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Reactionary Amendment on AIDS Act Proposed by Legislator

Mr Hou Shuisheng, Legislator of Democratic Progresive Party (DPP), has proposed on 4 March an amendment on two clauses of AIDS Prevention and Control Act (an older English version is available on Center of Disease Control’s website, but do note the recent amendments are not reflected, more detail below). The motion has currently been cosigned by 36 other legislators.

A recent amendment on Article 6, Item 1 of AIDS Prevention and Control Act, passed on 5 February by the Legislative Yuan, reads as follows (this is a tentative translation that is different from the older version available on CDC’s website and is by no means binding):

Personal integrity and legal rights of HIV-infected individuals should be respected and protected. Never shall they be discriminated against. The individuals shall not be denied schooling, medical care or employment, and they shall not be subject to other unjust measures. Without explicit consent or approval from an HIV-infected individual, his or her words shall not be recorded, he or she shall not be filmed, and his or her photo shall not be taken. [However,] To prevent such HIV-infected individuals from infecting others with HIV, the health agency of the central government allows that certain limitations or restrictions be applied regarding that person’s employment.

Mr Hou’s motion recommends this article be revised to:

Personal integrity and legal rights of HIV-infected individuals should be respected and protected. However, to prevent such HIV-infected individuals from infecting others with HIV, the health agency of the central government may impose necessary limitations and restrictions onto such individuals.

If the Legislative Yuan passes this motion, the legal footing for the protection of HIV-infected people from discriminatory measures (such as involuntary media exposure) will be undone. This is a worrisome development in a country where discriminatory measures prevail in medical practice that discourages HIV screening, and where government’s AIDS awareness campaigns are still absurdly victorian.

I posted this blog entry in the hope that more people will start watching the development of this issue.

lukhnos :: Apr.08.2005 :: :: 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “Reactionary Amendment on AIDS Act Proposed by Legislator”

  1. on 08 Apr 2005 at 20:031Antony Shen

    Hello again,

    I see nothing wrong with preventing the spreading of AIDS. According to the recommended verse, the agency has slighter greater power to control the spreading, not just the employment. As for individual’s privacy, there should be another law to protect each person’s rights and privacy.

  2. on 08 Apr 2005 at 20:272lukhnos

    Antony,

    although I still have to dig out the reason why an amendment was passed on 6 February (which triggered Mr Hou’s present motion), the past two years we have witnessed a serious breaching of HIV-infected’s privacy. The police often reveal a suspect’s HIV status even his or her charged act has nothing to do with public hygiene. There are also cases where HIV+ or AIDS patients are denied schooling and medical care, and their identities are often deliberately revealed by those institutions to their family or employers.

    It is true that privacy is and should be already covered in a more general law. This is one of the rationales Mr Hou gives; according to Mr Hou, the privacy clause in Article 6 Item 1 is redundant because of other existing codes. What is worrisome, however, is what Mr Hou stated in the description of the motion. I translate: “The Law has become an ‘AIDS protection’ law that overlooks the hygiene concern of the general public.” Which is definitely not the case. Taiwan is doing badly on AIDS prevention and awareness raising. Screening rate is low *exactly because of* a general lack of respect and anonymity from the medical system. The stigma is also terrible.

    I think Mr Hou’s motion is not helping the sitution in any sense of its wording.

  3. on 08 Apr 2005 at 21:053Antony Shen

    Hello lukhnos,

    Thanks for adding the background of this issue, and now I have better understanding of the situation.

    “There are also cases where HIV+ or AIDS patients are denied schooling and medical care, and their identities are often deliberately revealed by those institutions to their family or employers.”

    That’s very unethical. AIDS or HIV+ is not contagious at all, you won’t get HIV inflect by sharing a drink. Are there any Privacy Acts to protect HIV+ infected individuals?

    Do majority of people in Taiwan consider HIV+ or AIDS as a shameful disease?