Discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS will be outlawed and the privacy of those who have taken an HIV test will be ensured under a draft law now being considered by the government.
The draft law, based on a Philippine law that is considered a model worldwide, calls for jail time and fines for violating the rights of people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Article 32 states that “discrimination in any form, pre- and post-employment, including hiring, promotion, assignment…based on perceived or suspected HIV/AIDS status of individual or family shall be prohibited. Any termination from work based on perceived or suspected HIV/AIDS status of individual is deemed unlawful.”
The draft law also states that housing, education, travel, financial credit, insurance, health care and burial ceremonies cannot be denied to someone because he or she has HIV or AIDS. Additionally, “the right to seek elective and appointive public office shall not be refused” because someone is infected.
Discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS can bring a three- to 12-month jail sentence and a fine ranging from approximately $256 to about $1,282.
“The more we fight discrimination, the more people with HIV/ AIDS can talk freely and have a human face,” said Dr Tia Phalla, secretary-general of the National AIDS Authority. “There is much to be done on paper and much more to be done in practice. There needs to be a commitment.”
In March, Prime Minister Hun Sen said government officials with HIV/AIDS are not likely to be appointed or promoted to a new government job.
Doctors, he said, tell him which officials have HIV or AIDS. “I have to know when I go to appoint or promote somebody to a job. But doctors say to me, ‘That’s impossible, because he has HIV,’” he said.
Experts were reluctant to comment on whether the premier’s remarks make it less likely that the law will be enforced.
“This is a sensitive issue,” Tia Phalla said.
But hopefully, said UNAIDS country program adviser Geoff Manthey, the human rights of people will be respected in that they will not be forced to take HIV tests.
When someone’s HIV status is revealed without their knowledge or consent, then it is the mistake of the doctor, Tia Phalla said. “It is not professional,” he said. “Doctors should not break the confidentiality and privacy of the patient.”
Article 15 prohibits testing “as pre- or post-conditions to employment, school attendance, as well as for the exercise of freedom of abode, right to travel, and the provision of medical services or other kind of services.”
Violation of this can bring a two- to six-month jail sentence and an approximately $1,282 to $2564 fine. Compulsory testing, however, is allowed for criminal suspects if requested by a court.
“People with HIV can function quite well in jobs,” Manthey said. “UNAIDS employs people with HIV and they do a quite competent job….Having HIV is not a reason to not get a job.”
The law also allows for people to request anonymous tests and directs authorities to protect the identities and the HIV status of those who have taken tests.
“All medical professionals, workers, employers, recruitment agencies, insurance companies, data encoder and custodians of any medical record, file, data of HIV/AIDS and other related person shall be provided instructions to strictly maintain confidentiality in the handling of medical information, especially, the identity and status of the persons with HIV/ AIDS,” the law states.
Violations of confidentiality can bring a six- to 18-month prison sentence and an approximately $512 to $1,282 fine.
Chapters in the law also focus on education and information, safe medical practices, health and support services and the monitoring of the disease.
Advertisements concerning HIV/AIDS must first be approved by the National AIDS Authority, the law states. Ads guaranteeing HIV/AIDS cures are forbidden, unless they abide by measures set up by the NAA and international medical principles.
Tia Phalla said small changes must still be made to the law so that it complies with the government’s new five-year strategy. The law could be on the books by the end of the year.
The National Strategic Plan for a Comprehensive and Multisectoral Response to HIV/AIDS 2001-2005 sees HIV/AIDS as a socio-economic problem, not just a health issue.
“We can do a lot in creating a positive atmosphere,” Tia Phalla said. “In Cambodia, we don’t see AIDS as a ‘social evil.’ We don’t want to blame the victims. There is no solution in doing it that way.”
