There was a visible presence for China during AIDS 2010, which included a delegation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from the country. Chinese officials also presented on the government’s work on HIV/AIDS, which elicited critical feedback from activists. In this article from the HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review, conference attendees Sara L. M. Davis and Li Dan outline the main human rights issues in China’s response to HIV/AIDS.

*  *  *

On 5 July 2010, less than two weeks prior to AIDS 2010, China convened the Red Ribbon Forum, a meeting of government officials, NGOs and experts to discuss HIV/AIDS and human rights. The gathering was the first in China to bring NGOs and officials together to discuss human rights.1 The key issues addressed during the meeting are varied and form the basis of any discussion on the human rights challenges related to HIV/AIDS in the country.

The HIV blood disaster
In the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of farmers in central provinces such as Henan were infected with HIV through an unsafe blood collection program and subsequent hospital transfusions of contaminated blood.2 The disaster attracted international attention.3 Because hospitals never informed those who received contaminated transfusions of the risk of HIV transmission, some received inappropriate treatment for opportunistic infections and died as a result.

China has yet to create any system to compensate victims or to hold health officials accountable. Local courts refuse to accept HIV-related lawsuits and local activists have been detained.

In December 2009, China’s leading AIDS whistle-blower, Dr. Gao Yaojie, relocated to the United States of America, expressing concerns for her safety. She was followed in May 2010 by well-known HIV activist Wan Yanhai.4 In August 2010, just weeks after the Red Ribbon Forum, activist Tian Xi was detained after continuing protests on behalf of himself and others infected with contaminated blood.5

Discrimination
A 2009 UNAIDS report found that 42 percent of Chinese people living with HIV/AIDS (PHAs) experience stigma.6 While Chinese policies discourage discrimination, there is no national law that either clearly defines the term or prohibits discrimination. Chinese NGOs have reported that PHAs who require surgery may be tested without their consent and then refused care.7

PHAs also report that schools refuse to accept children whose parents are living with HIV/AIDS.8 In August 2010, an Anhui man sued the Education Bureau in the country’s first AIDS-related occupational discrimination suit.9

Criminalization
China has made impressive strides in providing methadone and needle exchange for drug users in a growing number of regions. However, both sex work and drug use are criminalized in China. Drug users may be stopped by police and forced to undergo urine-testing at any time, and can be imprisoned for up to six years in abusive forced detoxification centres.10 Identity card records identify former detoxification centre detainees, affecting their ability to find employment and housing. Sex workers can be sent to similar facilities during periodic “Strike Hard” anti-crime sweeps and may have their occupations exposed to the public through media coverage during such sweeps.

Testing
The government and international donors have actively promoted HIV testing among vulnerable communities. Yet, while China provides free AIDS treatment, many people are reluctant to take the test. AIDS activists say that testing centres fail to protect patient confidentiality. As a result, a positive test can be profoundly destructive to a person’s ability to live with her family, work, rent an apartment or educate her children.11

PHAs also report hospitals testing people without their consent. Forced detoxification centres also test detainees without consent and without informing them of their status.12 These issues surrounding confidentiality consent and discrimination must be addressed if more people are to come forward to be tested.

International funding
Grassroots groups of PHAs and affected communities have also reported barriers to fundraising. Some NGOs allege that funds from the Global Fund are distributed through local government agencies that skim off a large percentage for themselves, or register “fake” NGOs to access funds.13 New restrictions on foreign wire transfers make it harder for independent NGOs to raise funds overseas.14

These issues are serious, but the rapid evolution of China’s AIDS policies in the past ten years gives some hope. In his opening speech at the Red Ribbon Forum, Mark Heywood, chair of the UNAIDS Theme Group on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, called on authorities to work closely with civil society.15 Through collaboration, government and NGOs can find workable solutions.

— Sara L.M. Davis and Li Dan

Notes:
1 J. Shan, “Red ribbon forum redoubles AIDS fighting bid,”
China Daily, 6 July 2010.
2 Human Rights Watch, Locked doors: The human rights of
people living with HIV/AIDS in China. September 2003, online:
www.hrw.org/reports/2003/china0803/; Asia Catalyst,
AIDS blood scandals: What China can learn from the world’s
mistakes. September 2007, on-line: www.asiacatalyst.org/
news/AIDS_blood_scandals_rpt_0907.pdf.
3 E. Rosenthal, “AIDS scourge in rural China leaves villages
of orphans,” The New York Times, 25 August 2002, on-line:
www.nytimes.com/2002/08/25/international/asia/25ORPH.
html; E. Rosenthal, “AIDS crusader’s international award
wins scowls in China,” The New York Times, 31 May 2001,
on-line: www.nytimes.com/2001/05/31/world/
aids-crusader-s-international-award-winsscowls-
in-china.html.
4 M. Moore, “Chinese AIDS activist Dr. Gao ‘in exile
in United States’,” Daily Telegraph, 2 December 2009,
on-line: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/
china/6710901/Chinese-Aids-activist-Dr-Gao-in-exilein-
United-States.html; P. Ford, “Another AIDS activist,
Wan Yanhai, flees China,” Christian Science Monitor, 10
May 2010, on-line: www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-
Pacific/2010/0510/Another-AIDS-activist-Wan-Yanhaiflees-
China.
5 “China AIDS campaigner detained,” Bangkok Post,
August 21, 2010, on-line: www.bangkokpost.com/
breakingnews/192279/china-aids-campaignerdetained-
activists.
6 “UNAIDS: 42% of Chinese carriers experience
stigma, discrimination,” People’s Daily Online, 27
November 2009, on-line: https://english.peopledaily.com.
cn/90001/90782/90880/6826691.html.
7 Human Rights Watch (supra).
8 Asia Catalyst, “I will fight to my last breath”: Barriers to
AIDS treatment for children in China. April 2009, on-line:
www.asiacatalyst.org/pediatric_AIDS_report/.
9 Li Guangming, “Anhui college student sues education
bureau for rejecting him after positive HIV test,” Legal
Daily, 26 August 2010.
10 Human Rights Watch, Where darkness knows no limits:
Incarceration, ill-treatment, and forced labor as drug rehabilitation
in China. January 2010, on-line: www.hrw.org/en/
reports/2010/01/07/where-darkness-knows-no-limits-0.
11 Asia Catalyst, “I will fight to my last breath” (supra).
12 Human Rights Watch, Where darkness knows no limits
(supra).
13 A. Jacobs, “HIV tests turn blood Into cash in China,” The
New York Times, 2 December 2009, on-line:
www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/health/policy/03china.html.
14 S. L. M. Davis, “On impacts of China’s SAFE regulation
regarding overseas donations,” Harvard Hauser Center
for Nonprofit Organizations, 16 June 2010, on-line:
www.hausercenter.org/chinanpo/2010/06/on-impacts-ofchinas-
safe-regulation-regarding-overseas-donations/.
15 “China’s first forum on AIDS and human rights,” Asia
Catalyst, 7 July 2010, on-line: https://asiacatalyst.org/blog/
2010/07/chinas-first-forum-on-aids-and-human-rights.html.