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"Demystifying HIV & AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill 2017" A Public Lecture by Adv Anand Grover, Senior Advocate, in the Supreme Court of India and the Director of the Lawyer’s Collective (India)
May 6, 2017 @ 10:30 am - 1:00 pm
“Demystifying HIV & AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill 2017”
A Public Lecture by Adv Anand Grover,
Senior Advocate, in the Supreme Court of India and the Director of the Lawyer’s Collective (India)
Saturday | 6th May 2017 | 10.30 am – 1.00 pm
Co-organised by The International Centre Goa
with Positive People and The Lawyers Collective
Entry Free & Open to All
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About the Speaker:
Anand Grover is a designated Senior Advocate, practicing in the Supreme Court of India and the Director of the Lawyer’s Collective (India), with offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. He was the UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (Right to Health) by the UN Human Rights Council from August 2008 to July 2014. Anand Grover is a well-known long-time advocate and activist for HIV and human rights.
He has argued many cases relating to the rights of people living with HIV, including the first HIV case in India relating to employment law, on sexual diversity, including the case which decriminalized consensual same-sex activity in the Delhi High Court (set aside by the Supreme Court in December 2013), and Supreme Court cases relating to women with respect to employment, sexual harassment at the workplace etc.; patent cases to make medicines accessible in India; cases relating to the rights of sex workers and people who use drugs; cases on tobacco use; and cases regarding the death penalty for people who use drugs. He was also appointed the Special Public Prosecutor in the 2G government corruption scandal, the largest public corruption case in India’s history.
He has spoken and at national, regional international conferences. Anand Grover has worked closely with UNAIDS on HIV-related rights and law issues for many years and has been a valuable resource for it. In this regard, he has served on the UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights which advises UNAIDS Executive Director, Michele Sidibe, on how it can strengthen the commitment and capacity of governments, civil society and the private sector to protect and promote human rights in relation to HIV. At the request of the Government of India, Anand Grover and the Lawyers Collective drafted the HIV Bill, which is pending with the Government.
He was a member of the drafting group of the International Guidelines on Human Rights & HIV/AIDS and is a member of National Board, AVAHAN, the India AIDS Initiative, Gates Foundation, Board Member of International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, the Reference Group on Human Rights to the Executive Director, UNAIDS, National Advisory a member of the World Care Council, a member of the Core Group of NGOs representatives in the National Human Rights Commission of India and the member of the National Advisory Board on HIV and AIDS set up the Prime Minister of India.
He is presently a member of Global Commission on Drug Policy and member of the Lancet-University of Oslo Panel on Global Governance of Health.
In August 2008, Mr. Grover took over from Paul Hunt, as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health for a period of six years. He has submitted eleven reports to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) and the UN General Assembly on i) TRIPS, Patents, FTAs and the Right to Health; ii) Informed Consent and the Right to Health, iii) Criminalization of HIV transmission, same sex relations and sex work and the Right to Health iv) Criminalization of Drug use and the Right to Health; v) Development and Right to Health; vi) Elderly Persons and the Right to Health; vii) Right to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Criminalization; viii) Access to Medicines and the Right to Health; ix) Occupation Health; x) Health Financing and xi) Migration and Health; xii) Conflict and Health; xiii) Promotion of Unhealthy food and health and xiv) Evaluating the Right to Health. He has also undertaken nine countries missions, to Poland, Australia, Guatemala, Syria, Ghana, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Japan and submitted reports of his missions to the HRC.
Synopsis:
In efforts to strengthen public health legislature for the HIV community, the Lok Sabha passed the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Prevention and Control) Bill, 2017 on 11th April 2017. The Bill had been passed by the Rajya Sabha on March 22 , 2017
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Prevention and Control) Bill, 2014 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on February 11, 2014 by the Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The Bill seeks to prevent and control the spread of HIV and AIDS, prohibits discrimination against persons with HIV and AIDS, provides for informed consent and confidentiality with regard to their treatment, places obligations on establishments to safeguard their rights, and creates mechanisms for redressing their complaints.
About the organizers:
Positive People
A pioneering organization in the field of HIV/AIDS, founded by Late Dominic D’Souza, the first HIV positive activist in Goa in 1992. It addresses various issues related to HIV prevention, care and support, advocacy, training and research. www.positivepeoplegoa.org
The Lawyers Collective
Lawyers Collective promotes human rights issues, especially issues relating to women’s rights, HIV, tobacco, LGBT and parliamentary corruption in India. It is a leading public interest service providers in India and has set high standards in human rights advocacy, legal aid and litigation. www.lawyerscollective.org