From China Daily

A professor of law and a lawyer for years, at 65, Yang Shaogang is not a man of impulse. But the director of the Centre for HIV/AIDS Law Studies affiliated with the Law School of Shanghai University couldn't hold back his anxiety when talking about Kan Zhiming's case. Despite the officials' determination to keep AIDS out of China, the disease has spread in the country, with the official figures of HIV infections hitting 840,000 by the end of 2003. With that, the official approach to the disease has changed.

'This year is a turning point, a signal of starting a nationwide campaign against AIDS,' Yang said.

'Senior officials from the central government have begun watching this problem closely. Vice-Premier Wu Yi visited AIDS patients in the hardest-hit region in central Henan Province. And the central government invested huge amounts of money into prevention campaigns and medicines for local communities around the country. This commitment shows the determination of the Chinese Government and people to fight the spread,' Yang said.

Increased public awareness for the seriousness of the AIDS epidemic has also brought about 'very concrete rights for people, such as the right to health, and the right to freedom from discrimination,' Li said.

He said human rights protection did not contradict the welfare of public health. 'Only when every individual's concrete human rights are protected can public welfare be ensured.'

To eliminate discrimination is 'the starting point in China's endeavour to win the battle against the AIDS epidemic, and the pillar for a modern course of human rights protection,' said Wan Yanhai, director of Beijing Aizhixing Institute of Health Education.

As well as the incorporation of human rights into the Constitution last March, a series of measures has been taken by the government in this regard, including the lifting of the ban on HIV carriers to be recruited as civil servants.

Participants agree that it is impossible to reduce the risks of HIV infection just by means of ideological preaching or condom distribution.

'If we don't honestly honor the less fortunate groups' right to health, and respect HIV victims' equal rights, the disease is not likely to be kept at bay,' experts said.

Meanwhile, Kan Zhiming is determined to go on with his legal battle, and has appealed to the intermediate court. Professor Yang Shaogang is still backing him. He and his colleagues and students are committed to providing more people living with HIV/AIDS with more legal assistance in their capacity.

(China Daily December 29, 2004)



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