Thursday, April 8, 2010

Lawyer Shima Baradaran to talk about HIV Bill

On Saturday, April 10th, our guest on Tiyeni Tipewe will be Shima Baradaran, a lawyer and lecturer in criminal law at the University of Malawi, and former Fulbright Senior Scholar in Malawi. She has been consulting with some of the NGOs in Malawi who have some objections to the current draft of the HIV Bill (that would criminalize transmission of HIV).

Shima is actually heading to Malawi next week to join these organizations in presenting their position paper to Parliament ... but first, she wants to hear from you! What do you think the organizations and the Malawian government need to hear? Please:
  • comment here on the blog
  • email me your comments about this issue (stein.kathryn@gmail.com) before Saturday
  • join us live on April 10th at 6pm Eastern (radioyako.com)
  • Call in using Skype or send in your comments during the show
Shima sent me this draft copy of the position paper to put up on the blog. Please note, and let others know, that it is still being finalized - this is not the final version. Also, you may have to enlarge the font.


I'm glad I read the paper, and was surprised at some of the details of the proposed bill and impressed at the work of the many organizations that have joined together in fighting for changes to it!


3 comments:

  1. Here's what the relevant Ministry and Minister said about the proposed bill. (http://www.bnltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2957&Itemid=26)
    Regarding transmission between husband and wife, the ministry spokesperson said it would be up to the courts to decide. “It is a tricky situation, the courts will use their discretion on the matter, it is really a challenge." Not convincing enough to me.

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  2. Ellen McCurley from The Pendulum Project wrote:

    Sounds like this will be an interesting show. A very difficult issue.

    When I heard about this, my first reaction was that instead of reducing the spread of HIV it could have the opposite effect in Malawi, because it could create fear, anger and increase stigma and discrimination. Obviously, many other countries, like the US makes it a criminal offense, a class b felony in the USA if the transmission is intentional and reckless. Honestly, I think the legislation should look at the exceptional cases where this might happen and apply general criminal offenses- this is in line with the International guidelines on HIV/AIDS and human rights. Even here in the US, there have been a couple of cases, but not many- it is hard to prove. Also there is not much evidence to prove that using a criminal law to respond to HIV is effective in protecting public health and if anything criminalizing transmission might make people less inclined to get tested, because of fear, ignorance and discrimination. Moreover, there are many people who just don’t know their status and a broad law criminalizing transmission could be harmful to them. Finally, I think that this law could really affect females in Malawi. It is already difficult for them culturally to disclose their status to their partner and/or if not positive to ask the man to use a condom- I have heard women in Malawi tell me that asking a man to use a condom is not the norm and can lead to violence and conflict.

    Ellen

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