| In the News |
| Pressure mounts on govt to table HIV/AIDS Bill |
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The Bill will ensure non-discrimination for people with HIV/AIDS, be it in education, employment, access to treatment or legal support |
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HIV/AIDS patients, NGOs and volunteers marched through the streets of Delhi during an ‘AIDS Walk for Rights’, on May 21, 2008, to demand that the HIV Bill, that at present is in the consultation phase with the law ministry, be tabled in Parliament at the earliest. The Bill has been pending since 2005. “The HIV/AIDS Bill will ensure that the rights of HIV/AIDS patients are not violated. It will ensure non-discrimination, be it in education, employment, access to treatment, legal support... for women especially, this Bill will be a big boon,” said Celina, national advocacy minister of the Indian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS. A memorandum was submitted to the law ministry for immediate approval of the Bill. Raghu Ram, one of the people at the walk, said: “This is a cause I strongly support. My brother is an HIV patient and despite being educated and living in a metro, the kind of discrimination that he faces every day is shocking.” The proposed HIV/AIDS Bill provides for:
A letter was also faxed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss reminding the government that ‘the importance of political will and the role of parliamentarians in the HIV epidemic was recognised through a declaration at the first National Convention of Parliamentarian Forum of HIV/AIDS in 2003’. World leaders also made a landmark commitment to fight AIDS at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on AIDS (UNGASS), in 2001. Lawyers Collective, the group that played a major role in drafting the Bill, has held several meetings in cities across the country to create awareness about the Bill and to ensure that it is tabled. Source: Indo Asian News Service, May 21, 2008 |