6 October 2005
THE Human Rights Commission (HRC) and other human rights bodies in Zambia have roundly condemned the Australian government's decision to deny a visa to an HIV-positive Zambian student.
Human rights bodies have asked the Zambian Government to openly protest against the decision.
The organisations did not rule out that the verdict could have been racially motivated and challenged leaders of the developed nations to condemn the stigmatising action.
HRC chairman, Mumba Malila said the Australian government's action was unacceptable and called for condemnation from all human rights observing countries world over.
In an interview, Mr Malila said the decision by the Australian government set a bad precedent, especially that Australia was a developed country, which was in a better position to respect human rights.
"We are disappointed by the action, which is contrary to the United Nations 1996 guidelines on how to handle an HIV-positive person in relation to immigration procedures," he said.
Mr Malila, who is a lawyer, said the commission suspected the decision was, somehow, racially instigated and wondered whether if the immigrant involved was from the West, the Australian government would have done the same.
Last Thursday, the Federal Court of Australia ruled in favour of the government which had denied a visa to an HIV-positive Zambian student who wanted to pursue his PhD studies in that country.
Amnesty International-Zambia executive director, Charles Mulenga said the decision by Australian authorities took away many rights from the affected Zambian.
Mr Mulenga said that apart from robbing him of his right to non-discrimination, the move infringed upon the applicant's right to education, movement and many others.
The decision had left heavy burdens on the Zambian as he had obviously been stigmatised by the action.
Australia should leave up to its status as a developed country and respect human rights.
The Southern African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) executive director, Lee Habasonda dared the European countries and US to condemn the act by their fellow developed country.
Mr Habasonda said if it were Zimbabwe or any other country in Africa, which was the culprit, the Western countries would have come up with threats of all sorts of sanctions against it and challenged them to do the same.
"The action is obvious repugnant to the natural justice and it should not be condoned by anyone. We feel that the developed countries should not apply double standards on issues of human rights.
"The discrimination of our Zambian national is unfair and we ask our Government, through the ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene," he said.
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