Individuals living with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia often experience stigma and discrimination in almost every aspect of their lives, from the local communities and the government. These individuals are often mistreated, stigmatized, and denied their legal rights because of their HIV/AIDS status. Additionally, many individuals with HIV/AIDS are unaware of their legal rights and therefore are more susceptible to being discriminated against and facing unfair treatment within the criminal justice system. Furthermore, the communities are themselves ill prepared to aid individuals with HIV/AIDS in legal defense representation. This lack of resources makes it extremely difficult for these individuals to exercise the rights they are guaranteed under Indonesian law.

Mr. Hernowo provides legal services to people living with HIV/AIDS and conducts community legal empowerment sessions to educate the local community on their legal rights. To facilitate this education, Mr. Hernowo delivers brochures, booklets, posters and other promotional materials to members of the community. In addition to distributing legal education materials, Mr. Hernowo trains individual community members to increase understanding of the legal materials being distributed. These trainings allow them to act as quasi-paralegals to better assist the community in dealing with criminal defense matters. Lastly, Mr. Hernowo provides legal aid services through direct representation of individuals. Mr. Hernowo’s approach empowers individuals with HIV/AIDS to understand and enforce their rights better as well as providing direct legal representation for people with HIV/AIDS.

A prison guard removes the handcuffs from the client Mao Rom before the trial starts.

Hundreds of thousands of people identified as drug users in China and across Southeast Asia are held without due process in centers where they may be subjected to torture, and physical and sexual violence in the name of “treatment”, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released in July.

International donors and United Nations agencies have supported and funded drug detention centers that systematically deny people rights to effective HIV and drug dependency treatment, and have ignored forced labor and abuse.

The 23-page document, Torture in the Name of Treatment: Human Rights Abuses in Vietnam, China, Cambodia, and Lao PDR, summarizes research with individuals who had been detained in Vietnam, China, Cambodia, and Lao PDR. More than 350,000 people identified as drug users are detained in the name of “treatment” in these countries for periods of up to five years. In many centers, drug users are held alongside homeless people, people with psychosocial disabilities, and street children, and are forced to perform military drills, chant slogans, and work as “therapy.”

International health and drug-control agencies, including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and the World Health Organization, recommend comprehensive, community-based harm reduction services, including evidence-based drug-dependence treatment and access to sterile syringes as essential to protect the health and human rights of people who use drugs. Drug detention centers that hold drug users for long periods of time without providing evidence-based treatment violate these standards and are widely believed to be ineffective. Research in China and Vietnam has found high rates of relapse among individuals held in drug detention centers, as well as increased risk of HIV infection from being detained.

Depending on the country, so-called treatment consists of a regime of military drills, forced labor, psychological and moral re-education, and shackling, caning, and beating. Human Rights Watch documented forced labor in detention centers in China, Vietnam, and Cambodia, though the nature and extent of forced labor varied within and between countries.

In Vietnam, “labor therapy” is stipulated as part of drug treatment by law, and drug detention centers are little more than forced labor camps where tens of thousands of detainees work six days a week processing cashews, sewing garments, or manufacturing other items. Refusing to work, or violating center rules, results in punishment that in some cases is torture. Quynh Luu, a former detainee who was caught trying to escape from one center, described his punishment: “First they beat my legs so that I couldn’t run off again… [Then] they shocked me with an electric baton [and] kept me in the punishment room for a month.”

Access to drug dependency treatment within the centers was either restricted to a small subset of the center’s population, who were also required to adhere to a rigid and punishing forced labor regimen, or nonexistent. Huong Son, who was detained for four years in a drug detention center in Vietnam, said, “No treatment for the disease of addiction was available there. Once a month or so we marched around for a couple of hours chanting slogans.”

Human Rights Watch also found evidence that children were detained in drug detention centers in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Lao PDR, and subjected to the same “treatments,” including forced labor, military exercises, and physical and sexual abuse.

“Drug detention centers jeopardize the health and human rights of detainees,” said Joe Amon, director of the Health and Human Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. “They are ineffective, abusive, and are detaining people in violation of international law.” Mandatory HIV testing was common in China’s drug treatment centers, but test results were not always disclosed to patients. A former detainee in Guangxi Province, China, said, “I was tested in detox twice for HIV but was never told the result. Then when I got out I was so sick that I went to the clinic. I was scared of getting arrested, but I have a son and I didn’t want to die. They tested me and told me I have AIDS.” Unprotected sex and unsafe drug use occur in the treatment centers, but condoms and safe injecting equipment are not available.

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2011 JusticeMakers Gabriela Eugenia Vázquez

Gabriela Eugenia Vázquez es una de nuestros ganadores del concurso JusticeMakers 2011 organizado por International Bridges to Justice. Ha sido abogada practicante en Argentina desde 1991. Ha enfocado su carrera en materia de derechos humanos y su Proyecto con “International Bridges to Justice” a promocionar el derecho a la salud y prevención de VIH/SIDA en el sistema de prisión de Argentina. Asimismo, está fortaleciendo la estructura institucional de los prisioneros en Argentina para ayudar a que haya una mayor conciencia del VIH/SIDA y reducir este problema en las cárceles formando a profesionales de seguridad y la unidad penal con información y asesoramiento. Gabriela ha llevado a cabo varias sesiones de orientación en salud de los internos, donde la práctica de sexo seguro se promueve para ayudar a prevenir la propagación del virus en los centros penitenciarios, así como comprometerse con la unidad de seguridad en prisión para ayudar a reducir tales casos entre los prisioneros.

El SIDA en las cárceles argentinas es un virus que no sólo conlleva la supresión del sistema inmunológico, sino que introduce dentro de las cárceles una serie de miedos y conflictos, complicando aún más la convivencia “entre paredes”. Además de aquellas personas que ingresan ya infectadas, en otros casos se transmite en el encierro. No se les niega a los internos el ejercicio de la sexualidad dentro de los centros pero tampoco se les brinda la protección necesaria, por lo que se vulnera su derecho a la salud. Hay situaciones que seguramente no se podrán cambiar, como los tatuajes caseros (con agujas, obviamente, sin esterilizar) o impedir que las personas ejerzan su sexualidad. Pero sí se puede brindar la educación adecuada y facilitar el acceso a elementos de prevención y tratamiento. Y tan es así, que nuestra JusticeMaker, Gabriela, ha organizado reuniones para planear actividades para aquellos profesionales del Área de la Salud de los Servicios Penitenciarios de Buenos Aires y ha trabajado satisfactoriamente tanto con profesionales (los cuales han ayudado a la prevención, aunque algunas veces los recursos para garantizar el derecho a la salud no son suficientes) como con los prisioneros con su propio auto-cuidado.

Gabriela en uno de sus talleres sobre VIH/SIDA

El proyecto de Gabriela ha sido un éxito. Se desarrollaron los encuentros con el equipo profesional y de seguridad de la unidad penal en el trabajo en prevención del VIH/SIDA. Como resultado, se fortalecieron 30 promotores de salud; los internos solicitaron realizarse el testeo; y además, se dieron folletos instructivos, manuales de formación, y preservativos. El impacto fue tan bueno (participaron 54 personas en las actividades de prevención, entre internos, equipo técnico y seguridad), que le gustaría seguir organizando actividades y talleres.

De hecho, Gabriela seguirá trabajando a través de la Fundación Huésped, que llevan más de 20 años comprometidos con la Prevención del VIH/SIDA, y la Promoción del Derecho a la Salud hacia toda la población en general y en especial a los grupos más vulnerables como las personas que viven en situación de encierro. Desde International Bridges to Justice, queremos agradecer a Gabriela por su compromiso en la aportación de información para proteger un derecho tan importante como es la Salud.

Uno de los panfletos que Gabriela distribuyó a los internos argentinos

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2011 JusticeMakers Gabriela Eugenia Vázquez

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Gabriela Eugenia Vázquez is one of the winners of the 2011 JusticeMakers competition organized by International Bridges to Justice. She has been a practicing lawyer in Argentina since 1991. She has focused her career as well as her Project with IBJ on human rights issues and to promote the right to health and prevention of HIV/AIDS in Argentina’s prison system. Gabriela is strengthening the institutional structure of the inmates in Argentina to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and reduce this problem by training both security professionals and criminal units with information and counseling. Gabriela has conducted several counseling sessions on inmate’s health, where safe sex practice is promoted to help prevent the spread of the virus in penitentiary centers, as well as teach the security unit in prisons how to help reduce such cases between prisoners.

HIV/AIDS in Argentinian prisons is a virus that not only involves the suppression of the immune system, but also introduces a number of fears and conflicts in prison, making life “behind bars” even more difficult. Apart from those people who entered prison already infected, there are many others that get infected once they are inside. The inmates are not denied to have sexual relations in the centers but the necessary protection is not provided either, and therefore it violates their right to health. There are certain situations that cannot be changed, such as homemade tattoos (inked with non-sterile needles) and you cannot stop people from having sex. However it is possible to give the adequate education and facilitate the access to prevention and treatment elements. In order to do this, 2011 JusticeMaker Gabriela, has organized meetings to plan activities for those professionals that work in the Health Area of the Penitentiary Services in Buenos Aires. These meetings had satisfactorily results for both professionals (as they are helping in the prevention, even though sometimes the resources to guarantee the right to health are not enough) and inmates with their own self-care.

Gabriela at one of her workshops about HIV/AIDS

Gabriela’s project has been very successful. The meetings about prevention of HIV/AIDS took place with professionals and the security staff of the prison. As a result, 30 health promoters were trained; inmates asked themselves to run blood tests on them; and moreover, instruction fliers, training manuals and condoms were distributed. It made such a positive impact (54 people participated in the prevention activities, between inmates, technical support and security staff) that Gabriela would like to continue organizing activities and workshops.

In fact, Gabriela will keep working through Fundación Huésped that has been committed to the Prevention of HIV/AIDS for over 20 years, and the Promotion of the Right to Health to all the population in general and specially to the most vulnerable groups of people that live in prison. From International Bridges to Justice, we would like to thank Gabriela for her commitment to provide information in order to protect such an important right, such as Health.

One of the flyers that Gabriela distributed to Argentinian inmates