Court of Appeal to Rule on Foreign Prisoners’ HIV Treatment
Gaborone–On Wednesday, 26 August 2015, the Botswana Court of Appeal will deliver judgment in an appeal against a 2014 decision of the High Court to provide anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment to foreign prisoners.
What: The Botswana Court of Appeal will deliver judgment in Attorney General and Others v Tapela and Others, a case concerning the right of HIV-positive non-citizen prisoners to access ARVs.
Where: Court of Appeal, Gaborone, Botswana
When: 09:30 am, Wednesday, 26 August 2015
In August 2014, two foreign prisoners and the Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA) succeeded in a High Court challenge against the government’s policy refusing to provide HIV-positive foreign prisoners with ARVs. The High Court, per Sechele J, held that the policy was unlawful and unconstitutional. It ordered that all HIV-positive foreign prisoners who meet the treatment criteria be provided with ARVs.
The State parties appealed the decision to the Court of Appeal. The hearing was held on 23 July 2015. The government appellants argued that the State is not legally obliged to provide the treatment at State expense and that budgetary policy considerations underlie the refusal. BONELA persisted in its arguments that the government is legally and constitutionally obliged to provide ARV treatment to all HIV-positive prisoners who meet the treatment criteria.
“The Court’s decision will put to rest the question of whether the government is legally obliged to provide foreign prisoners with ARV treatment. Irrespective of the legal outcome on Wednesday, BONELA maintains that ethically and in terms of good public health policy, ARVs should be provided indiscriminately,” says Cindy Kelemi, director of BONELA.
