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Beijing (AFP) Nov 12, 2010 A court in eastern China on Friday ruled against a man who claimed he was denied a job because he is HIV-positive, in the nation's first such discrimination case, one of his lawyers said. The plaintiff, who has been identified only by his alias Xiao Wu, lost his case against the education department of Anqing city in Anhui province, the attorney, Zheng Jineng, told AFP. "The plaintiff is not satisfied with the verdict. We have decided to appeal," Zheng said. The lawsuit alleged city officials denied the plaintiff, a recent college graduate, a teaching job after a medical screening for illnesses including syphilis and hepatitis C revealed he had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The screening was conducted after he had already passed written tests and interviews, state media has reported. Zheng said the court ruled that the education department had acted appropriately to deny the man employment, but he said the decision ran contrary to existing employment law. Calls to the court for confirmation of the verdict went unanswered. Ahead of Friday's ruling, another of the man's lawyers, prominent Beijing rights attorney Li Fangping, had told AFP the Employment Protection Law would be up for scrutiny if his client lost. "It contains a clear rule that (employers) cannot violate a person's employment rights because he or she carries a disease," Li said last month when the case was heard. The plaintiff had asked for the education department to give him the job, state media has said. Li said the department had defended itself by saying the decision was made "with the interests of the students and the public in mind." AIDS has long had a heavy stigma attached to it in China, with sufferers forced to hide their condition. However, there have been recent signs that attitudes are changing. The government has started talking more openly about HIV prevention and control in China, though people with HIV/AIDS still encounter huge discrimination in employment, education and healthcare. China says that at least 740,000 people are living with HIV but campaigners say the actual figure could be far higher. The head of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibe, warned last year that 50 million people in the country were at risk of contracting the AIDS virus, mainly through unprotected sex or the sharing of needles. Despite signs of openness, the hassling of some independent campaigners and organisations has nevertheless continued. High-profile activist Wan Yanhai, whose group helped uncover a major tainted blood-selling scandal in the 1990s, fled to the United States with his family earlier this year because he said he feared for his safety.
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Tuberculosis levels off with progress in China, India: WHOGeneva (AFP) Nov 11, 2010 The World Health Organisation said on Thursday that the number of cases of tuberculosis worldwide had levelled off last year, with lifesaving inroads against the disease especially in China and India. An estimated 9.4 million people contracted the disease in 2009, the same number as the previous year, the WHO's annual report, "Global Tuberculosis Control 2010" found. The WHO said the inc ... read more |
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