Kenya: HIV tribunal finally gets down to business

July 5, 2011

HIV tribunal finally gets down to business

The Kenyan tribunal is authorised to hear and determine complaints or appeals

arising from any breach of the HIV and Aids Prevention and Control Act,

excluding criminal jurisdiction.

By OLIVER MATHENGE omathenge@...

Posted Tuesday, July 5 2011 at 20:51

The rights of people living with HIV received a boost on Tuesday when a tribunal

to handle their complaints was inaugurated, two years after members were

appointed.

The seven-member HIV and Aids Tribunal will handle complaints on transmission of

HIV, confidentiality, testing, access to healthcare, discrimination and

policies, as well as HIV-related research.

And the special tribunal warned that it would no longer be business as usual for

those who have been discriminating against people with Aids.

The tribunal is authorised to hear and determine complaints or appeals arising

from any breach of the HIV and Aids Prevention and Control Act, excluding

criminal jurisdiction.

The tribunal has the mandate to summon witnesses, take evidence, and recommend

action to be taken on anyone who is found guilty of discriminating against

people on the basis of their HIV/Aids status.

Some of the cases lined up for the tribunal include discrimination against

people living with HIV at work place, schools, colleges, foreign embassies and

even at home.

According to the Act, it is an offence to conduct a HIV test on a person with

disability or a minor without the written consent of a guardian.

The Act says that the tribunal has the powers to make an order; " for the payment

of damages in respect of any proven financial loss, including future loss, or in

respect of impairment of dignity, pain and suffering or emotional and

psychological suffering as a result of the discrimination in question. "

Special Programmes minister Esther Murugi said that the Constitution provided

for equality and freedom from discrimination and made it illegal to discriminate

against a person on the basis of race, sex, health and marital status, among

other factors.

" There are instances when the fundamental rights and freedoms of the infected

and the affected have been contravened without any recourse for remedy, " said Ms

Murugi.

Alienated patients

The National Aids Control Council director Alloys Orago said that stigma was

more deadly than the virus itself as it alienated the patients.

Lawyer Ambrose Otieno Rachier, who will chair the tribunal, said it was a new

dawn for those who had been victimised as a result of their HIV status.

" The tribunal is going to address fundamental human rights abuses as a result of

an individual's HIV status, " he said.

He said their offices would be located at Landmark Plaza next to Nairobi

Hospital, but it would open offices in all counties.

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July 5, 2011