Friday, 29 March 2024 00:00

Tadjikistan: People living with HIV complain about stigma and discrimination

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Despite the fact that attitudes towards HIV infection have been revised in the world for a long time, in Tajikistan people living with HIV face difficulties in finding a job, they have problems with education and even treatment in ordinary polyclinics is sometimes impossible for them if they reveal their status.
The story of Nigina
Six years ago, during pregnancy, Nigina (name changed) was diagnosed with HIV. Since then, she has constantly faced various difficulties and discrimination.

She believes that she was infected by her husband, who was in labor migration in Russia, although he denies this, accusing her of treason.

"My husband has been a migrant worker for many years. When he came to Tajikistan for the last time, I became pregnant with my second child. During the examination, I was diagnosed with HIV. The doctors said that my husband should also be examined, but he did not agree, accusing me of cheating, and saying that I infected him. I tried to explain to him that I had done nothing wrong and that I did not know how I had infected
 
 
Tajik society lives by old stereotypes about HIV/AIDS
According to the Republican Center for Combating the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, 732 new cases of HIV infection were registered in the country in the first nine months of 2021.

In total, according to the data presented in the National HIV Response Program/AIDS for 2021-2025, the total number of officially registered HIV cases in Tajikistan for 2020 was 11,986 people, of whom 7,698 (64.1%) were men and 4,288 (35.8%) were women.


Tahmina Khaidarova, head of the Tajik Network of Women Living with HIV NGO, believes that despite globalization and a huge amount of information, Tajik society still lives by old stereotypes and stigmatizes people living with HIV.

"Old stereotypes of stigma and discrimination, such as "HIV is the plague of the 21st century" (although HIV is a manageable disease and does not pose a threat to society), "HIV is a disease of promiscuous people" (sex workers)
 
"As we can see, there is no such reason for violation of rights as a state of health. And in principle, in matters of liability for discrimination, this list should not be limited. This is also noted by the UN Human Rights Committee in its concluding observations to Tajikistan in 2019," the lawyer says.
"Article 17 of the Constitution and other legislative acts guarantees the equality of all people before the law and the exercise of their rights without discrimination on a number of grounds. The UN Human Rights Committee draws attention with concern to the fact that the existing legal framework does not provide comprehensive protection against discrimination on all grounds prohibited under the Covenant," Alexandrova notes.

There is a general criminal liability for violation of the right to work in Article 153 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Tatarstan "Violation of labor legislation," she reports.
"Knowingly unlawful dismissal of a person from work, failure to comply with a court decision on reinstatement to a previous job, as well as other intentional substance
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