HIV Positive: No Reason for Lay-Off

HIV positive A.S. went to court to seek his right against the discrimination of being made redundant because of carrying the HI virus. A labour court decided to return A.S. to work. Upon an appeal to the decision, the Court of Appeals confirmed the decree of the labour court. A.S. won the legal struggle.

"No other person who is HIV positive should experience what I was exposed to. They should take up the legal struggle against this kind of discrimination", A.S. told bianet.

"It is difficult to overcome prejudice, yet we have no choice but struggling". A.S. indicated that the struggle with AIDS/HIV should be a visible part of the state's health policy. Also prejudice in the media should be dismantled by implementing scientific data into the news to ease the life of HIV positive people, A.S. stated.

Contact point: Positive Life Association

HIV positive persons are exposed to discrimination in the fields of health service, property acquisition, business life and other areas of social life. The imposed violations evolve from desinformation about HIV/AIDS.

The Positive Life Association (PYD) puts efforts into reducing prejudice and preventing discrimination against HIV positive idividuals. Çiğdem Şimşek from the association named the violations of rights of people living with HIV and explained the mechanisms of struggle against it:

"It is crucial to know the rights in order to prevent discrimination against people who are HIV positive. One should know his/her own rights as well as the rights of the employer. The PYD runs the 'law clinics project" in six towns with a high share of HIV positive people in the population. Within this project, we give material, moral and legal support for lawsuits of HIV positive people seeking justice against violation of rights".

Şimşek argued that HIV positive people are most severely exposed to discrimination when benefiting from health service. "Furhtermore, they experience massive violation of rights at their work places. People buy medication secretly in order to avoid exclusion and lay-off. State officers have to pay for HIV medication from their own pocket".

Matter-of fact information

Şimşek points out that the association also puts efforts into spreading updated matter-of-fact information, saying that we should rather be open to learning instead of randomly labelling HIV positive people.

"The public does not want to be confronted with negative issues. Thus, we have to replace frightening messages by positive information. It is a more sensible approach to focus on the ways HIV cannot be transmitted than on focussing entirely on how to transmit it, for example.

A.S., who won the legal struggle against his employer, emphasized that while the global number of HIV infections is declining, the number of new cases in Turkey is increasing quickly. A.S. holds the insufficient measures taken by the government responsible for this development. (BÇ/VK)