"No war on the face of the Earth is more destructive than the AIDS pandemic."

-- Colin Powell


 


Parliament and HIV/AIDS:
Unit 5: The Legislative Role of Parliamentarians in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS

 

 

Unit 5: Questions

Please answer each of the following questions. If you are taking this course in a group you may then meet to discuss your answers.

  1. Summarize the 12 International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights. Can you identify examples of legislation required to address the issues identified in the guidelines?
  2. What HIV legislation currently exits in your country? Provide specific examples of rights-based legislation that protects people living with HIV.
  3. What is the most recent legislation promulgated by your Parliament on HIV/AIDS? Are you aware of other legislation required to strengthen the legal framework on HIV/AIDS in your country?
What resources are available that helps guide the development and evaluation of HIV/AIDS legislation?

 

Selected Bibliography:
An Audit of HIV/AIDS Policies: In Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe, by Nompumelelo Zungu-Dirwayi, Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health Research Program, 2004

Doha Declaration on TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, WTO, 2001

Handbook for Legislators on HIV/AIDS, Law and Human Rights, UNAIDS and IPU, 1999

HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review 12(2/3), Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, December 2007

HIV/AIDS legislation: an opportunity for health care reform, by Vivek Divan and Kajal Bhardwaj, IJME, 2007

International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, 2006 Consolidated Version, OHCHR and UNAIDS, 2006

Legal Aspects of HIV/AIDS: A Guide for Policy and Law Reform, World Bank, 2007

Taking Action against HIV: Handbook for Parliamentarians, IPU, 2007

Uganda: Domestic Violence Worsens AIDS – Battered Women Face Greater Vulnerability to HIV, Human Rights Watch, 2003

Uganda: Poverty, wars, and alcohol perpetuate domestic violence, IRIN Africa, 2008

Zimbabwe Looks to New Domestic Violence Law, Oxfam America, 2007

Zimbabwe: “Most People Ignorant of Domestic Violence Law”, allAfrica.com, 2008

 

Internet resources:

International Declarations and Conventions:

United Nations Charter:
www.un.org/aboutun/charter/

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

Convention Against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment:
www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/h_cat39.htm

Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women:
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/

Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination:
www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/9.htm

Convention on the Rights of the Child:
www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:
www.hrweb.org/legal/cpr.html

International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights:
www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_cescr.htm

Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and other priority conventions:
www.ilo.org/global/What_we_do/InternationalLabourStandards/Introduction/ConventionsandRecommendations/lang--en/index.htm

www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/trav/aids/code/languages/index.htm

Office of the High Commission for Human Rights:
www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/hiv/guidelines.htm

Human Rights and HIV
www.unaids.org/en/PolicyAndPractice/HumanRights/default.asp

 

Organizations working on legal aspects of HIV/AIDS:

AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA)
www.arasa.info

AIDS Law Project (South Africa)
http://alp.org.za.dedi20a.your-server.co.za/index.php

AIDS Law Unit of the Legal Assistance Centre (Namibia)
www.lac.org.na/projects/alu/aluobjective.html

AIDS Legal Network (South Africa)
www.aln.org.za

Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA)
www.bonela.org

Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
www.aidslaw.ca

International HIV/AIDS Alliance
http://www.aidsalliance.org/sw7189.asp

Lawyers Collective (India)
www.lawyerscollective.org

The UK Law and HIV/AIDS Project
www.keele.ac.uk/research/lpj/Law_HIV-AIDSProject

Uganda Network on Law, Ethics & HIV/AIDS (UGANET)
www.uganet.org

Zambia AIDSLaw Research & Advocacy Network (ZARAN)
www.zaran.org
Suggestions for further reading:

HIV/AIDS and the Law, Black Sash and the Education and Training Unit, 2002

Human Rights Protected? Nine Southern African Country Reports on HIV, AIDS and the Law, by Frans Viljoen and Karen Stefiszyn (eds.), AIDS and Human Rights Law Research Unit, 2007

Model Law on HIV in Southern Africa – Position Paper, SADC Parliamentary Forum, 2007

Model Law on HIV in Southern Africa (Draft) - SADC Parliamentary Forum, 2008

 

Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS (2006), universal access process, and civil society engagement, Issue Paper, UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights, February 2007

The UNGASS Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS: A Review of Legislation in Six Southern African Countries, Canadian HIV/AIDS Policy & Law Review, Vol. 8, Number 1, April 2003

 

 

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