Nigeria has a population of over 140 million with average growth rate of 3.2% according to 2006 National Population Commission statistics. AIDS was first reported in the country in 1986, realizing that the AIDS epidemic constitutes a national and global heath crisis of unprecedented magnitude that impacts on economic and social development globally and poses security threat to nations. The prevalent rates made available by the Presidential Action Committee on HIV and AIDS shows the national prevalent rate at 4.4%, North Central 6.1%, North East 4.3%, North West 3.5%, South East 4.7%, South South 5.3% and South West 2.6% rings alarms if fast drastic measures are not taken, the epidemic would reach an explosive level.
There is no gainsaying that the epidemic has had its effects on male and female. The life expectancy rate has reduced to 51 years in 2002. The weak health care system can hardly cope with growing cases of HIV infections. On the social front, there have been a gradually rise in orphans of HIV and AIDS victims who are facing untold hardship due to the poor economic situation in the country.
What is disturbing however is continued high level of distortions and inaccuracies in information and statistics. There still exist cultural practices and misinterpretations of religious instructions that impede the efforts of government, development partners, nongovernmental organizations and other well-meaning individuals in reducing the HIV and AIDS scourge. Amongst the youth, early sexual activity seems to conspire in making nonsense the campaigns for abstinence. Lack of knowledge on sexual and reproductive health and rights also contributes in making women more vulnerable to the epidemic. The situation where polygamy is practiced widely and stigmatization of PLWHA is fast becoming a problem in Nigeria cannot be over emphasized.
Legal protection of Persons Living with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria is a nightmare. The Federal government of Nigeria passed the work place policy in 2007 that will enable equal work opportunities for positive persons. The prevail stigmatization of PLWHAs by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government is quite amazing. Only recently some recruits from the Police Colleges across the country were dismissed because of their positive status. Civil Society on HIV and AIDS Kaduna State Chapter and other stakeholders swiftly reacted with various advocacy strategies, correspondence and press conferences before the said batch were recalled, given service number and posted. Others who are yet to be recalled, the group issued a press conference on International Human Rights Day December 10 2008, which marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with the theme of the campaign “Dignity and justice for all of us,” reinforce the vision of the declaration as a commitment to universal dignity and justice and not something that should be viewed as a luxury or a wish-list.
The Nigerian Police Force is yet to meet this request by recalling the affected recruits. Government Agency that is saddled with this responsibility has not leaved up to expectation due to political statements and lack of commitments to put a halt to various acts of discrimination and stigmatization across government and private sectors in the country. National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) must be empowered to see judicial interpretation of the workplace policy and other relevant available laws to enable it prosecute matters affecting living with HIV and AIDS.
The government act on the background where resources is committed towards ensuring that staff remain healthy, safe, motivated and highly productive most often but how committed is the policy. The impact of the HIV and AIDS is increasingly being felt among the workforce within the country in the past few years. The effect includes loss of staff due to sickness and death, which means the loss of skilled workforce, as well as institutional knowledge and experience. In addition to the loss of human resources and operational concerns, the impact of the epidemic on the workforce has significant financial and economic costs. Even though lots of sensitization activities have been carried out in regard to HIV and AIDS related policies, the level of advocacy needed to support the efforts for development of relevant legal instruments to give strategic directions especially in the workplace for the Public Sector is lacking. Inadequate involvement of policy makers and key Public Sector players in HIV and AIDS advocacy work, coupled with poor coordination of efforts on Policy, Human Rights issues, and lack of a sustained advocacy campaign have been major challenging and worrisome.
“In all countries, [HIV/AIDS] poses a threat to livelihoods and to basic rights at work, undermining effort to guarantee decent, productive work to women and men. Examples of discrimination against HIV-positive ersons (or even against people suspected of being seropositive) include actions such as compulsory testing to deny employment, promotion or health insurance.” — UNAIDS, Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic 2002
Protection of human rights is essential for preventing the spread of HIV.
The key rights to information, education, health, and non-discrimination are among the first to be violated in the panic often surrounding initial responses to a growing HIV infection rate. The following human rights abuses may occur with regard to HIV/AIDS:
Attempts to deny HIV-infected persons the right to work;
Demands for detention, isolation, or other attacks on the liberty and freedom of movement of HIV-infected individuals and their families;
Invasions of privacy, including publication of names and addresses of persons suspected to be infected with HIV;
Attempts to deny or reduce access to health care services for HIV-infected persons; and
Attempts to deny income assistance entitlements or the right to education to HIV-infected individuals.
Civil protections such as confidentiality and privacy have been widely stressed as important legal entitlements, because successful HIV prevention depends on people trusting health care workers and voluntarily seeking HIV counseling, testing, and care.
Another important aspect of civil law is the notion of individual autonomy and the principle of informed consent as a requirement for HIV testing. In some countries, people have alleged that they were tested for HIV without their knowledge or proper agreement.
The main principles that have been adopted with regard to employment are that:
People with HIV should not suffer discrimination during recruitment or employment; and
HIV/AIDS should be treated like other life-threatening conditions—when an employee becomes ill, efforts should be made for “reasonable accommodation.”
The 1988 Guidelines on AIDS and Employment, developed by the ILO and the World
Health Organization (WHO) can assist multinational companies in addressing differences in national laws.
A number of countries have attempted to introduce new criminal laws making it a legal offense to transfer HIV either “willfully” or because of negligence. This approach has been discredited for two reasons. First, the laws have been largely unenforceable, because they deal with people’s private lives and it is difficult to prove “intent” to infect another person. Second, such laws have proved damaging to public health, because they risk criminalizing all people with HIV, which may make people afraid to come forward for HIV testing, counseling, or care.
Employer requirements for compulsory HIV testing often conflict with national and international laws, including constitutional, criminal, and civil laws. In Thailand, for example, a compulsory HIV test violates six different laws.
All employers should comply with the national, regional, and local laws, rules, and regulations governing the relationship between employers and workers. The following can serve as a potential checklist of legal issues to examine regarding HIV/AIDS in the workplace:
Pre-employment screening of employees and confidentiality of medical
information; Issues related to discrimination in housing, migration, or attendance;
First aid and infection control procedures;
Benefits including medical assistance, sick leave, and death benefits;
Reassignment of work duties and accommodation issues;
Disability and conditions of employment of persons with disabilities;
Training of workers on health and safety issues;
Termination issues;
Employment of persons with medical conditions; and
Intellectual property rights such as patent rights as they apply to HIV/AIDS medications.
Because laws vary greatly from country to country, employers should examine relevant laws in their jurisdiction and, if needed, seek the advice of legal counsel. Many employers have chosen to address HIV/AIDS by providing care as they do for diseases such as tuberculosis or diabetes. A guiding principle for addressing HIV/AIDS has been sensitivity and flexibility in addressing HIV/AIDS and a commitment to avoiding discrimination and stigma in the workplace.
Legal protection for HIV and AIDS positive persons must not only be a lip services or political statement spread in the pages of newspapers and in our various laws. The Agency should be saddled with the responsibility to prosecuting all cases concerning the rights of the aforementioned and seeking redress where necessary. Nigeria can only achieve this great task by empowering National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) at the Federal level while State government should ensure that similar laws are passed by the Houses of Assembly to empower States AIDS Control Agency to do same. It is with the vigour that the country can reduce the scourge of HIV and AIDS.
There is no gainsaying that the epidemic has had its effects on male and female. The life expectancy rate has reduced to 51 years in 2002. The weak health care system can hardly cope with growing cases of HIV infections. On the social front, there have been a gradually rise in orphans of HIV and AIDS victims who are facing untold hardship due to the poor economic situation in the country.
What is disturbing however is continued high level of distortions and inaccuracies in information and statistics. There still exist cultural practices and misinterpretations of religious instructions that impede the efforts of government, development partners, nongovernmental organizations and other well-meaning individuals in reducing the HIV and AIDS scourge. Amongst the youth, early sexual activity seems to conspire in making nonsense the campaigns for abstinence. Lack of knowledge on sexual and reproductive health and rights also contributes in making women more vulnerable to the epidemic. The situation where polygamy is practiced widely and stigmatization of PLWHA is fast becoming a problem in Nigeria cannot be over emphasized.
Legal protection of Persons Living with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria is a nightmare. The Federal government of Nigeria passed the work place policy in 2007 that will enable equal work opportunities for positive persons. The prevail stigmatization of PLWHAs by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government is quite amazing. Only recently some recruits from the Police Colleges across the country were dismissed because of their positive status. Civil Society on HIV and AIDS Kaduna State Chapter and other stakeholders swiftly reacted with various advocacy strategies, correspondence and press conferences before the said batch were recalled, given service number and posted. Others who are yet to be recalled, the group issued a press conference on International Human Rights Day December 10 2008, which marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with the theme of the campaign “Dignity and justice for all of us,” reinforce the vision of the declaration as a commitment to universal dignity and justice and not something that should be viewed as a luxury or a wish-list.
The Nigerian Police Force is yet to meet this request by recalling the affected recruits. Government Agency that is saddled with this responsibility has not leaved up to expectation due to political statements and lack of commitments to put a halt to various acts of discrimination and stigmatization across government and private sectors in the country. National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) must be empowered to see judicial interpretation of the workplace policy and other relevant available laws to enable it prosecute matters affecting living with HIV and AIDS.
The government act on the background where resources is committed towards ensuring that staff remain healthy, safe, motivated and highly productive most often but how committed is the policy. The impact of the HIV and AIDS is increasingly being felt among the workforce within the country in the past few years. The effect includes loss of staff due to sickness and death, which means the loss of skilled workforce, as well as institutional knowledge and experience. In addition to the loss of human resources and operational concerns, the impact of the epidemic on the workforce has significant financial and economic costs. Even though lots of sensitization activities have been carried out in regard to HIV and AIDS related policies, the level of advocacy needed to support the efforts for development of relevant legal instruments to give strategic directions especially in the workplace for the Public Sector is lacking. Inadequate involvement of policy makers and key Public Sector players in HIV and AIDS advocacy work, coupled with poor coordination of efforts on Policy, Human Rights issues, and lack of a sustained advocacy campaign have been major challenging and worrisome.
“In all countries, [HIV/AIDS] poses a threat to livelihoods and to basic rights at work, undermining effort to guarantee decent, productive work to women and men. Examples of discrimination against HIV-positive ersons (or even against people suspected of being seropositive) include actions such as compulsory testing to deny employment, promotion or health insurance.” — UNAIDS, Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic 2002
Protection of human rights is essential for preventing the spread of HIV.
The key rights to information, education, health, and non-discrimination are among the first to be violated in the panic often surrounding initial responses to a growing HIV infection rate. The following human rights abuses may occur with regard to HIV/AIDS:
Attempts to deny HIV-infected persons the right to work;
Demands for detention, isolation, or other attacks on the liberty and freedom of movement of HIV-infected individuals and their families;
Invasions of privacy, including publication of names and addresses of persons suspected to be infected with HIV;
Attempts to deny or reduce access to health care services for HIV-infected persons; and
Attempts to deny income assistance entitlements or the right to education to HIV-infected individuals.
Civil protections such as confidentiality and privacy have been widely stressed as important legal entitlements, because successful HIV prevention depends on people trusting health care workers and voluntarily seeking HIV counseling, testing, and care.
Another important aspect of civil law is the notion of individual autonomy and the principle of informed consent as a requirement for HIV testing. In some countries, people have alleged that they were tested for HIV without their knowledge or proper agreement.
The main principles that have been adopted with regard to employment are that:
People with HIV should not suffer discrimination during recruitment or employment; and
HIV/AIDS should be treated like other life-threatening conditions—when an employee becomes ill, efforts should be made for “reasonable accommodation.”
The 1988 Guidelines on AIDS and Employment, developed by the ILO and the World
Health Organization (WHO) can assist multinational companies in addressing differences in national laws.
A number of countries have attempted to introduce new criminal laws making it a legal offense to transfer HIV either “willfully” or because of negligence. This approach has been discredited for two reasons. First, the laws have been largely unenforceable, because they deal with people’s private lives and it is difficult to prove “intent” to infect another person. Second, such laws have proved damaging to public health, because they risk criminalizing all people with HIV, which may make people afraid to come forward for HIV testing, counseling, or care.
Employer requirements for compulsory HIV testing often conflict with national and international laws, including constitutional, criminal, and civil laws. In Thailand, for example, a compulsory HIV test violates six different laws.
All employers should comply with the national, regional, and local laws, rules, and regulations governing the relationship between employers and workers. The following can serve as a potential checklist of legal issues to examine regarding HIV/AIDS in the workplace:
Pre-employment screening of employees and confidentiality of medical
information; Issues related to discrimination in housing, migration, or attendance;
First aid and infection control procedures;
Benefits including medical assistance, sick leave, and death benefits;
Reassignment of work duties and accommodation issues;
Disability and conditions of employment of persons with disabilities;
Training of workers on health and safety issues;
Termination issues;
Employment of persons with medical conditions; and
Intellectual property rights such as patent rights as they apply to HIV/AIDS medications.
Because laws vary greatly from country to country, employers should examine relevant laws in their jurisdiction and, if needed, seek the advice of legal counsel. Many employers have chosen to address HIV/AIDS by providing care as they do for diseases such as tuberculosis or diabetes. A guiding principle for addressing HIV/AIDS has been sensitivity and flexibility in addressing HIV/AIDS and a commitment to avoiding discrimination and stigma in the workplace.
Legal protection for HIV and AIDS positive persons must not only be a lip services or political statement spread in the pages of newspapers and in our various laws. The Agency should be saddled with the responsibility to prosecuting all cases concerning the rights of the aforementioned and seeking redress where necessary. Nigeria can only achieve this great task by empowering National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) at the Federal level while State government should ensure that similar laws are passed by the Houses of Assembly to empower States AIDS Control Agency to do same. It is with the vigour that the country can reduce the scourge of HIV and AIDS.
