HIV/AIDS BILL: A letter to Minister of Law and Justice

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum,

All Activists,NGO's,Networks & all others Please Seriously Cosider this

HIV/AIDS BILL and join & help us.

We in DNP+, along with the other civil society organizations of Delhi are

planning to send faxes to the Law Ministry on 8 December 2008, protesting

against the changes made in the HIV/AIDS Bill.

We think that it will be a more effective strategy, if others also, from

different parts of the country, fax the same letter on the same day to the law

ministry, rejecting their version of the Bill and demanding that the NACO Bill

should be tabled in the upcoming session of parliament.

Law Ministries Fax No.-: 011-23384241

Please find the letter attached. Kindly send as many faxes as possible.

In Solidarity,

Hari Singh

Counsellor

Executive Board Member

Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+)

e-mail: <hari_singhdnpplus@...>

________________

To,

Mr. Hansraj Bhardwaj

Minister of Law and Justice

Ministry of Law and Justice

New Delhi

Hon’ble Minister,

We are a coalition of NGOs and community groups working on HIV/AIDS including

networks of people living with HIV and groups more at risk. We have recently

come to know that the HIV/AIDS Bill, proposed by the Ministry of Health and

Family Welfare has been returned by the Law Ministry with substantive changes.

As individuals and organizations that work closely with the National AIDS

Control Organisation and contribute to the response to HIV, we express our

displeasure at the Law Ministry’s handling of the HIV/AIDS Bill and the

modifications made therein. Our concerns are as follows: -

Disregards community views and aspirations

The original Bill was drafted after extensive research and consultation with

stakeholders like people living with and affected by HIV, vulnerable

communities, women and children’s’ groups, health care providers, employers

and trade unions, lawyers, civil society organizations, State AIDS Control

Societies and other concerned departments. This consultative process continued

from 2003 to 2006 and is well documented. The HIV/AIDS Bill 2008, therefore, is

comprehensive and reflects concerns of all stakeholders. In making changes, the

Law Ministry has ignored people’s views and diluted principles of democratic

governance.

Ignores evidence and the national strategy

The HIV epidemic in India is concentrated among marginalized groups that is, sex

workers and their clients, injecting drug users and men who have sex with men.

Experience from around the world has shown that effective prevention requires

protection of rights of people living with and at risk of HIV. For example, it

is now epidemiologically proven that promotion of rights of sex workers

increases condom use and lowers new HIV infections among clients’ wives.

Similarly, where HIV positive persons are assured equal access and

non-discrimination, more people come forward to receive prevention, testing and

treatment for HIV. The National AIDS Control Programme is founded on this

“rights based approach†and the HIV/AIDS Bill sought to give it a legal

shape.

Unfortunately, changes proposed by the Law ministry ignore these vital lessons.

Deletion of provisions on access to treatment, risk reduction and information,

education and communication will severely weaken the National AIDS Control

Programme. Dilution of core chapters of prohibition of discrimination,

requirement of informed consent and confidentiality will deny legal protection

to people affected by HIV. Removal of provisions like Health Ombudsman, intended

to provide speedy justice and lessen the burden on judiciary, will also diminish

benefits of the Bill. Together, these omissions, nullify the aims and objectives

of the HIV/AIDS Bill.

Further, the Law Ministry has proposed new provisions such as mandatory testing,

identification and tracing of HIV positive persons in the name of

“Surveillance and Rehabilitationâ€. Not only do these measures infringe

rights of people living with HIV but also drive the epidemic underground, making

it difficult to prevent and control the infection. Moreover, these methods go

against the grain of the National AIDS Prevention and Control Policy, which

clearly espouses a rights based approach.

Ordinarily, the Law Ministry is expected to vet Bills of nodal ministries while

preserving the integrity and philosophy of the proposed law. In this case,

however, the Law Ministry appears to have interfered with the original Bill, in

both letter and spirit. That this has been done without discussion with the

Health Ministry and concerned stakeholders is even more unfortunate.

In the circumstances, we demand that the Law Ministry:

Drop the changes that it has proposed

Restore the original HIV/AIDS Bill, 2006

Extend support to the Health Ministry in tabling the HIV/AIDS Bill in Parliament

Hari Singh

DNP+

Mob:9891263535

e-mail: <hari_singhdnpplus@...>