordinated and broad-based national advocacy campaign to support and facilitate the passing of the HIV Bill through Parliament. It was also recommended that National and State Steering Committees, comprising key PLHIV networks and other civil society organizations, be formed to plan and lead these advocacy efforts.

In continuation to this, on 17 April 2008, key civil society organizations in Tamil Nadu have come together and established the State Steering Committee (SSC) for HIV/AIDS Bill.

This meeting was facilitated by INP+/Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit. The SSC comprises of representatives from Tamil Nadu Networking People with HIV/AIDS (TNNP+), World Vision, ActionAid, South India AIDS Action Programme (SIAAP), Tamil Nadu Voluntary Health Association (TNVHA), Professional Social Worker Association (PSWA) SAMUDRA. Apart from this, the SSC have also come out with a state-specific advocacy plan. As the first step, SSC have decided to organize a broad-based advocacy campaign in Tamil Nadu on the forthcoming Global AIDS Week of Action (GAWA) and International Candle Light Memorial Day on May 18, 2008.

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