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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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would bealtered bysuch measuresand theiroutcomes. Such measureswouldstruggle to pass
legalmusterifthelawcould be properlydeployedinresponse to HIV/AIDS.
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.