NGO Report on HIV/AIDS and the Rights of the Child in China
1. Beijing Aizhixing Institute
Together with
2. Healthy and Happy Family (working with women and children infected by HIV and hepatitis through blood transfusion in Ningling County of Henan Province of China)
3. Xin'ai Female Sex worker's Home (working on health, rights and violence of female sex workers in Tianjin, China)
4. Zhecheng County HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment Community Based Association (working with people infected in selling blood plasma in mid 1990s in Zhecheng County of Henan Province, China)
5. China Health Action (an USA based advocacy group on HIV/AIDS, health and human rights in China)
6. Zhejiang Aixin Working Group (HIV/AIDS group working among MSM in Zhejiang Province, China)
7. China Grassroots Women’s Rights Studio (advocacy group for women’s rights including rights of female sex workers in China)
8. Henan Community Information Support Center (capacity building of grassroots NGOs working on HIV/AIDS in Henan Province of China)
November 15, 2012
Content
Preface
1. Chinese government main commitments on children affected by HIV/AIDS
2. Size of children affected by HIV/AIDS
3. Health and rights faced by children affected by HIV/AIDS
4. Implementation of welfare and security policies for children affected by HIV/AIDS
5. Lack of school HIV/AIDS education and sexuality education
6. Recommendations
Preface
In the past 6 years (2006-2012), Chinese government emphasized care, support and treatment of children affected by HIV/AIDS. Also, China committed to provide HIV/AIDS education and teenager sexuality education in schools.
On March 1st 2006, China began to implement Regulations on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment promulgated by China State Council, and safeguards a care policy for children of families of people with HIV/AIDS, medical care and free ARV treatment for poor people with HIV/AIDS. On December 1st, 2006, Premier Wen Jiabao and deputy premier Wu Yi invited children affected by HIV/AIDS to visit China central government office and committed that medical care of all children affected by HIV/AIDS will be covered by government. On March 17th, 2009, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs published a national guideline “Opinions on Further Strengthening Welfare and Security Work for Children Affected by HIV/AIDS”, aiming to implement State Council’s “Regulations on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment”, “China Action Plan on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment in 2006-2010” issued by the State Council, and “Opinions Regarding Strengthening Orphan Support” issued by Ministry of Civil Affairs together with other 14 ministries or sectors.
“Regulations on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment” clarifies duty of schools in HIV/AIDS education. And China “Population and Family Planning Law” provides duty of schools in sexual health education and Adolescence education. On December 30th, 2010, China State Council published “Notice Regarding Further Strengthening HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment” which requires strengthening school HIV/AIDS education. On May 11th, 2011, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health published “Opinions Regarding Further Strengthening HIV/AIDS Prevention in Schools clearly requires schools to provide HIV/AIDS education and safeguard education rights of people with HIV/AIDS.
In the past 10 years, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao visited medical care institutions working on HIV/AIDS and communities affected by HIV/AIDS in Beijing, Henan and Sichuan many times, and committed to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and child support.
However, China lacks of transparency in its HIV/AIDS epidemiological data, prevention and treatment, it is difficult for the public to understand how government implements regulations, policies and commitments. China lacks of accountability in the implementation of regulations and policies, it is difficult for the public to take legal actions to push government keep the promises. Because of restriction relating to residency identity, discrimination against ethnic migrants in cities, language difficulties, children affected by HIV/AIDS among migrants especially among ethnic migrants lack of social economic support and medical care. Sate sex is still taboo in school sexuality education and HIV/AIDS education. Schools tend to provide abstinence education instead of comprehensive education including both abstinence and safer sex for teenagers in schools. Discrimination against LGBT is severe in HIV/AIDS educational materials or sexuality educational materials. LGBT students lack of safe and supportive environment including in campus. Chinese young people are facing severe threat of HIV infection.
This report will emphasize protection of health and rights of children affected by HIV/AIDS, school HIV and sexuality education, support for LGBT students, and then give recommendations to Chinese government. We will UN CRC will pay attention to issues, problems and recommendations in our report.
1. Chinese government main commitments on children affected by HIV/AIDS
In recent years, Chinese government carried out some commitment policy of the on AIDS-affected children (including the children who already have HIV or AIDS, and the children who influenced by AIDS), these policies are as follows, and this report will focus on the analysis of the implementation of the following terms:
1). Regulations on AIDS Prevention and Treatment
“Regulations on AIDS Prevention and Treatment” came into effective on March 1, 2006, and the terms related to AIDS-affected children are as follows:
Article3. Law protects the legal rights of people living with Human Immune Virus (HIV) and AIDS patients and their relatives. It includes the rights of marriage, employment, assessment of medical treatment and education. Any institute or individual shall not discriminate the people living with HIV, AIDS patients and their relatives.
Article13. The competent educational administrative department of the people’s governments at or above the county level shall supervise and monitor the educational activities on AIDS prevention and treatment, including in-class educational courses and out-class educational activities, in universities, colleges, multi-technical schools, and middle schools. Universities, colleges, multi-technical schools and middle schools shall organize their students to learn relevant knowledge about AIDS prevention and treatment.
Article43. Medical care and health institutions shall provide counseling and test on AIDS prevention and treatment for pregnant women, and provide counseling on preventing mother-child AIDS transmission, pre-delivery direction, blocking, treatment, post-delivery direction, baby follow-up visit, test and other services for the mother and her baby who is infected by HIV, in accordance with the requirements of the directory technical protocol of preventing AIDS transmission from mother to child formulated by the competent health department of the State Council.
Article44. The people’s governments at the county level or above shall take the following measures on AIDS prevention and treatment, care and succor: (1) Freely to provide drugs of anti-retro-virus to rural AIDS patients and urban AIDS patient with economic difficulties; (2) Properly to provide free or low-cost medicine to rural and urban HIV/AIDS patients who are in economic difficulties during the treatment of their opportunity infections; (3) Freely to provide counseling and primary test to the people who are voluntarily received these services; (4) Freely to provide counseling and treatment to HIV infected pregnant women for the purpose of preventing the mother-child AIDS transmission.
Article45. Orphan, who was left by AIDS patient and with economic difficulties, and pre-matured child, who was infected by HIV, shall have free-text books/notes and free-school-services when they receive their compulsory education; when they receive pre-school and high school education they shall have low or free tuition and other relevant costs.
Article46. Local governments at the county level or above shall provide succor to HIV positives, AIDS patients, and their relatives when they have economic difficulties and in accordance with the conditions of civil alleviation.
2). Law of the People's Republic of China on Population and Family Planning
“Law of the People's Republic of China on Population and Family Planning” came into effective on September 1, 2002, and the term about sex health education is as follows:
Article13. Departments in charge of family planning, education, science and technology, culture, public health, civil affairs, the press and publication, and radio and television broadcasting shall make arrangements to conduct public education in the importance of the population program and family planning.
The mass media are obligated to give publicity to the population program and family planning for the public good.
School shall, in a manner suited to the characteristics of the receivers and in a planned way, conduct among pupils education in physiology and health, puberty or sexual health.
3). "Ministry of Civil Affairs on further strengthening the protection of the welfare of children affected by AIDS comments on the work”
In March 2009, Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs issued "Ministry of Civil Affairs on further strengthening the protection of the welfare of children affected by AIDS comments on the work” (〔2009〕No.26)[1]. The document explicitly the scope of children affected by AIDS supported by Ministry of Civil Affairs, including children orphaned by AIDS, the children whose parents are infected with HIV or were dead as a result of AIDS, children, living with HIV or AIDS-affected children. And the document proposes to “perfect the mechanisms of AIDS-affected Child welfare and security, and do a good work of welfare and security for children affected by AIDS.”
The document said “For AIDS orphaned children living with HIV or HIV-infected children, should pay the minimum parenting standards for 600 Yuan per person per month for basic subsistence payments; right one parent infected with AIDS or children who die due to AIDS may also refer to this standard the issuance of basic living guarantee payments”.
“Promote equality of education opportunity for AIDS orphaned children living with HIV or HIV-infected children, convenient basic medical conditions, set up employment and living services system for older children affected by AIDS, and take a variety of forms proper placement of children orphaned by AIDS.” “In accordance with the principle: centralized maintenance is a supplement to decentralized maintenance, and respect for children’s willingness, raise AIDS orphaned children in different forms, such as domestic adoption, families adopted children, centralized maintenance and so on”.
4). Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health documents on AIDS education in schools
In 2002, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health jointly issued the "The Notice on strengthening the school's AIDS health education”[2], the notice is to implement the "China containment and prevention of AIDS Action Plan (2001-2005)". And the notice requires that, from the fall of 2002, gradual improvement of AIDS health education in all general secondary schools, secondary vocational schools, colleges and universities, all-round implementation of AIDS health education in junior high school, high school, college and in different ways such as classroom instruction, seminars, and multimedia teaching.
“All levels educational administrative departments should be in accordance with the work plan and arrangements, and carry out AIDS prevention health education inspection on a regular basis,……And the sampling results will be reported to relevant departments.”
On May 11th, 2011, in order to the implement of “the State Council on Further Strengthening the AIDS prevention and control work notice "([2010] No. 48)[3], Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health jointly issued a document on “further strengthening the school prevention AIDS education”. The document shows that “all levels of education and health administrative departments should ensure AIDS prevention education in the schools at all levels in the junior high school or a comprehensive, in-depth and effective level”.
“AIDS prevention education should be put into school teaching plans and annual examination content, and it should to protect AIDS prevention education teaching hours, teaching materials, teachers and funding”.
And the document proposes the specific request “6 class hours in junior middle school, 4 class hours in high school of AIDS prevention thematic education time, to ensure the implementation of the colleges every year at least 1 class lectures time to teach students in the way of special education and seminars on AIDS prevention knowledge and skills. "
Goal: "to ensure that by 2015, 100% of the ordinary secondary schools, secondary vocational schools, colleges and universities should carry out AIDS prevention and control knowledge special education or publicity and education activities, and more than 90% students should master the AIDS prevention and control knowledge."
The document makes the rule that “local educational administrative departments and schools should be under the unified leadership of the local government, and would be in close coordination with the health, civil affairs departments. Through various forms and channels, the relevant policies will protect children affected by AIDS to accept the legitimate rights and interests of education. In the pre-school stage, compulsory education stage, high school and higher education stage, AIDS-affected children can get financial aid to avoid dropping out of school.
5). Chinese Children's Development Program
< Chinese Children's Development Program (2001-2010)[4] said that, the number of children living with HIV and AIDS patients showed a rising trend, we should improve children survival, protection and development conditions, promote the healthy development of children, and it is still an important task of the next period.
Strengthen child health care education, prevention and control of sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, tuberculosis.
We will develop a nationwide education and science popularization work, and improve women and children in self-care and utilization of health services. Carry out the hazards, prevention and advocacy work of self-prevention knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS; further attention in adolescents adolescent education, smoking and drug prevention education.
< Chinese Children's Development Program (2011-2020)>[5]:
Main objectives of Children and health: make a control of common childhood diseases and AIDS, syphilis, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and other major infectious diseases.
Strengthen disease control and prevention for children. To expand the scope of national immunization programs, strengthen the construction and maintenance of the vaccine cold chain system, specification vaccination behavior. Encourage the development and production of child-specific drugs, expanding the variety and dosage forms range of pediatric drugs in the National Essential Drugs List, and improve children's medication directory. Strengthen comprehensive services for prevention of HIV and congenital syphilis in maternal and child health routine work. Make sure that the detection rate of HIV and syphilis can reach to 80% and 70% respectively, the intervention of mother-baby transmission provided for more than 90% of rural HIV infectors.
Protection rights of life, education, and health care, fair employment for AIDS-affected children and under the age of 18 years old children whose parents are in prison.