Report of the Task Force on Legal Issues Relating to HIV And AIDS

Task Force on Legal Issues Relating oo HIV And AIDS

dc.contributor.author	Task Force on Legal Issues Relating oo HIV And AIDS
dc.date.accessioned	2021-09-03T08:26:49Z
dc.date.available	2021-09-03T08:26:49Z
dc.date.issued	2002-06-28
dc.identifier.uri	http://192.168.150.44/handle/123456789/525
dc.description	The Terms of Reference of the Task Force on Legal Issues relating to HIV and AIDS (a) To consider the challenges posed by HIV and AIDS to all laws with f view to making appropriate recommendations for the reform of our laws with a view to better prevention, management and control of the HIV and AIDS disaster in Kenya; (b) To advise on the adoption of guidelines, rules, regulations and procedures immediately required to address the HIV and AIPS disaster; (c) To look into the human rights issues affecting widows and widows, orphans, employees and other workers and people living with HIV and AIDS among others and make recommendations thereon; (d) To address legal matters concerning HIV and AIDS and related to marriage, research, insurance and drug access matters and make recommendations thereon; (e) To review offences under the Penal Code and other offences in the laws of Kenya in the light of the HIV and AIDS pandemic and make recommendations on how the penal laws can be strengthened; (0 To make any other recommendations that are incidental to foregoing.	en_US
dc.description.abstract	When the first case of HIV infection was identified in Kenya in the early 1980s, hardly anyone would have reckoned that this was the beginning of a public health catastrophy, a pandemic and a national disaster – a devastation indeed not just for Kenya but for the developing world at large and particularly for Africa. The debilitating effects of HIV and AIDS have taken a major toll on the social and economic life of the Kenyan people - with the frequent death of family members, and of those in active economic and social production and development such as the workers, the health {are givers, and many categories of professional service-providers. The effect has been to sap the country's strength for economic productivity, and to severely undermine the standards of living and the stability of the social system. Indeed the economic gains of the last decades have been reversed. As of July l, 2002 the following HIV and AIDS statistical estimations had been made: (i) HIV infections: 2.2 million; (ii) actual AIDS cases: 200,000 every year; (iii) cumulative deaths: 1.7 million; (iv) deaths due to AIDS per day: 500-700; (v) number of AIDS orphans: 1.1 million. Kenya, like other developing countries, but unlike the technologically advanced developed countries, has been hard-hit by the HIV and AIDS scourge. In the developing countries, poor technologies of economic production dictate that the critical factor of production is labour. When this factor of production is wholly negated by the ravages of HIV and AIDS, the national capacity in production necessarily falls, with serious implications for both domestic food sufficiency and the capacity to participate in international trade, i.e., the capacity to make wealth. The effect is that the nation and its people become poorer, and their pace of social and economic progress is considerably slowed down. Technological poverty has yet another dimension on the impact of HIV and AIDS, in the developing countries. While better clinical assessments and access to retrovirals and prophylactic treatment are more or less taken for granted in the developed .countries, they are hardly ever available to the HIV and AIDS - afflicted of Africa. The consequence is that life expectancy has sharply fallen in Africa, and infection by HIV and AIDS are virtually, a pointer towards impending death. Such is not the case in the developed countries, where life expectancy is constantly kept relatively high. HIV and AIDS, in these circumstances, is a fundamental agenda in governance strategies in Kenya and in Africa generally. In any quest for good governance, we must squarely address the issue. Thus in 1999 the President declared HIV and AIDS a national disaster. This was the policy-priority basis for moving into action to put in place institutions and resource commitments, for fighting the scourge. Any challenges or changes in society inevitably result in the need to re-examine and reform the law to meet the needs of the society. Consequently, by Legal Notice No. 4015 of June 12, 2001, I established the Task Force on legal Issues Relating to HIV/AIDS. The immense problems posed by HIV/AIDS cannot be addressed comprehensively in all their aspects unless the legal issues are delved into and dealt with. The object was to review Kenya's existing legal framework, and to consider all possibilities within the capacity of legal instruments, with a view to making the best possible contribution to the fight against the HIV and AIDS scourge. It was a quest for appropriate recommendations for the- establishment of a legal framework of supportive initiatives for combating HIV and AIDS, a framework that was at the same time germane to the observance of human rights as well as the normal legal rights of the individual regardless of the, fact of afflictions occasioned by HIV and AIDS. Since its establishment in 2001, the Task Force has been able to conduct a substantial amount of work; involving the definition of all the critical legal relationships and issues; visiting different parts of the country and conducting, interviews with stakeholders and responsible persons; conducting workshops and seminars; and formulating a comprehensi6 report. The Report has delved into critical issues such as: the issue of HIV AND AIDS and the protection of the right to confidentiality and privacy; HIV AND AIDS and questions of succession and inheritance and in particular property rights in relation to AIDS orphans; the law of insurance in relation to HIV and AIDS; the rights of workers in the workplace, In relation to the HIV and AIDS scourge; the protection of human rights, in relation to HIV and AIDS infection; the issue of consent, in sexual relations that lead to HIV and AIDS infection; the scope for using criminal law discourage willful infection; legal safeguards for biomedical research involving .human subjects; the role of the' law in relation to access retroviral medication, etc. I commend this Report as a serious study initiative in the law’s possible contribution to the struggle against the HIV and AIDS pandemic. This is, at the moment, the most authoritative indication of the path that die' legal process should take in making its contribution to the struggle. This report will also be extremely useful as resource material for those engaged in informed discussion, consultation or dialogue on some of the sensitive issues that have to be addressed in this area of HIV/AIDS pandemic. For my part, I will promptly take up every individual recommendation, and pursue it vigorously at the level of legislation and implementation. I congratulate the members of the Task Force on their great achievement, which is a remarkable contribution to the cause of good policy direction and the management of public affairs in our country.	en_US
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.subject	AMBROSE D. O. RACHIER	en_US
dc.subject	HIV and AIDS	en_US
dc.subject	Task Force On Legal Issues	en_US
dc.title	Report of the Task Force on Legal Issues Relating to HIV And AIDS	en_US
dc.type	Technical Report	en_US