Future Forsaken
SummaryText
Published by Human Rights Watch in July 2004, this 209-page report aims to document how many doctors refuse to treat or even touch HIV-positive children. Some schools expel or segregate children because they or their parents are HIV-positive. Many orphanages and other residential institutions reject HIV-positive children or deny that they house them. Children from families affected by AIDS may be denied an education, pushed onto the street, forced into the worst forms of child labour, or otherwise exploited, all of which puts them at greater risk of contracting HIV.
From the Summary
"Six-year-old Anu P.’s teacher sent her home from kindergarten in 2003, instructing her older sister to tell her 'please not to come again to the school.' Her grandfather, who had been caring for Anu and her siblings since their parents died of AIDS, explained, 'The teacher didn’t allow her to come to school because she believes Anu is HIV-positive. I believe that other parents were talking amongst themselves, so the teacher said she shouldn’t come.' Her grandfather told us he was afraid that if he protested, Anu’s older sister might be sent out as well. A nearby private doctor told Anu’s family not to bring the girl to his clinic 'because if you do, other people won’t come.' The reason the man gave, her uncle said, was because of HIV. Anu’s sixty-six-year-old grandmother had been taking her on foot to the government hospital, but the distance had become too far for her to walk, her grandfather explained.
Sharmila A., age ten, was HIV-positive and had lost both of her parents to AIDS.2 She stopped going to school in the fourth grade, she said. 'When I went to school, I sat separately from the other children, in the last mat. I sat alone. The other children wanted to be with me, but the teacher would tell them not to play with me. She said, ‘This disease will spread to you also, so do not play with her.' When Sharmila developed tuberculosis, she began traveling some four to five hours to reach a government-run hospital for free medical care. However, the hospital did not provide antiretroviral drugs, and her health did not improve. Sharmila died in January 2004.
Kannammal P. put her oldest daughter in an orphanage when she became unable to care for all of her children, she told us.3 Shortly thereafter, her husband was diagnosed with HIV. She went back to the orphanage and asked them for help. Instead, she said, 'they asked the child to be tested, and then they wanted her to leave. . . . Despite pleading with the school authorities, they said, ‘Sorry, please find another place. We are not free to take her.'' Her daughter’s HIV test, she told us, was negative."
Based on the findings of their research, the Human Rights Watch makes the following recommendations to the Indian government:
From the Summary
"Six-year-old Anu P.’s teacher sent her home from kindergarten in 2003, instructing her older sister to tell her 'please not to come again to the school.' Her grandfather, who had been caring for Anu and her siblings since their parents died of AIDS, explained, 'The teacher didn’t allow her to come to school because she believes Anu is HIV-positive. I believe that other parents were talking amongst themselves, so the teacher said she shouldn’t come.' Her grandfather told us he was afraid that if he protested, Anu’s older sister might be sent out as well. A nearby private doctor told Anu’s family not to bring the girl to his clinic 'because if you do, other people won’t come.' The reason the man gave, her uncle said, was because of HIV. Anu’s sixty-six-year-old grandmother had been taking her on foot to the government hospital, but the distance had become too far for her to walk, her grandfather explained.
Sharmila A., age ten, was HIV-positive and had lost both of her parents to AIDS.2 She stopped going to school in the fourth grade, she said. 'When I went to school, I sat separately from the other children, in the last mat. I sat alone. The other children wanted to be with me, but the teacher would tell them not to play with me. She said, ‘This disease will spread to you also, so do not play with her.' When Sharmila developed tuberculosis, she began traveling some four to five hours to reach a government-run hospital for free medical care. However, the hospital did not provide antiretroviral drugs, and her health did not improve. Sharmila died in January 2004.
Kannammal P. put her oldest daughter in an orphanage when she became unable to care for all of her children, she told us.3 Shortly thereafter, her husband was diagnosed with HIV. She went back to the orphanage and asked them for help. Instead, she said, 'they asked the child to be tested, and then they wanted her to leave. . . . Despite pleading with the school authorities, they said, ‘Sorry, please find another place. We are not free to take her.'' Her daughter’s HIV test, she told us, was negative."
Based on the findings of their research, the Human Rights Watch makes the following recommendations to the Indian government:
- Make discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS illegal everywhere in India by enacting and enforcing national legislation prohibiting discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS and their families in health facilities, schools, places of employment, and other institutions. All government departments should take an active role in combating discrimination in the areas in which they work, instead of relying solely on NACO and the state AIDS control societies.
- Ensure that children living with HIV/AIDS receive all available medical care, including antiretroviral treatment, without discrimination, and use all possible means to remove barriers to care.
- Plan for the protection of children whose parents are unable to care for them by developing alternatives to institutionalization. At the same time, prohibit institutions from discriminating against HIV/AIDS-affected children in their care and ensure that those children receive adequate care.
- Provide all children, both in and out of school, with age-appropriate information about HIV/AIDS that is both comprehensive and accurate.
- Address gender discrimination in employment, divorce, inheritance, and property laws, and longstanding practices of discrimination against girls in education and health that make women and girls especially vulnerable to HIV transmission and imperil their ability to care for their children.
Publishers
Languages
English
Number of Pages
219