Indonesia Must Combat AIDS Ignorance

original text by Ricky Gunawan, S.H.

you can access the original article in UPIAsia.com

Jakarta, Indonesia — Just a week ago a five-year-old boy living in Sipoholon village in North Sumatra, Indonesia, was expelled from his village by local residents for a simple and irrational reason: he has AIDS. This is understandable only if one examines how misinformation spreads among people who are not fully aware or appropriately informed about HIV/AIDS.

The child Rudy (not his real name) lost his mother in February and his father in December last year. Both died due to AIDS. He is now hospitalized in the Pirngadi General Hospital in Medan and cared for by his elder brother. Other family members are reluctant to touch him, as they are terrified of getting infected. Neighbors have excluded him from the community.

Rudy’s condition is deteriorating as he is also suffering from malnutrition. Due to these problems, his brother has dropped out of school to ensure that Rudy receives proper medication.

In Jakarta, Sally (not her real name) is HIV positive. Her husband died last August. She has a two-year-old son who does not have AIDS. According to Indonesian family law, her only son can be a beneficiary to the family’s wealth. However, family members from his father’s side decided against transferring any property to him due to his mother’s condition. In addition, they have expelled her and her son from their family.

According to the Medan Health Agency, a government institution under the Ministry of Health, only seven hospitals out of 65 in Medan, North Sumatra, are willing to provide medicines to people with AIDS. Surprisingly, those hospitals unwilling to treat AIDS patients are scared that patients might transmit the disease through the air.

It seems that even hospital workers do not know that HIV/AIDS is transmitted through unsafe sexual intercourse with an infected person, blood transfusions with contaminated blood, contaminated syringes, needles or other sharp instruments and from an infected mother to her child during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. It is not passed on through the air.

These tragedies remind us that people living with HIV/AIDS are still vulnerable to human rights violations such as discrimination as well as social exclusion. These heartbreaking stories show how hard it is for such people to live with dignity.

In Indonesia, it is widely known that people with AIDS face discrimination and are stigmatized by society. They are denied the right to the highest attainable standard of health, the right to work and to education. They are also frequently deprived of their right to protection and equal status before the law.

In Indonesia’s patriarchal culture, where women’s status is lower than that of men, women are more vulnerable and susceptible to serious human rights violations if they suffer from AIDS. Moreover, regardless of the source of infection, society tends to stigmatize them as leading transmitters of the disease.

Health centers with poor facilities are prone to prejudice and stigma against people with HIV/AIDS, particularly women. Social guilt and domestic violence add to the problems and often prevent women from seeking treatment.

At the 2006 High-Level Meeting on AIDS in New York, world leaders reaffirmed their commitment to fight the disease in a statement that said, “The full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all is an essential element in the global response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.” Yet, locally in Indonesia and globally elsewhere, this “essential element” remains deficient in the struggle against the disease.

In Indonesia, human rights have not been effectively merged with the fight against AIDS. The country’s national HIV program lacks adequate measures to combat discrimination, social exclusion and other human rights violations against those who suffer from this fatal disease.

Even human rights defenders in Indonesia seem to be confused and unable to comprehend the significance of HIV prevention and treatment programs. Such groups often ignore those who face the highest risk of getting HIV, such as drug addicts, sex workers and men who have sex with other men. These vulnerable people receive the least amount of interest when it comes to human rights advocacy.

The criminal-based approach implemented by the Indonesian government toward the worst affected has generated stigma and revulsion. It has dragged these people away from civil society so they have become a “hidden population,” without access to health services, preventive measures or treatment.

The numbers of people with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia are alarming. The Indonesian government has done much to tackle the problem and deserves appreciation. But further challenges need to be immediately addressed, like providing HIV treatment with adequate regard for human rights.

Health officers must be educated to erase the stigma and discrimination against HIV-positive persons. Criminal laws and drug policies must be reformed so that those who face the highest risk of HIV can receive medical treatment, rather than incarceration.

HIV/AIDS is not just a health issue. It is a human rights issue as well. Until the war is won against this disease, those who suffer from it must be treated with dignity and their human rights must be protected.

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(Ricky Gunawan holds a law degree from the University of Indonesia. He is program director of the Community Legal Aid Institute, or LBH Masyarakat, based in Jakarta. The institute provides pro bono legal aid and human rights education for disadvantaged and marginalized people.)