• Read the Report
  • Contact Us
Global Commission on HIV and the LawGlobal Commission on HIV and the LawGlobal Commission on HIV and the Law
Menu
  • Background
    • HIV and the Law
    • Commission Overview
    • Commissioners
    • Technical Advisory Group
  • Report
    • 2012 Report
    • 2018 Supplement
  • SCALE Initiative
  • Dialogues
    • Global Dialogue 2018
      • 2018 Supplement
      • Global Dialogue 2018 Videos
    • Global Dialogue 2012
      • Video
      • Photo Gallery
      • Speeches
    • Regional Dialogues
      • Asia-Pacific Regional Dialogue
      • Caribbean
      • Eastern Europe and Central Asia
      • Latin America
      • Africa
      • Middle East and North Africa
      • High Income Countries
      • Civil Society Participation
      • Submissions to the Regional Dialogues
  • Implementation
    • Access to Health Technologies
      • Competition Law Guidance
      • Competition Law Webinar
      • 2022 Supplement
    • Civic Space
    • Digital
      • Guidance on the rights-based and ethical use of digital technologies
    • Programmes
      • Being LGBTI in Asia
      • Challenging stigma and discrimination in the Caribbean
      • Guidance for Prosecutors on HIV-related Criminal Cases
      • Improving SRHR for young key populations in Southern Africa
      • International Guidelines on Human Rights & Drug Policy
      • Multi-Country Western Pacific Integrated HIV/TB Project
      • Promoting a rights-based response to HIV in Africa
      • Removing legal barriers in Africa
      • South Asia Global Fund HIV Programme
      • UHC Legal Solutions Network
    • Follow Up
      • Follow Up Stories
      • Legal Environment Assessments
      • Leave No One Behind: Lessons from the Global Commission on HIV and the Law for Agenda 2030
  • Resources
    • eLibrary
      • Capacity Development Toolkits
      • Fact Sheets
      • Legal Environment Assessments, Reviews and Audits
      • National Dialogue Reports
      • Policy and Issue Briefs
      • Research, Discussion Papers and Reports
    • Evaluation of the Global Commission on HIV & the Law
    • Report & Working Papers
      • Read the Report
      • 2018 Supplement
      • Working Papers
      • Submissions
      • Presentations
      • Articles and Speeches from Commissioners
      • Selected Bibliographies
    • Regional Dialogue Resources
      • Asia-Pacific
      • Caribbean
      • Latin America
      • Eastern Europe and Central Asia
      • Africa
      • High Income Countries
    • HIV and the Law Animated Video
  • News
    • News Articles
    • Press Releases
    • Newsletter Archives
  • Past Events

HIV legal review pushes case for reform, new laws

Share this post

HIV legal review pushes case for reform, new laws

Published on Monday, 13 October 2014 08:00
People living with HIV and AIDS need stronger legal protections, international experts say, as victims of the disease still face widespread prejudice, discrimination and stigma that could prevent them from seeking early diagnosis and treatment.

The health department and other government bodies concerned should be prepared to launch a program of community consultation leading to the enactment of new laws, or the amendment of current legislation, to protect people living with HIV/AIDS, Eamonn Murphy, country director of UNAIDS, told The Myanmar Times.

“Myanmar needs laws to protect the rights of people living with HIV. It could be either an HIV law or amending and changing existing laws that discriminate [against] people living with HIV and key populations,” he said.

Mr Murphy was speaking following the release in September of the National HIV Legal Review Report, a wide-ranging study of the legal situation as it affects people in Myanmar living with HIV/AIDS.

The report makes 70 recommendations, including six “quick wins” – steps that could be taken in 2014-15 to improve the legal and policy environment for those living with HIV/AIDS and populations considered at a higher risk of infection.

These quick wins have already been endorsed by the Joint Parliamentarians and Community Network Consortium Committee on Human Rights and HIV, which was formed in May to initiate changes to laws and policies to improve the response to HIV.

They include new instructions to the police to support HIV prevention and treatment; new guidance on HIV-related discrimination and confidentiality in healthcare, education and employment; new instructions on universal access to life-saving drugs, such as anti-retroviral treatment; better guidance on the rights of HIV-positive pregnant women; repeal of a section of the excise law criminalising possession of needles and syringes; and ensuring a planned patent bill will enable Myanmar to access affordable generic medicines where necessary.

Mr Murphy said successful implementation of these recommendations could help potential sufferers who fear to seek HIV prevention services and allow timely access to HIV testing and treatment, thus reducing new infections.

Mr Murphy said people living with HIV, men who have sex with men, sex workers, and people who inject drugs are often stigmatised and discriminated against. Employees are tested for HIV and dismissed if they test positive. HIV patients are refused hospital treatment, receive substandard care or are even charged double the fees paid by other patients. In some hospitals, HIV patients are segregated from other patients, or are denied surgical operations. There are also reported examples of police abuse of sex workers and men who have sex with men.

The review was conducted at a cost of US$50,000 by a partnership of UNAIDS, the UN Development Programme and Pyoe Pin from August to December 2013, together with the National AIDS Program and in consultation with NGOs, people living with HIV and others.

Ma Thuzar Win, of the Sex Workers’ Network in Myanmar (SWiM), said she expected many challenges to calls for legal reforms, especially from conservative MPs.

“For example, when MP [Daw Sandar Min] proposed to amend and reform the suppression of prostitution act to make prostitution legal, other MPs rejected it,” she said. “Based on this I think it will not be easy to achieve legal reform for people living with HIV.”

Source: Myanmar Times

Recent Posts

  • Legal empowerment is key to ending AIDS
  • UNDP and PEPFAR partnership to accelerate the removal of structural barriers to HIV services
  • Successfully expanding the rollout of PrEP in Indonesia
  • Decriminalizing HIV: Scientifically proven and morally correct
  • Ensuring sustainability of community-led HIV service delivery in Thailand

© 2017 [blog-link], All Rights Reserved.