HIV/AIDS Legal AID Centres

[Guest guest]

Dear FORUM,

This mail is to introduce you to Human Right Law Network’s HIV/AIDS Initiative.

We have set up eight pro-bono legal aid cells for PHLAs in partnership with the

Positive Groups in various States in the country. The details are as follows:

HIV/AIDS AND THE LAW INITIATIVE

At, Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), we are committed to protecting the rights

of positive people and we extend free legal aid to people living with HIV/AIDS.

Our mission is to defend and protect HIV positive persons against all forms of

discrimination by defending their basic right to life and health. This raises

several issues:

RIGHT TO LIFE: The Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution underlines

the Right To Health, which is denied to an HIV positive person due to the

prohibitively high cost of the antiretroviral drug treatment.

This brings us to the Rights to Universal Access to Treatment and Universal

Access to Essential Drugs both of which are out of the reach of a HIV positive

person in a developing country like India.

Misinformation and lack of awareness are key elements in the spread of AIDS

among youth and this raises questions of the Right to Information.

People Living with HIV/AIDS struggle with social ostracism, discrimination and

stigma and are often denied the Right to Equality.

Shunned by society, a person may be denied the Right employment, equal access to

education, housing, privacy, social security, freedom of movement among others.

Positive persons have to struggle to have a right to reasonable care and right

against negligence.

STAKEHOLDERS:

The HIV/AIDS and the Law Initiative seeks to directly impact the rights of

stakeholders in this entire movement, who are the most vulnerable groups i.e.:

Women and their property rights, Sex Workers, Migrant Labour, Refugees, MSM (Men

having sex with men), Prisoners and Children

CONCERNS: The broad areas of discrimination faced by stakeholders encompass the

following concers:

Treatment issues, Education, Employment, Social Discrimination, Family

Discrimination, Property Rights, Gender Discrimination, Adoption,

Guardianship and Insurance

PARTNERS IN CHANGE:

A key element in HRLN’s HIV/AIDS Initiative is fostering partnerships with

Positive Network Groups to use the legal system and strategies more effectively

to address human rights issues faced by positive people

Legal Aid Centres: HRLN is in the process of establishing a pan–India network

of HIV/AIDS Legal Aid Centres, wherein our lawyers will partner with Positive

Network Groups to dispense free legal aid. Already, we have set up eight such

Centres in collaboration with Positive Network Groups in the following States:

In Delhi we work with Love Life Society, Delhi Network of Positive People.

In Rajasthan we work with Rajasthan Network of Positive People

In Bihar we work with Bihar Network of Positive People

In Andra Pradesh we work with Andra Pradesh Network of Positive People

In Manipur we work with Manipur Network of Positive People

In Bangalore we work with Karnataka Network of Positive People

In Kerala we work with Kerala Council of Positive People

In Uttar Pradesh we work with Uttar Pradesh Network of Positive People

Counselling Centre: In Delhi, HRLN partnered with the Love Life Society, a MSM

group and HIV/AIDS Awareness Network and started a Legal Aid Centre in Delhi

from October, 2005. This centre, apart from dispensing regular counselling to

positive persons, also operates a HELPLINE-25182518 for providing legal aid and

telephonic counselling for positive persons on a regular basis.

ACTIVITIES

HRLN lawyers and Activists undertake the following activities at the legal aid

centres:

Legal documentation, research and campaigning

Representation and advocacy in courts of law and appropriate fora. These

interventions are supplemented with pre- and post-litigation counselling

Public Interest Litigations (PILs) in the Supreme Court and State High Courts

for systematic reforms in policy

Legal Trainings and Workshops

Publication of posters and other material for creating legal awareness

Investigation and Monitoring of cases involving positive people

Ongoing Public Interest Litigation Cases

Fighting for Free Drugs: In 2003, we filed a petition on behalf of the

Voluntary Health Association of Punjab (VHAP) titled VHAP Vs. Union of India,

calling upon the government to provide free ARV drugs to HIV positive persons.

The case is pending in the Supreme Court. Broadly, this petition seeks the

following:

Recognition and Implementation of the right to health and treatment of positive

persons as a part of their Right to Life under Article 21 of the Indian

Constitution

Inclusion of the above in the Government's National AIDS Control Policy.

Free and Equitable Access of positive persons to ARV treatment under the

Government’s Public Health System

Creation of a formal and efficient infrastructure in Public Health Institutions

Train doctors, nurses and counselors on a national basis to provide

comprehensive treatment and ensure dignity and respect for the patient’s rights.

They should also be monitored on a regular basis to ensure compliance to the

same.

Provide access to ARV’s, counseling, testing, nutritional support and medicines

to combat opportunistic infections. Specialized care and medicines should be

made available for children

Antyodaya Yojana Cards should be issued to HIV patients so that they can

receive subsidized food.

Free government train travel should be given to HIV patients to ensure access

to treatment centers.

Accredited doctors of the private and non-profit sector should be given free

drugs, a reasonable fee for their services and should be monitored to ensure

high quality care.

The free AIDS treatment programme should be publicized

International funding should be accessed by the government.

All money directed towards the AIDS treatment programme must go before the

Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to ensure its proper handling and

disbursement and transparency. A semi-annual report should be published by NACO

detailing the progress of the ARV rollout. The people living with HIV/AIDS

community should be involved in each step of this process.

A system must be formulated and implemented wherein there is proper and timely

monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to ensure that ARV treatment is given along

NACO guidelines.

The government must pass regulations to ensure new AIDS drugs can be quickly

compulsory licensed to ensure affordable generic AIDS medicines in the future.

The government cannot use its duty to treat HIV positive persons as an excuse to

under-fund other prevention efforts.

POLICY DECISION Soon after the petition was filed, the Government announced

free ARV drugs for one lakh people in six high prevalence States: Maharashtra,

Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland Manipur, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in December 2003.

However the ground situation continues to be desperate

EVENTS

Interface:

To facilitate coordination and a common vision between the HIV unit and Positive

Network Groups, we organized a number of meetings on how to face the various

challenges in HIV/AIDS.

National Conference on HIV/AIDS: One such meeting was the two-day Chandigarh

Conference organized by us with support from the Voluntary Health Association,

Punjab on the 21 and 22 of August, 2005. Our main objective was to initiate a

dialogue with various Positive Network Groups and other Stakeholders, identify

the issues of discrimination faced by them and work towards providing legal

solutions to some of the issues. Over 100 participants from 13 States attended

the conference.

Trainings and Workshops

HRLN has organised legal trainings and workshops in various states with the help

of the State Aids Control Society and Positive Network Groups. The training aims

at equipping grass-root level activists and lawyers with the provisions in law

to combat discrimination and, as well as to learn about the ground reality in

respect of the HIV/AIDS situation, especially smaller towns and cities. The

trainings bolster existing partnerships and create new networks between

stakeholders and us.

Legal Training in Bihar:

A two-day training was organised in Patna in October, 2005, in collaboration

with the Bihar State Aids Control Society (BSACS) and the Bihar Network for

Positive Persons (BNP+). The training attracted a large number of pparticipants,

including positive persons and advocates from 25 districts of Bihar. During the

training we documented the specific problems faced by positive people in each

district of Bihar. A crucial issue was that there is no ART facility for

positive people anywhere in the state. Accordingly, we prepared a draft PIL

calling upon the Government to set up ART centres along with its ancillary

support facilities in the State, which we presented to the positive people

present there so as to get their inputs and form a consensus. We subsequently

filed this PIL in the Bihar High Court.

Legal Training in Uttar Pradesh:

A similar legal training was conducted in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh in February,

2006 in collaboration with the UP Network of Positive People. We documented the

issues and concerns brought up at the workshop identifying specific areas for

filing PILs and individual cases and complaints. A legal aid centre was also set

up during the course of this training.

Please get in touch with us for any assistance that may be required on the

above-mentioned.

Warm Regards,

Dipika Jain

Vikramaditya Rai

Legal Officers

HIV/AIDS and the Law Unit

Human Rights Law Network

65,MASJID ROAD, NEW DELHI

EMAIL:hri.delhi@...