PLHIV Stigma Index in Nepal

5.2 Violation of RightsRespondents were presented with a number of situations regarding the violation of their rightsarising owing to their HIV status (Figure 5.1). They were asked to indicate whether any of thesituations were experienced by them in the 12 months prior to the survey. Denial of health/life insurance (9%), followed by forceful testing for HIV during medical procedure (8%) werethe violations of rights that were reportedly experienced by the respondents during the 12month period prior to this survey. A significant number of respondents (6%) were compelled todisclose their HIV status to enter another country.Figure 5.1 Violation of rightsDisclosed HIV status to apply for residenceDisclosed HIV status to enter anothercountryForced to test HIV/medical testDenied insuranceNothing happenedPercentage total exceeds 100 due to multiple responses01 4521033378333511262220 4060768980 100TGFemaleeThe violation of right that was experienced most often by the respondents of the Mid-Westernregion was denial of insurance (28%), and none of the respondents experienced any forcefultesting for HIV during medical examination. In the Eastern region, the most experienced rightsviolation was forceful testing of their HIV status during medical examination, as reported by 18per cent of respondents. In contrast, the respondents of the Far-Western region reported theleast number of experiences of rights violation across regions (Table 5.3)MaleTable 5.3 Region-wise violations of rightsDuring the last 12 months, haveyou experienced any of thefollowing situations because ofyour HIV status?Development regionEastern Central WesternMid-WesternFar-WesternDenied health/life insurance (%) 7.1 12.1 7.6 28.1 2.2 8.7TotalForced to test for HIV/medicalexamination (%)17.9 9.5 6.1 — 3.3 8.0Asked to disclose HIV status toenter another country (%)10.3 12.1 4.6 1.8 1.1 6.4Asked to disclose HIV status toapply for residence (%)5.1 3.7 2.3 1.8 0.5 2.7None of these things happenedto me/no response (%)69.2 73.2 85.2 70.2 94.5 80.5N 156 190 263 57 182 848Percentage total exceeds 100 due to multiple responsesData indicates that respondents were subjected to a range of rights violations due to theirHIV status. One out of eight respondents (14%) had reported that their rights violationshad occurred during the 12 months prior to the survey. The proportion of females whohad experienced rights violations during the 12 months prior to survey was higher (20%)than that of males (9%) during the same period. Out of the respondents who experiencedrights violations during the previous 12 months, one out of eight (14%) attempted to seeklegal redress. The legal process yielded mixed results. Approximately 35 per cent of therespondents stated that the matters of rights violation had been resolved, 24 per cent hadstated that the matter was still in process and 41 per cent of the respondents failed toachieve any result through the legal process. In order to protect their rights, approximatelyone respondent out of ten respondents (11%) sought the support of government employees,whereas a similar proportion (10%) of respondents approached politicians (Table 5.4).Table 5.4 Violation of human rights and effort to seek legal redressViolation of human rights and effort to seek legal redressViolation of the rights of a person living with HIV(N = 845)Attempted to seek legal redress for any violation ofrights (N = 117)The outcome of legal redress (N = 17)Male (%) Female (%) Total (%)8.2 20.0 14.017.1 13.4 14.5The matter has been dealt with 33.3 36.4 35.3The matter is still in process 33.3 18.2 23.5Nothing happened/the matter was not dealt with 33.3 45.5 41.2Attempted to seek support from a governmentemployee (N = 8)14.7 9.6 11.042 Attempted to seek support from a politician (N = 7) 11.8 9.6 10.243