A proposed Ugandan law on HIV/AIDS promotes dangerous and discredited approaches to the AIDS pandemic and would violate human rights, a group of more than 50 Ugandan and international organizations and individuals said in a report released on Thursday.
The HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Bill could be taken up by Uganda’s parliament shortly.
The report which is a 10-page analysis of the bill, was released in Kampala, Uganda, and Geneva, Switzerland at a meeting on HIV treatment sponsored by the World Health Organization.
The report criticizes repressive provisions in the legislation as contrary to the goal of universal access to HIV prevention, care, and treatment.
The proposed law includes mandatory testing for HIV and forced disclosure of HIV status. It also criminalizes the wilful transmission of HIV, the failure to “observe instructions on prevention and treatment,” and misleading statements on preventing or controlling HIV.
The report also highlighted how laws that criminalize HIV transmission can result in disproportionate prosecution of women because more women are tested as part of pre- or ante-natal medical care and therefore know their HIV status.
Women who transmit HIV to their infants after birth via breast milk would also be subject to criminal prosecution, the report says.
The bill also criminalizes a wide and ill-defined range of conduct, such as discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS and breach of confidentiality.
Criminalizing such a wide range of actions opens the door for the government to prosecute people in selective or abusive ways while adding to the huge backlog in Uganda’s courts, the report said.
Further, the bill would mandate compulsory testing for drug users and sex workers, two already marginalized and criminalized groups.
These laws make it more difficult for civil society and non-governmental organizations to conduct effective programs with stigmatized communities.
Source African Press Agency
