Sh70 Million Anti-Aids Legal Aid Plan Unveiled

Elizabeth Mwai And Wandera Ojanji Nairobi

Human rights abuses jeopardise the fight against HIV/Aids, a new report says.

Sexual violence, discrimination, property grabbing and police harassment are cited in the report, 'Ensuring Justice for Vulnerable', by the Open Society Initiative for East Africa (Osiea).

The organisation also unveiled a Sh70 million funding initiative to integrate legal services into HIV/Aids programmes. Speaking at the launch of the initiative in Nairobi on Monday, Osiea Executive Director, Ms Binaifer Nowrojee, decried the lack of Government legal aid to people who cannot afford. She said this may be working against the medical gains achieved in the fight against HIV/Aids.
"Access to justice for people living with Aids can be as important as access to healthcare," said Nowrojee. "How can someone survive on HIV treatment if she is beaten by her spouse and evicted from her home with her children?"

The initiative will link HIV services with human rights and legal protection and therefore help stem the widespread human rights abuses meted on people living and affected with HIV/Aids.

Nowrejee regretted that most of the perpetrators went unpunished.

The Open Society Institute's Law and Health Initiative (Lahi), New York, Director, Mr Jonathan Cohen, said Kenya had failed to give legal services to people living with and at risk of Aids.

"Lack of legal assistance threatens to undo the gains made by increased access to HIV prevention, care and treatment services," Cohen said. Speaking during the launch of the document, Cohen said the availability of antiretroviral drugs would be futile unless access to justice was served.

He pointed out that the country only had 5,000 lawyers against a population of 33 million.

Cohen said lawyers demanded huge fees, which was beyond the reach of a common man. He said the wheels of justice were slow, noting that a civil case took between two and six years.

"A woman complaining of sexual violence may have to go to court up to 15 time to press her case," Cohen said.

He noted that the level of education on law and statutory rights was low.

Osiea recommends that Aids service providers be educated in law and human rights.