BARBADOS: RIGHTS OF HIV/AIDS VICTIMS A PRIORITY

By Erica Laster

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados “We have not yet gotten to the stage where a man or woman will disclose equally, routinely and without abashment, that he or she is HIV positive,” indicates Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart at the commencement of the Caribbean Region Symposium on HIV/AIDS and human rights.  

Photo Courtesy of Caricom News Network.
Barbados Acting Prime Minister Freundel Stuart. Photo Courtesy of Caricom News Network.

Caricom News reports that the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) organized the symposium with support from a variety of organizations, including the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP),  UNAIDS, UNDP and AIDS2031.  Stuart proposed an increased desire to understand the AIDS virus and increased legislation for public educational programs to ensure that the rights of those affected by the virus were upheld. With about 20,000 new cases of the AIDS virus appearing in 2008 and 12,000 deaths per year due to the virus, Stuart recognizes that the stigma has only increased.

Citing the European Convention on Human Rights which extended to Caribbean countries as colonies in 1953, Stuart asserts that this instrument neither expressly nor through implication permits discrimination against persons or citizens on the ground of personal illness.

With discrimination an actionable offense, Stuart notes that “the burden of proof will rest on him or her to produce evidence of the legally required standard to support the allegation made.  The decisions of the Courts of Law are, invariably, based on the strength of the evidence adduced at trial.” 

While information about the disease is widespread and readily available, few in the Caribbean choose to discuss the topic, only furthering the stigmatizing affects on those contracting it.  In the Caribbean areas, the main method of transmission of HIV occurs through commercial sex and more than 2% of Caribbean adults have contracted the virus.

For More Information Please Visit:

Caricom News – CARIBBEAN-Regional symposium on HIV/AIDS and human rights – 14 September 2010

Caricom News – HIV and Human Rights to Be Discussed at Regional Symposium – 8 September 2010  

The Barbados Advocate – Human Rights of Persons Living with HIV/AIDS must be protected – 14 Septemeber 2010

Author: Impunity Watch Archive