Tuol Sambo ‘AIDS’ colony
July 29, 2009
It’s going to be pretty hard to pass this one off as “economic development.”
AIDS campaigners and rights groups protested on Tuesday at Cambodia’s shunting of sufferers of the virus into an insanitary “AIDS colony” outside the capital.
Over 100 international and domestic pressure groups told Prime Minister Hun Sen and Health Minister Mam Bunheng in a letter they were “deeply disturbed” by the government’s treatment of 40 HIV-affected families.
[...]
“By bundling people living with HIV together into second-rate housing, far from medical facilities, support services and jobs, the government has created a de facto AIDS colony,” said Shiba Phurailatpam, of the Asia-Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, in a statement issued by the groups.
Rebecca Schleifer of New York-based Human Rights Watch said: “The housing conditions in Tuol Sambo pose serious health risks for families living there.
“People living with HIV have compromised immune systems and are especially vulnerable. For them, these substandard conditions can mean a death sentence or a ticket to a hospital,” she added.
Who is responsible for this decision? The media should find out. And prosecutors should start preparing a case. Because it’s all but certain that at least one of those 40 HIV-positive people will die as a result of the move. That’s negligent homicide, at least, if not outright premeditated murder.
