[child-rights] India: AIDS fueled by abuses against children

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Children Affected by HIV/AIDS Face Lethal Discrimination and Exploitation

(New Delhi, July 29, 2004) — India's explosive AIDS epidemic is being
fueled by widespread abuses against children who are affected by HIV/AIDS,
Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The Indian
government's failure to address these abuses is undermining its anti-AIDS
policy and putting millions of lives at risk.

The 209-page report, "Future Forsaken: Abuses Against Children Affected by
HIV/AIDS in India," documents that many doctors refuse to treat or even
touch HIV-positive children. Some schools expel or segregate children
because they or their parents are HIV-positive. Many orphanages and other
residential institutions reject HIV-positive children or deny that they
house them. Children from families affected by AIDS may be denied an
education, pushed onto the street, forced into the worst forms of child
labor, or otherwise exploited, all of which puts them at greater risk of
contracting HIV.

"Children are being turned away from schools, clinics and orphanages
because they or their family members are HIV-positive," said Zama
Coursen-Neff, senior researcher with Human Rights Watch's Children's
Rights Division and author of the report. "If the Indian government is
serious about fighting the country's AIDS epidemic, it should stop
ignoring children affected by AIDS and start protecting them from abuse."

In India hundreds of thousands of children are living with HIV/AIDS,
according to official statistics. Children of parents with HIV/AIDS suffer
in turn: many are forced to withdraw from school to care for sick parents,
are forced to work to replace their parents' income, or are orphaned.
Although the government has not conducted studies to assess the number of
children affected by AIDS, some experts calculate that more than 1 million
children under age 15 have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS. The
Indian government estimates that 5.1 million people are living with
HIV/AIDS in India.

Street children, child sex workers and children of sex workers, children
from lower castes and Dalits (or "untouchables") suffer even more as they
also face other forms of discrimination. Sexual abuse and violence against
women and girls, coupled with their long-standing subordination in Indian
society, make them especially vulnerable to HIV transmission. Girls are
also more likely to be pulled out of school to care for a sick family
member or to take over domestic work. When living with HIV/AIDS, they may
be the last in the family to receive medical care.

Many children—and the professionals who care for them—are not getting the
information about HIV they need to protect themselves or to combat
discrimination. Fewer than half of all secondary schools offer any AIDS
education. Those that do teach about HIV/AIDS do so at an age when most
children, especially girls, have already dropped out. And the government
is utterly failing to provide information to millions of India's children
who are not in school but on the streets, at work, in institutions, in
non-formal schools and at home.

"Children need accurate information to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS,"
said Coursen-Neff. "But the most vulnerable children are those who've
dropped out of school, and they're the ones who are least likely to get
lifesaving information about HIV prevention."

Misinformation and fear also cause some families to reject children who
are HIV-positive or who are perceived to be. Although some state
governments, like that of Tamil Nadu, have begun programs to educate the
public, most have not.

"Many teachers, doctors, government officials and ordinary people in India
still don't know the basic facts about HIV transmission and AIDS care,"
Coursen-Neff said.

In addition, many HIV-positive children are denied medical care because
government facilities are either unavailable or lack basic medical
supplies. Struggling families caring for HIV/AIDS-affected children find
it even harder to pay school fees and related costs, further preventing
some children from attending school.

Some government officials have started to speak out about the need to
reach children who are seen to be "innocent victims." But children who
face high risk of HIV, such as street children or child sex workers, are
blamed for their "bad behavior" and their needs ignored.

Human Rights Watch called on the Indian government to take immediate
action to:

* Enact and enforce legislation proscribing discrimination against people
living with HIV/AIDS. Among other things, such legislation should specify
that children may never be barred from school solely because they are
HIV-positive.
* Ensure that children living with HIV/AIDS receive all available medical
care, including antiretroviral treatment.
* Address school fees and related costs that keep children, especially
girls, from going to school. Children in school are generally less
vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.
* Provide care and protection to children whose parents are unable to care
for them because of HIV/AIDS.
* Provide all children, both in and out of school, with comprehensive,
accurate and age-appropriate information about HIV/AIDS.

Testimonies of children and parents from the report, "Future Forsaken":

"Anu P.," a 6-year-old in Maharashtra, was sent home from kindergarten in
2003 by her teacher, who instructed Anu's older sister to tell her "please
not to come again to the school." Her grandfather, who had been caring for
Anu and her siblings after their parents died of AIDS, explained, "The
teacher didn't allow her to come to school because she believes Anu is
HIV-positive. I believe that other parents were talking amongst
themselves, so the teacher said she shouldn't come." Her grandfather said
he was afraid that if he protested, Anu's older sister might be sent away
from school as well. A nearby private doctor told Anu's family not to
bring the girl to his clinic "because if you do, other people won't
come.'" The reason the man gave, her uncle said, was because of HIV. Anu's
66- six-year-old grandmother had been taking her on foot to the government
hospital, but the distance had become too far for her to walk, her
grandfather explained.

"Sharmila A.," age 10, was HIV-positive and had lost both of her parents
to AIDS. She stopped going to school in the fourth grade. "When I went to
school, I sat separately from the other children, in the last mat. I sat
alone.
The other children wanted to be with me, but the teacher would tell them
not to play with me. She said, 'This disease will spread to you also, so
do not play with her,'" Sharmila said. When she developed tuberculosis,
she began traveling some four to five hours to reach a government-run
hospital for free medical care. However, the hospital in Tamil Nadu did
not provide antiretroviral drugs, and her health did not improve. Sharmila
died in January 2004.

"Kannammal P." put her oldest daughter in an orphanage when she became
unable to care for all of her children, she told us. Shortly thereafter,
her husband was diagnosed with HIV. She went back to the orphanage and
asked them for help. Instead, she said, "they asked the child to be
tested, and then they wanted her to leave. . . . Despite pleading with the
school authorities, they said, 'Sorry, please find another place. We are
not free to take her.'" Her daughter's HIV test, she said, was negative.

"Future Forsaken: Abuses Against Children Affected by HIV/AIDS in India"
is available at: http://hrw.org/reports/2004/india0704/

Human Rights Watch Press release

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