an Eldis Resource

This report presents research conducted in Kazakhstan in 2002 to demonstrate that officials routinely harass and discriminate against injection drug users and sex workers, compounding their already marginalised status and reinforcing their reluctance to use AIDS-related health services, including needle exchange

The paper argues that while on the one hand, some state health facilities have attempted to reach out to drug users and other high-risk groups by offering prevention and care services, other state actors, in particular law enforcement agents, dissuade persons at risk from taking advantage of these services through repressive practices. Other vulnerable persons, including men who have sex with men, and those already living with AIDS, are similarly deeply stigmatised and marginalised

The paper makes recommendations to the government of Kazakhstan on HIV/AIDS, international human rights conventions and on law enforcement conduct. It also makes recommendations to the National AIDS Program, U.N. agencies and other multilateral and bilateral donors, the European Union and Member States, the United States, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Recommendations to the government of Kazakhstan on HIV/AIDS include:

• implement fully and as soon as possible the decision announced by the government in July 2002 to rescind the policy of mandatory testing of all persons in government detention. Review the proposed replacement policy on voluntary testing against the United Nations International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, with particular attention to safeguarding the provision of voluntary and confidential HIV testing and minimising the use of mandatory HIV testing by the state
• discontinue the registration of HIV-positive persons by government offices and any other practice that violates an individual's right to confidentiality about HIV status
• discontinue the practice of isolation of HIV-positive prisoners
• discontinue the practice of confiscating official identification papers of detainees, drug users and persons living with HIV/AIDS
• amend Article 14(2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan on non-discrimination or issue a policy or official edict to interpret the article to ensure that no person can be discriminated against based on HIV status or sexual orientation. Similarly, specify that all persons regardless of HIV status should enjoy equality before the law, as noted in Article 14(1)
• ensure the prompt review of HIV/AIDS legislation and regulations being undertaken by the government and the use of international standards
• establish humane treatment services for narcotics addiction
• at AIDS centres, skin and venereal disease hospitals and other health facilities, establish health services for persons at risk of and living with HIV/AIDS according to the standards of the U.N. International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, with particular attention to confidentiality of HIV testing and non-mandatory HIV testing with appropriate counselling. Eliminate all practices by government authorities at these centres and facilities that violate the right to confidentiality of HIV testing and to non-mandatory HIV testing

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