Hiv Discrimination Laws

They are highly vulnerable to discrimination at every stage in life such as education, insurance, employment, housing or medical services. Discrimination is said to have occurred when a person diagnosed as HIV positive is not treated in the same manner as a person diagnosed as HIV negative in an analogous situation either at the work place, hospital, religious places, social gatherings or any other place. Discrimination is the aftermath of a stigma and it may or may not be intentional. Whether it is deliberate or not, the fact is that discrimination on the basis of HIV status is not acceptable by the law and is a direct violation of their human rights.
 
Anti-discrimination measures include the Disability Discrimination Act, 2005, which extends disability protection to HIV positive people. Development and implementation of workplace policies based on anti-discrimination laws, enforcement of professional codes of ethics and promotion of non-discriminative behavior (tolerance, inclusion, and support) by the company or firm towards people diagnosed as HIV positive is a basic obligation under this Act.

HIV is often viewed as an outcome of a homosexual relationship or any other form of illicit relationship involving multi-partner sex. Therefore, although this type of social stigma and discrimination associated with HIV is covered by the Disability Discrimination Act, it also merits protection in the form of sex discrimination laws.