Protect human rights to combat AIDS, say sex workers

Calling for expeditious passage of the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Bill, sex workers and third gender members in West Bengal Monday said that without adequate attention to protection of human rights, the aim for zero new HIV infections, discrimination and AIDS-related deaths will remain a distant dream.

"We want the bill to be passed soon but the larger issue is human rights. Sex workers have to face police atrocities and discrimination. The implementation of any new legislation will have to go simultaneously with human rights protection to attain 'getting to zero' aim," Bharati Dey, secretary of the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Samiti (DMSS), told IANS Monday.

DMSS, the largest group of sex workers in the state with 65,000 members, Monday organised a walk in the city to commemorate World AIDS Day.

The anti-discrimination bill seeks to prevent discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS in workplaces and access to medical and diagnostic services.

According to UNAIDS, India had the third largest number of people living with HIV at the end of 2013, accounting for about four out of every 10 people living with HIV in the Asian region.

Ranjita Sinha, a third gender activist and project director of the Association of Transgender/Hijra in Bengal, criticised the merger of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) with the health ministry.

"The targeted interventions under the NACO programmes helped the community with drug access but with the merger, this has been hit.

"The bill should focus on eliminating the discrimination and humiliation faced by transgenders and HIV-positive people while seeking medical help in state-run hospitals," Sinha told IANS.

A key feature of the bill is the establishment of an ombudsman to investigate complaints on violations of the proposed law.

"If the features are not implemented, then it will become just another piece of legislation," said gender-sexuality activist Pawan Dhall.