becg assignmnt

8/8/2019 becg assignmnt

1/7

INTRODUCTION:

y Africa has proved to beafertile groundforthe growth ofHIV. It is host to thelargestproportionofpersonsliving with HIV/AIDS in theworld.

y Africaisalso home to populationsleast able toaffordeffective governmentalintervention to protect ofpersonsliving with HIV/AIDS.

y Africa'sero-prevalencecrisis posesseverechallengesfortheefficacyandlegitimacyoflawon thecontinent

y . Themapping ofafulleragendaforHIV/AIDS andlawinAfricaimplicatesAfricangovernments,regionalandinternational governanceinstitutions,civilsociety

development andadvocacyorganizations,lawyersand judges,andacademicresearchersand teachers.

y It alsorequirescross-disciplinarycollaboration.UNIQUE CHALLENGES OF HIV/AIDS:

Therearenumberoffactorswhich make HIV/AIDS particularlychallenging forbusiness to

address. Theseareasfollows:

1.

Stigma: Thisissueexistsat both thecompanyandindividuallevel. At companylevel,acompanymust hesitate to haveits brandsassociatedwith HIV/AIDS. At anemployeeor

individual level, thefearofstigmacan present individualsfromseeking careorgetting

tested.

2. Urgency of the problem: HIV/AIDS requireimmediateaction. Companiesshouldnotwait foralong. Thus partnering with anotherorganizationisanattractiveway to

jumpstart a programmeorinitiative. Howeverit alsorequires that the partnership process

movequickly.

3. Cultural Context: It isadiseasewhich requirescarefulattention to behaviorandlocalbeliefsandcustoms. Thenatureoftheepidemicandlocalattitudes towards potentiasl

preventionand treatment responsesrequirecompaniesespeciallymultinationals to tailor

theirresponses tomatch needsandensurelocaluptake.


2/7

4. Need for Diverse Resources: As thecomplexityofthisdiseaseisvery high, thatsandithasawidespreadimpact oncompanies,communities. Thatswhyit needsdiverse

resourcesandskillset. Thisoftenrequiresmultifacetedapproach ranging fromawareness

and prevention tocareand treatment to publicadvocacy.

Pandemics and the law

y HIV/AIDS provides long, chequered and largelyundistinguished history of theinteractionoflawwith public health.

y The mobility of human beings across the diverse boundaries of an unevenlydeveloped but increasingly globalizing world is accompanied by greater

microbial,viraland bacterialmobility.

y As theinstrument through which statesaddress theirgovernancechallenges, thelaw hasshownaremarkablelackofforesight,subtlety,empathyorrespect for

victimsin grappling with infectiousdiseases.

y Long before the HIV/AIDS pandemicand beforeAfrican Statesemergedorbecamecapableofregulating theirownaffairs, therewere globalinfectious

diseasecrisesassociatedwith smallpox, bubonic plague,andsyphilis,andother

lesswellknownailments.

Contextualising legal responses

The scientific context governing legal responses to HIV/AIDS is much more advanced and

favourable than in previous pandemics. Medical science ismoresophisticated today thanever

before. Research investment in HIV/AIDS has never enjoyed greater priority or the attention

across thefrontiersofmanydisciplines.

Themediaforcommunicating accurateinformationabout thevirus, themethodsformanaging

its transmissionandresearch developmentsin thesearch formedicalresponses haveshown

technicaladvancesand global penetration that areunmatchedin history.

A globalcommunityofactivist andadvocacy groups has grownaround HIV/AIDS. Yet,in the

absenceofa provencure,legalresponses have been basedonamixtureofprejudice,myth,mis-

information,andfantasy. In Nigeria,forinstance,a High Court judge barredafemalelitigant


3/7

living with HIV/AIDS from hercourt because the judgeerroneously tooktheview that HIV was

contagious. Thewomanwassuing heremployers,amedicalestablishment,forunlawful

terminationofheremployment on groundsofhersero-status.

Governing infections

y Infectiousdiseases havealwayscreated governancechallenges forstates both internallyandin theirrelationswith oneanother. Legalresponses tosuch diseasesinitially took the

formofcoercive,controlmeasures.

y As government has grownmorecomplicated both domesticallyand globally,soalso havethe forms and mechanisms of governing infections become more complicated. Today,

therefore,countriesmaychoose to govern infections through amixtureofmeasures in

immigration, environmental, criminal, human rights, or trade law, civil and criminal

procedureandevidencelaws,inaddition tospecifically targeted public health policies.

y Domestically, these measures may be deployed through legislation, case law, andadministrativemeasuresand policies. Internationally, theymay take theformofdifferent

formsof international co-operation, treaty and institutional arrangements. International

institutionsandorganizations increasinglyalsoadopt declarations,resolutionsandother

measuresofso-called soft lawaffecting public health issuessuch as HIV/AIDS.

y Law'sresponses to HIV/AIDS could bedirect orindirect. Direct measureswould bestepstaken by governmentswith thestatedobject ofresponding to HIV/AIDS.

y Indirect measureswould be those that arenot sodirectly targetedat HIV/AIDS orpublichealth, but nevertheless havesignificant consequencesforon thecapacityofcommunities

and people torespondeffectively to the pandemic..

y Tradelawand humanrightslaw have both recentlyemergedas thedominant sitesofgovernanceoflegalresponses to HIV/AIDS. Public health emergencies

notionallycreateregimesofexception,enabling State toderogatefrom theirbasic

humanrightsand tradelawobligations.


4/7

HIV-AIDS & trade law

In thelast decade,international tradelawunder theaegisofthe WTO Agreements hasarguably

become thedominant siteforlegal governanceofHIV/AIDS. This has beenachieved by the

combinationofthe GeneralAgreement on Tariffsand Trade (GATT, 1994),with its

accompanying sideagreements,including theAgreement on Trade-RelatedAspectsofIntellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), theAgreement on theApplicationofSanitaryand

Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement),and the WTO's Dispute Settlement Understanding

which createsa judicialmechanismforresolving tradedisputes. Article XX(b)ofGATT 1994,

enablescountries todeclareexemptionsfrom the general principlesofinternational tradelawon

public health grounds..

y Under the GATT 1994, Public health emergencies can justify nationally imposedlimitationson traderegimes. The Doha Declarationon the TRIPS Agreement and Public

Health adopted by the Ministerial Conferenceof the WTO in November2001,affirmedthat each [WTO] member [State] has the right todeterminewhat constitutesnational

emergencyorother circumstances of extreme urgency, it being understood that public

health crises, including those relating to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other

epidemics, can represent a national emergency or other circumstances of extreme

urgency.

y The Declarationalsorecognizes that WTO memberStatescan grant compulsorylicensesandreserve theright todetermine the groundsonwhich such licensesare granted. Most

African countries, however, lack the human and material resources to operate the

complexrulesofinternational tradelawwith skillorrigour.

y There isscopeforAfricancountries to pool their limitedexpertiseandresources if theyare touse themechanismsofinternational tradelaweffectively.

HIV/AIDS & human rights law

y InmanyAfricancountries,legislativeframeworks havenot beenadapted to thedemandsofnational Billsof Rightsorofapplicable international humanrightsobligations. Asa

result, legislative bases for responding to HIV/AIDS remain woefully inadequate and

essentiallyanchoredon thecoercivefoundationsleft by thecolonialregimes..

y Judicialresponses havesimilarly beenuneven. In 2002, the South African ConstitutionalCourt mandated access to anti-retroviral treatment, in this case for pre-natal mothers


5/7

living with HIV/AIDS. Incontrast, Nigeria's Federal High Court,ruledearlyin 2004 that

persons living with HIV/AIDS donot have a right to exercise under Section42(1) of

Nigeria's 1999 Constitution that prohibitsdiscrimination.

HIV-AIDS & international justice

y Inmuch of West Africaand CentralAfrica,war has beenasignificant vectorofHIV/-AIDS. In West Africa thisoccurred through the Mano Riverwars inLiberiaand Sierra

Leone,which beganin 1989.

y In the Rwanda genocide and the other wars in the Great Lakes countries of CentralAfrica,intrusiveandenforcedsexualoutragesagainst womenwereamajorwarcrime. In

both Rwandaand the Mano Rivercountries, judicialresponses have been set up in the

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the UN-supported Special Court forSierraLeone.

y The recognitionof gender-basedoutragesaswarcrimes representsamajoradvance ininternational justice. However, many of the female victims of these outrages have

become victims of a consequential HIV/AIDS directly traceable to their wartime

victimization. Theinternationalcommunity has beenready toinvest vast sumsofmoney

inensuring theconvictionofafewof the perpetratorsoftheseatrocities but verylittleor

nomoney in ensuring that thesewomen get access to basic treatment. Meanwhile theenforced,wartime transmissionof HIV/AIDS isnot yet recognizedas the international

crimeit ought to be.

Conclusion:

Aswith previous global pandemics, theresponseofthelawinAfrica to HIV/AIDS remains

ponderous,ill-informed,andmostly heavy handed. Judgesdonot seem toknowenough to

enable them torespondwith compassionandnuance toit,legislaturesseemindifferent orill-

preparedasarenational bureaucracies. Yet thelawremains the primarysiteforthe governanceofpublicresponses to HIV/AIDS.

Religiousinstitutionsnowrequireopendisclosureofpre-maritalserologiesasaconditionfor

marriagewithout providing anysupport,counseling orotherguarantees to personswhoselives


6/7

would bealtered bysuch measuresand theiroutcomes. Such measureswouldstruggle to pass

legalmusterifthelawcould be properlydeployedinresponse to HIV/AIDS.


7/7

.

becg assignmnt

Documents