Botswana: Campaign Demands HIV Employment Law Now
By, The Voice (Francistown), November 7, 2006
A large coalition of organizations and individuals have launched a campaign urging Botswana government and policy makers to put in place a law to protect HIV related rights in the work place.
Since 2002, Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA) and the Botswana Federation of Trade Unions, two organizations spear heading the campaign have been working hard to have such a law created and passed in order to guard against rampant violations of HIV related rights in the workplace.
However the government's delay in enacting a law has prompted the coalition to adopt a new approach through the campaign, which boasts the slogan, "HIV Employment Law Now!
So far the campaign, which is fast growing both in support and momentum, has distributed a petition nationally and internationally collecting over 1000 signatures in the first three weeks of its launch both on paper and on line at BONELA's website in a move believed to be the first of its kind in Botswana.
The collected petitions will eventually be presented to parliament after a peaceful march on the 11th of November in Gaborone when supporters will rally the cause from outside the national stadium to the main mall.
"Botswana has waited long enough, says BFTU spokesperson, Patrick Chengeta, "Now we should move. The courts have announced that without a policy workers are vulnerable. The government has a social responsibility."
In a landmark 2003 case involving the firing of an HIV positive employee by the Botswana Building Society, a judge ruled that while the National AIDS Policy had strong persuasive moral authority in the court, it was not a binding law that could be applied to protect workers rights therefore leaving the responsibility to parliament to turn the policy into law.
It this kind of violations of HIV- related human rights and others such as HIV positive people being forced to undergo an HIV test before employment that have prompted BONELA, its partners and supporters into action.
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200611071016.html
A large coalition of organizations and individuals have launched a campaign urging Botswana government and policy makers to put in place a law to protect HIV related rights in the work place.
Since 2002, Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA) and the Botswana Federation of Trade Unions, two organizations spear heading the campaign have been working hard to have such a law created and passed in order to guard against rampant violations of HIV related rights in the workplace.
However the government's delay in enacting a law has prompted the coalition to adopt a new approach through the campaign, which boasts the slogan, "HIV Employment Law Now!
So far the campaign, which is fast growing both in support and momentum, has distributed a petition nationally and internationally collecting over 1000 signatures in the first three weeks of its launch both on paper and on line at BONELA's website in a move believed to be the first of its kind in Botswana.
The collected petitions will eventually be presented to parliament after a peaceful march on the 11th of November in Gaborone when supporters will rally the cause from outside the national stadium to the main mall.
"Botswana has waited long enough, says BFTU spokesperson, Patrick Chengeta, "Now we should move. The courts have announced that without a policy workers are vulnerable. The government has a social responsibility."
In a landmark 2003 case involving the firing of an HIV positive employee by the Botswana Building Society, a judge ruled that while the National AIDS Policy had strong persuasive moral authority in the court, it was not a binding law that could be applied to protect workers rights therefore leaving the responsibility to parliament to turn the policy into law.
It this kind of violations of HIV- related human rights and others such as HIV positive people being forced to undergo an HIV test before employment that have prompted BONELA, its partners and supporters into action.
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200611071016.html
posted by AIDS-Care-Watch at 9:32 am
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