Posted on allafrica.com
Kampala — ARMY spokesperson Maj. Felix Kulayigye has lashed out at embassies that deny visas to HIV-positive soldiers. He said this was a form of discrimination by the developed world.
If you have been nominated in the UPDF to go for training abroad, the embassies we have here subject you to a rigorous medical examination. If you are found HIV-positive, they do not allow you to go. Whereas the institution has nominated you because the course is not physically strenuous, some of these countries do not want you to go there," Kulayigye said.
He said there was also discrimination against HIV-positive soldiers by the United Nations.
They test you for HIV and if you are positive you do not go for a UN mission. I believe this will contribute in reducing the lifespan of the victims. In South Africa, it boomeranged. They almost failed to get troops to go for UN missions."
Kulayigye made the remarks while addressing AIDS activists at Hotel Africana in Kampala during the launch of publications on HIV/AIDS and human rights by the Uganda Network for Law Ethics and HIV/AIDS.
He disclosed that soldiers who have developed AIDS are exempted from strenuous work. Kulayigye also criticised courts for giving light sentences to rapists and defilers.
The organisation's executive director, Beatrice Were, said: "Unless we put human rights high on the agenda, we will not succeed in fighting HIV/AIDS. The epidemic is mainly spread through human rights violation."
