Egypt: 117 NGOs Slam HIV-Based Arrests and Trials

In a letter to the Health Ministry and the Egyptian Doctors’ Syndicate, the groups, led by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, said that doctors who helped interrogate men jailed on suspicion of being HIV-positive violated their own medical ethics, and their conduct led to a breach of trust in a privileged relationship.  
 
“Doctors must put patients first, not join a witch-hunt driven by prejudice,” said Joe Amon, director of the HIV/AIDS program at Human Rights Watch. “Now more than 100 human rights groups are reminding Egyptian doctors of the oath they took to respect patients’ privacy, autonomy and consent. This is one of the oldest traditions of medical responsibility, as well as an obligation under human rights law.”  
 
The groups signing the letter span 41 countries on six continents. They include international and national organizations working on issues of health and human rights, and defending the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS. The countries represented are: Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, France, Grenada, Guyana, India, Iran, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia, the Slovak Republic, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela.  

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