KAMPALA – The Uganda Network on Law, Ethics and HIV/AIDS (UGANET) will on Tuesday, December 10, 2019, host a high-level national dialogue to discuss issues related to HIV, health and the law.
UGANET is hosting the dialogue alongside a number of partners who include the Uganda AIDS Commission, The AIDS Support Organization (TASO), UNAIDS, UNDP, Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF), and the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS.
Among the at least 100 delegates expected for the national dialogue, which will be held at the Pearl of Africa Hotel in Kampala, are senior officials in government, the donor community, and civil society.
The theme for the workshop is “Leaving No One Behind: Working in unison towards effective approaches to addressing human rights barriers hindering the attainment of the goal to end the HIV/TB epidemics.”
The half-day conference is scheduled to start at 8 A.M. and end at 1:30 P.M. The opening ceremony will be headlined by a speech from the Minister for the Presidency, Esther Mbayo, while the closing remarks will be delivered by the Minister of Health, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng.
Justice James Ogoola, a retired principal judge, will deliver the keynote address titled, “Health and Justice Systems Leaving No One Behind.”
The conference will have four different panels to discuss different aspects of the day’s theme. These include the state of HIV, TB and human rights today (Panel One); What are the evidential approaches to addressing rights violations? (Panel Two); Taking a stand for human rights (Panel Three); and Catalyzing leadership, action, and partnership in ending HIV-related abuses (Panel Four).
During the conference, UGANET will also release two reports. The first is a legal review and assessment of the impact of existing progressive and punitive laws, policies and regulations. The second is on the annual state of human rights violations for Key Populations (KPs) and Persons Living with HIV/TB.
Based on Plot 19, Valley Road in Ntinda Ministers’ Village, UGANET is social justice and Law non-profit that champions human rights and gender equality work in the context of HIV/AIDS & health. It undertakes legal aid clinics countrywide to fight stigma and discrimination against persons living with HIV and provides strategic litigation support to combat the criminalization of HIV-affected persons or groups.
UGANET, whose Twitter handle is @uganetlaw, has put together a team of social media ambassadors to follow the conversation at the national dialogue and live tweet using the hashtags #NoOneLeftBehind, #EndStigmaUG, #EndDiscriminationUG, and #EndHIV2030UG.
