Indonesia's Papua plans to tag AIDS sufferers

[AlaskaDenise]

JAYAPURA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesia's Papua province is set to pass a bylaw that requires some HIV/AIDS patients to be implanted with microchips in a bid to prevent them infecting others, a lawmaker said on Saturday.

Under the bylaw, which has caused uproar among human rights activists, patients who had shown "actively sexual behavior" could be implanted with a microchip to monitor their activity, lawmaker John Manangsang said.

"It's a simple technology. A signal from the microchip will track their movements and this will be received by monitoring authorities," Manangsang said.

If a patient with HIV/AIDS was found to have infected a healthy person, there would be a penalty, he said without elaborating.

The Jakarta Post newspaper on Saturday quoted Constan Karma, the head of Papua's National AIDS Commission, as saying the plan violated human rights.

The local parliament was expected to introduce the controversial legislation in Papua, which lies in Indonesia's easternmost fringe, by end of this month, Manangsang said.

The number of HIV/AIDS cases per 100,000 people in Papua is nearly 20 times the national average in Indonesia, according to a government study in 2007.

Health experts say the disease has been spreading rapidly from prostitutes to housewives in the past years.

High rates of promiscuity, rituals in some Papuan tribes where partner swapping takes place, poor education about AIDS and lack of condoms are among factors that cause the spread of the disease there.

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE4AN3U620081124

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Indonesia's Papua plans to tag AIDS sufferers

There was a recent BBC Drama - The Last Enemy - which included "tagging" people. The show showed how the practice violated peoples' rights and opened the door for abuse.

I wonder why Papua would consider this tactic while other countries have not?

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[Shiloh]

Re: Indonesia's Papua plans to tag AIDS sufferers

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/12/16/papua-puts-controversial-microchip-plan.html

Tuesday, December 16, 2008 8:15 AM

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Papua puts off controversial microchip plan
Nethy Dharma Somba , The Jakarta Post , Jayapura | Tue, 12/16/2008 7:18 AM

Papua?s provincial legislative council has decided to postpone the endorsement of the Papua HIV/AIDS Handling bylaw planned for approval this Monday, after the provincial administration deemed it would violate human rights.

?The endorsement was postponed because the legislative and executive branches had different perceptions on the use of microchips for people with HIV/AIDS,? council deputy speaker Komarudin Watubun told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

?The executive sees it as violating human rights, while we councilors view it as an effort to build awareness within society.?

Several NGOs working on HIV/AIDS and women?s issues have also expressed strong opposition to the draft bylaw, Komarudin added.

Because of this deadlock, he went on, the provincial administration and the legislature might agree to strike the controversial microchip article from the draft, following widespread public rejection of the article.

?If the public cannot or will not accept (the article), the council cannot force its will,? he said.

?The bylaw?s endorsement depends on public reaction. Why would we pass it if the public was against it?

?The draft bylaw will only be passed when the administration, legislature and NGOs agree on it. Meetings will be held to reach this.?

Papua Vice Governor Alex Hasegem, reading the administration?s response at the legislature?s plenary session, said HIV/AIDS handling should apply universal principles.

One of those principles, he went on, was to respect people living with HIV/AIDS by eradicating stigmata and discrimination.

?Implanting microchips in people with HIV/AIDS is not in accordance with these principles because it is a form of stigmatizing,? Alex said.

The proposed measure has never been done anywhere in the world and has not been tested to gauge its success.

Alex rejected the inclusion of the microchip article in the draft bylaw, saying the regulation was not meant as a test run for the microchip scheme.

As it stands, the 40-article bylaw requires microchips be implanted in people with HIV/AIDS deemed aggressive, or actively seeking sexual intercourse.

In November, councilor John Manangsang said the public should not misunderstand human rights as it related to this issue.

?If we respect the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, then we must also respect the rights of those without,? he said.

He added the public should judge the draft bylaw as a whole rather than by its constituent articles.

?The draft, for instance, requires everyone to take HIV/ AIDS tests so preventative measures can be taken early on.?