Ken Oh 8 August 2009
60 representatives from 16 countries participated in a seminar entitled "Strengthened and Expanded HIV-related Legal Services", hosted jointly by the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (APN+), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The day-long event brought together lawyers and other advocates to identify opportunities to establish, strengthen and expand HIV-related legal services in their countries. "The primary purpose of this seminar was to have people share their experiences," said Nicole Hoagland, a Program Associate with IDLO's HIV and Health Law Programme and a principal organizer of the event. "It wasn't a training, but a 'best practices' discussion. Hopefully what comes out of it is a regional network of people working in HIV legal services."
"Experience in the AIDS response has shown that access to legal services is an important part of guaranteeing protection from discrimination, getting redress for human rights violations and expanding access to HIV prevention and treatment," emphasized David Patterson, Manager of IDLO's HIV and Health Law Programme. "However, such programmes are not sufficiently supported by national AIDS responses, and where they do exist, quality and scale are often insufficient."
Communication and collaboration
The seminar recognized that there was no "one size fits all" paradigm for legal services. However, the participants recognized certain common elements among the countries represented. "Existing HIV-related legal services are generally small in scale and patchy in coverage," said Jeff O'Malley, Director of the UNDP's HIV/AIDS Group. "With high levels of 'legal' marginalization of key populations, the achievement of universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support demands a commitment to strengthening legal protection and access to HIV-related legal services."
This opinion was echoed by the seminar's opening speaker, Dr. Nafsiah Mboi, Secretary of the National AIDS Commission (Indonesia). Dr. Mboi emphasized the importance of increasing the public discussion of legal issues faced by people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).
To be sure, many of the participants concurred that one prominent barrier to the provision of legal services is a lack of awareness. They agreed that PLWHA often do not know about their specific rights, such as the right to confidentiality of their HIV status. "[PLWHA] feel that the law is not for them. The law is only for good people," said Helen Samilo, a featured panelist and country representative (Papua New Guinea) for APN+.
Positive feedback, practical tools
Participants in the seminar came away not only with a better understanding of their peers' work in other countries but also with deeper insight into how those experiences can be applicable in their own countries.
One participant, Jerry Tambun, a legal consultant with the National Health Law Society (Indonesia), noted that financial resources play an important role in the provision of legal services. In Indonesia, Mr. Tambun said that partial funding by the government for legal aid allows lawyers like him to provide legal services to PLWHA free of charge, or at a reduced price. However, according to Mr. Tambun, that funding must go hand in hand with finding lawyers who want to engage in this type of work.
Several participants stated that one opportunity to expand the provision of legal services would be to engage students in law schools in their home countries to volunteer their services. This engagement could not only increase the pool of people available to provide legal services but also cultivate a larger future generation of lawyers to provide HIV-related legal services.
The participants also reviewed a tool kit developed by IDLO, UNAIDS and UNDP to improve access to legal services in developing countries and transitional economies, one of the key gaps in the world's response to HIV. The toolkit will assist governments and nongovernmental organizations in developing proposals and submitting applications to donors, and in initiating, expanding and strengthening HIV-related legal services.
The toolkit further describes legal-service delivery models applicable in a range of settings for governments, HIV legal organizations, civil society groups, universities and the private sector. It also includes: a model training curriculum for lawyers and paralegals; guidelines for monitoring and evaluating programs; and strategies to mobilize different types of resources.
The toolkit is expected to be published in English in early winter 2009, with official translations to follow shortly thereafter.
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