PAPUA CONSIDERS 'CHIPPING' PEOPLE WITH HIV/AIDS

The Papua Legislative Council is deliberating a regulation that would
see microchips implanted in people living with HIV/AIDS so
authorities could monitor their actions.

According to Article 35 of the regulation on healthcare in the
province, to supervise and control people with HIV/AIDS a "detection
device is needed to monitor the movements and sexual activities of
people with HIV/AIDS".

The article has been condemned by activists and government officials
in the province as a gross violation of rights.

Dr. John Manansang, a member of the working group deliberating the
regulation, told reporters in Jayapura that if the regulation was
approved by the council in its present form, the article on
microchips would be implemented.

He said the microchips would be implanted in people with HIV/AIDS who
engaged in high-risk behavior, such as unprotected sex or the sharing
of needles.

He said this was necessary to monitor the movements and activities of
these people.

"It will only be imposed on people with HIV/AIDS who practice
high-risk behaviors. Implanting the microchips is expected to check
the number of people infected by the deadly virus in Papua."

Manansang said the spread of HIV/AIDS in Papua had reached a point
where it "threatened the existence of the Papuan people", making it
necessary that authorities introduce new policies to deal with the disease.

"Now nearly 24 percent of the Papuan population has been infected
with HIV/AIDS. It's time to try a different policy ...," he said.

He said a special team would be set up to implant the microchips, and
that the program would be kept guarded so most people would not know
its details.

The head of the Papua chapter of the National AIDS Commission,
Constant Karma, slammed the proposal as a violation of human rights.

"People with HIV/AIDS are not like sharks under observation so that
they have to be implanted with microchips to monitor their movements.
Any form of identification of people with HIV/AIDS violates human
rights," he said.

Karma also questioned who was behind the proposed program.

"We're not involved in the process of its drafting, and then suddenly
the draft appears ... we don't know who prepared the regulation."

Papua Health Office head Bagus Sukaswara also said his office had not
been involved in the regulation.

"If the regulation is approved, who will be in charge of implementing
the policy? I'm sure no doctors will be willing to do so. Giving out
the identity of the patients ... would be a violation of their oaths
as doctors," Bagus said.

Bagus said his office had submitted a draft regulation on healthcare
to the council, and there was no mention of identifying and
monitoring people with HIV/AIDS.

According to data from the Papua Health Office, the province has seen
3,375 people with HIV/AIDS.

This includes 1,879 people with HIV and 1,496 people with AIDS,
including 356 who have died.