Courts an avenue for people with HIV/AIDS to protest against discrimination
Courts an avenue for people with HIV/AIDS to protest against discrimination
Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As the country enters the fifteenth year since the first case
of AIDS was identified, stigma and discrimination have become the
most formidable and pervasive barriers to people living with
HIV/AIDS who wish to live a normal life.
Such treatment, however, has yet to be brought to the courts,
although existing rulings provide protection for people living
with HIV/AIDS, known by the Indonesian acronym as ODHA, a noted
lawyer said.
Lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said that ODHA could address the
stigma and discrimination against them through the courts because
of the threat to their life through exclusion from health care
services, employment, educational opportunities and social life.
"HIV infected people should not spend the rest of their life
in an atmosphere of misunderstanding, fear and hatred .., he
said.
"Stigma and discrimination increase the vulnerability of
people living with HIV/AIDS and, isolating and depriving them of
treatment, care and support, will worsen the impact of
infection," Zubairi Djoerban, chairman of Indonesian AIDS Society
said.
Both were speaking at a gathering of AIDS activists on
Saturday titled: Legal Aspects of Discrimination Against HIV
-infected People, in conjunction with the commemoration of World
AIDS Day which fell on Sunday.
World AIDS Day this year carries the slogan: Live and let
live, aimed at spurring worldwide efforts to remove the barriers
of stigma and discrimination.
There are an estimated 120,000 people infected with the virus
across the country.
Recent surveys conducted by Pelita Ilmu Foundation and
Spiritia Foundation have shown that ODHA are discriminated
against by health professionals, hospitals, religious and
community leaders, companies, families, the media, government
officials, and even non-governmental organizations.
This manifests in the form of the lack of health care
services, identity and medical record disclosure, alienation,
isolation, mockery, dismissal, and a ban from working overseas.
Todung said that ODHA could bring such cases to court based on
articles in the 1945 Constitution, the Criminal Code (KUHP),
Civil Code (KUH Perdata), and the law on health which guarantees
the rights of all people, regardless of their HIV status.
He said that the refusal by hospitals or health professionals
to treat ODHA violated Article 304 of KUHP, which states that
anyone who prevents someone from leading a life of dignity, or
refuses to provide treatment and care for a person in suffering
may be prosecuted.
Such violations carry a prison term of between seven and nine
years if they cause loss or severe injury.
Meanwhile, media, laboratory and health workers, or the
general public who intentionally reveal the identity of ODHA to
damage their reputation could face a nine-month jail term, based
on Article 310 of KUHP.
If the publication is made in the form of a written disclosure
or photograph, they may be sentenced to one-and-a-half years in
prison.
According to Todung, confidentiality of medical records is
also guaranteed in Article 322 of KUHP.
He added that ODHA who were laid off from their workplaces,
refused treatment by hospitals and health workers, and isolated
in the educational community just because of their HIV status
could bring their case to court based on Article 1365 of KUH
Perdata and demand financial compensation.
"Bringing cases of stigma and discrimination to the courts is
a litigation strategy to build public opinion and to create an
attitude that does not discriminate against people living with
HIV/AIDS," Todung said.
Todung, however, called on people not to view the HIV/AIDS
epidemic as a legal or a health matter but a problem of national
development that required a comprehensive approach.