Finalist — Drivers of Change Civil Society category: Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/Aids
HIV/Aids-related human rights issues are often overshadowed by statistics. But what about the survivors; what are the societal and legal responses required for an increasingly complex epidemic?
While antiretroviral drugs help manage the disease, solutions are needed for the destructive social forces it has unleashed. That’s where civil society voices of reason such as the Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/Aids (Bonela) step in.
Bonela operates from Botswana’s capital, Gaborone, a deceptively tranquil place — it’s a pretty mellow city — for a nation dealing with one of the world’s most severe HIV/Aids scenarios. Statistics in recent years have indicated that one in four adults in Botswana is HIV-positive.
Close to 95 000 children in the country have lost a parent to Aids. That’s in a population of less than two million people. A small nation’s economy can crumble if most of its workforce is dying.
The Botswana government learned this early on and it was the first African state to provide antiretroviral drugs to those in need. The government also formed a National Aids Coordinating Agency in 1999, a nationwide, multisector response that included public education, condom distribution and voluntary counselling and testing services.
There is also a range of local and international organisations that offer care and treatment for people affected by HIV/Aids. Bonela’s mission is “to create an enabling and just environment for those infected with and affected by HIV and Aids”.
Its interventions include ensuring access for the marginalised to fight legal battles, like the aircraft engineer who was fired from his job because he was HIV-positive. There have been other workplace successes that are listed on its website, which is a window into and a conversation about a range of legal issues relating to HIV/Aids in the country.
Bonela’s programmes focus on legal assistance, advocacy, research, education and training and a media campaign. It has internship and volunteer efforts that beef up the output of its 20 full-time staffers. Its director, Uyapo Ndadi, is also a National Aids Council member.
Keolepile Motshusi, who nominated Bonela for a Drivers of Change award, said this independent NGO has been a “wake-up call to others that they could also influence change in the country and stop relying on the government as the sole key influencer of public policies”.
“Bonela has been advocating for human rights and there have been several cases of people who were expelled from jobs just because they had HIV/Aids and have been reinstated. “The job losses were going to increase poverty as these people would have been unable to take care of their families,” said Motshusi.
Apart from fighting discrimination and advocating for equal treatment for HIV-positive employees, Bonela campaigns for antiretroviral drug treatment for prisoners and foreigners with HIV/Aids. Its journey so far reads like a David and Goliath tale.
From humble beginnings in 2001 “in the tiniest room staffed by one woman with a table, a chair and third-hand computer equipment”, it has built up to a roar in the face of the gigantic epidemic. The judges commended its work in promoting the rights of homosexual men and women in a region hostile towards homosexual citizens.
“It is working towards legalisation to recognise gay and lesbian relationships in Botswana. “Its work has great potential to shift attitudes and practices towards HIV-positive workers and the rights of homosexual citizens.
“Bonela is a driver of change for advocating against the discrimination and stigmatisation of people and strengthening the integration of human rights into the development of national policy and programmes,” the judges said.