Legal and Policy Perspectives on HIV and Human Rights in the Caribbean: Papers from a Symposium at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, September 13-14, 2010

The papers assembled in this offering are the outcome of a path-breaking symposium on HIV and Human Rights organised by the University of the West Indies Cave Hill, in partnership with Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) and The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). An impressive gathering of international agencies, the judiciary, human rights experts, lawyers, NGO’s, academics, activists, business persons, union representatives, politicians and persons living with HIV together discussed their concerns about stigma, discrimination and the denial of rights. It was clear at the end of the Symposium that HIV attracts a wide variety of human rights abuses. However, identifying the best means to address these can be controversial, as illustrated in the book. Is it through Constitutions and their provisions guaranteeing human rights generally? Or should redress be sought through the courts, or ordinary legislation? The urgency of the matter perhaps makes the latter a more attractive approach. The book also illustrates clearly the social and legal issues faced by the protagonists in the HIV challenge and considers the viewpoints of the policy makers, who must not only encourage new, more “rights’ sensitive laws, but also counter societal prejudices which would mitigate against such transformational initiatives. Moreover, the influences of the international community, also represented in the work, must be harnessed. This then, is a diverse text, which considers the troubling, topical and important issue of HIV from a variety of angles and provides a significant contribution to the literature on the subject.