HIV Harassment Investigation

posted: 08/12/2009

Public bodies in England, Scotland and Wales face an inquiry into how they deal with disability-related harassment by the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, the watchdog announced.
 

The commission promises that bodies that do not adequately uphold the rights of people with disabilities, including everyone living with HIV, could face legal action.

Public bodies have a legal duty to take steps to eliminate disability-related harassment – part of their disability equality duties.
 

The inquiry, which will publish its final report in early 2011, follows the inquest into the deaths of Fiona Pilkington and her disabled daughter Francesca. Their deaths followed years of harassment and exposed weak public responses to tackling this.
 

EHRC commissioner Mike Smith said: "Disabled people experiencing harassment can become conditioned to hostile treatment, or are sometimes told to ignore it by those around them - including by public authorities. They may also go to enormous lengths to avoid putting themselves at risk which can limit their freedom and opportunities. These are unacceptable outcomes for anyone in our society."
 

Evidence exists
The commission said it already had evidence that harassment of disabled people was widespread throughout Britain and that people with learning disabilities and mental health problems were at a particularly high risk. People living with HIV similarly may experience significant harassment and violence because of stigma.
 

What are Councils and Health Bodies actually doing?
The Inquiry will look at what public bodies are doing to end disability-related harassment and to deal with its causes, including prejudice and negative attitudes; and how public authorities have involved people with disabilities in eliminating harassment and its causes – for example by effective joined-up reporting procedures.
 

Ruth Scott, director of policy and campaigns at disability Scope, said: "We would like to see the inquiry focus on how public authorities are raising awareness of disability related harassment among disabled people, to increase their confidence in reporting such cases, and supporting and training frontline staff across public authorities to ensure they respond appropriately and promptly."
A document outlining the terms of reference will be published shortly for consultation and the terms will be finalised early next year. The whole review will be completed within the year.
 

Have you evidence?

The Inquiry will collect evidence from people with HIV and other disabilities and from people affected by disability-related harassment (such as HIV negative partners and family) and from public authorities on what they are doing to tackle the issue.
 

George House Trust will work with other HIV bodies to collect and submit evidence of HIV harassment. Few cases are ever reported, mainly because of HIV stigma and the belief that complaining won’t change things for the better. This investigation, linked to the use (or not) of public powers to deal with HIV stigma, is the best opportunity to make councils, police and health bodies take real action to cut HIV harassment in society.

If people have information on HIV harassment in NW England please contact HIV Policy worker Chris at George House Trust.
 

The investigation follows the recent publication of the UK HIV Stigma Index - information in our recent report and also here. 
 

Good practice too
The Inquiry may also aim to identify examples of good practice in eliminating disability related harassment and addressing its causes.
 

The Commission will consider how public authorities have complied with their obligations in relation to the Disability Equality Duty set out in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, the Human Rights Act, and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
 

Useful Information and Guidance

Public Bodies Duties Guidance 
ECHR report – Promoting the safety and security of disabled people 

Sources          The ECHR press release              Community Care 
 

Manchester Advice at Royal Infirmary

posted: 18/11/2009

Manchester Advice has a rights adviser who can help with problems such as benefits, housing, debt and consumer issues at the Hathersage Centre. The Hathersage Centre is the new HIV/STI clinic for Manchester Royal Infirmary.

Appointments
To see the adviser Chris, please make an appointment to see her -  call the Hathersage Centre on 276 5221 (leave a message)
 

OR

Text Chris Clarke the advice worker on 0782 7878 375

OR

call her direct at Manchester Advice - Chris Clarke - her direct line is 0161 234 3305.

Hathersage Centre is the HIV and sexual health clinic at Manchester Royal Infirmary

280 Upper Brook Street, Manchester, M13 0FH
0161 901 1555

The building is at the junction of Upper Brook Street and Hathersage Road
 

Women Asylum Seekers Charter

posted: 06/11/2009

George House Trust, like many organisations, has enthusiastically endorsed the Charter of rights of women asylum seekers.

By endorsing the Charter George House Trust has committed itself to doing what it can to promote the rights and actions in the Charter.

We will be able to do this through regional/national forums, the Detention Users Group, meetings with accommodation providers, and the staff will also be able to support this through trade union meetings.

Google group sign up
We and other supporters can also join the new Women’s Asylum Charter Google group. Joining the Google group will enable people interested in the campaign in touch with people working on similar issues and help share good practice and monitor progress. This coordination and feedback makes all our efforts more effective.

To join the Google group, please go to http://groups.google.co.uk/group/womens_asylum_charter?hl=en-GB. You will need to create a Google account if you don’t already have one. If you have any difficulties with joining the Google group, please contact charter@asylumaid.org.uk

Own website?
To help promote the Charter it would be great if you could put this link on your website www.asylumaid.org.uk

Direct link to Charter page

Zimbabwe - Forced Returns Protests

posted: 30/10/2009

Refugee and HIV organisations were among those angered and concerned by Home Office ministers saying that Zimbabwe is now safe enough to resume the forcible return of thousands of refused asylum seekers.
 

Bad timing?

The announcement by the immigration minister, Phil Woolas (MP for the NW constituency of Oldham East and Saddleworth), came just as the UN's monitor on torture was forcibly expelled from Harare, and when Amnesty International warned that the country was "on the brink of sliding back into violence".
 

Woolas told MPs that he was encouraging Zimbabweans whose asylum application in Britain had been rejected to return home voluntarily by including a £2,000 cash payment in a total repatriation package worth up to £6,000. But he also said the UK Border Agency was resuming work on a programme of enforced returns to Zimbabwe.
 

"We have always expected those not to be in need of protection to return home. We prefer these individuals to return voluntarily, and the enhancements to the assisted voluntary return scheme will support this," he said. "But where they choose not to do so, we are bound to take steps over time to enforce the law."
 

George House Trust comment

That’s perhaps more bluff and bluster, for the benefit of the press and some sections of the public, to make him seem to be tougher on returns. His formal statement says something less scary – the key sentence is:

“The UK Border Agency will therefore be starting work over the autumn on a process aimed at normalising our returns policy to Zimbabwe, moving towards resuming enforced returns progressively as and when the political situation develops.”

The key words we take comfort from are here (our italics) “moving towards resuming enforced returns progressively as and when the political situation develops.” So he means the political situation is not yet right to restart forced returns. Any government that rushes to resume forced returns to Zimbabwe faces the prospect of a second defeat in the courts.

Zimbaweans are the largest nationality group among expatriate Africans with HIV in the UK, which is why this policy change is significant. Well over 650 Zimbabweans diagnosed with HIV are living in NW England.

High Court ended returns in 2006

Forcible returns to Zimbabwe were suspended in September 2006, when high court judges ruled that those who could not demonstrate their loyalty to Robert Mugabe's regime would face persecution on their return. It is thought there are more than 10,000 refused asylum seekers from Zimbabwe in Britain. Only recently more than 2,000 fled to the UK during Zimbabwe's elections in 2008.
 

The Home Office statement says there have been "positive changes" in Zimbabwe in the past six months, including less indiscriminate violence, more basic commodities are available and the economy and schools have improved since the formation of the unity government. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), is prime minister under President Mugabe.
Refugee groups say only 89 people went back to Zimbabwe under the British government's voluntary returns programme between January and August.
 

Safety claims ridiculed
The Refugee Council said the Home Office's judgment on life in Zimbabwe was ludicrous. "In the past few days allegations of arrest, intimidation and harassment of supporters of the MDC and of human rights defenders have been widely reported," said the council's chief executive, Donna Covey. "Our government is showing a cavalier attitude to the safety of refugees who have stood up for democracy and human rights. After the farcical attempts to return Iraqis and Afghans in recent weeks against UN advice, it is of great concern that the government are now considering returns to Zimbabwe."
 

Sandy Buchan, of Refugee Action, also said the move was premature: "We still see more Zimbabweans asking for help and advice than any other single nationality, and many are terrified of returning to their country." And Patson Muzuwa, of the Zimbabwe Association said "It is very premature of them to think of forced removals," adding that Woolas's statement was intended to pave the way for a programme of forcible removals last attempted in 2004 and 2005.
 

Source 
 

UN torture investigator refused entry to Zimbabwe
 

Minister's Statement on changing the policy on returning people to Zimbabwe 
 

Changes to the voluntary returns package
 
 

Human Rights Wrong for Healthcare

posted: 15/10/2009

A controversial article in the Financial Times  wades into the international debate about the “right to health”.

The notion of a “right to health” began in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. One of its most eloquent advocates is Dr Paul Farmer, who earned fame with heroic efforts to give people access even to complex medical treatment amid extreme poverty in Haiti and Rwanda, saying that healthcare was “a fundamental human right, which should be available free”.

The article argues that the “right to health” and the efforts devoted to achieving universal access to HIV medicines across the globe may have cost more lives than it saved. The pragmatic approach – directing public resources to where they have the most health benefits for a given cost – historically achieved far more than the moral approach.

Read the full article here