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‘Table AIDS Bill in budget session’

Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI: The Indian Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) has urged the government to table the long-pending HIV/AIDS Bill in the budget session of Parliament. It will hand over a letter containing 20,000 signatures in support of the proposed legislation to the Prime Minister’s Office next Monday.

At a press conference here on Friday, PLHIV activists and Lawyers’ Collective representatives said the proposed legislation would help address the issue of discrimination and protect the HIV-positive people’s rights. The final draft was prepared in August 2006 and since then the Bill had been lying with the Union Law Ministry.

Instances of discrimination against the HIV-positive people are commonly reported in different spheres of public service such as healthcare settings, discouraging them from accessing testing and treatment services. “Discrimination on the basis of HIV status is in direct contrast to the public health strategy for protecting and promoting the rights of those infected and affected by HIV,” Dennis Broun, country coordinator, UNAIDS, told reporters.

“The Bill is based on the rights perspective and aims at preventing and controlling the spread of the epidemic while protecting the rights of those infected and affected by the diseases,” said Anand Grover, director of the Lawyers Collective (HIV/AIDS unit).

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