The Red Ribbon Project, is an initiative by the Human Rights Unit of the Strathmore Law Clinic (SLC) to address the challenges faced by people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) in seeking legal redress. This project seeks to work in collaboration with the HIV & AIDS Tribunal (HAT)  to close that gap by empowering clinicians to provide high-quality representation to PLHIV before the Tribunal. It is guided by the following tenet: client representation, research and policy engagement and institutional collaboration.

Despite more than a decade of operation, enshrined in the Transformative project of the 2010 Constitution, the plight of PLHIV is still comparable to that suffered upon the onset of the virus in 1984. CEO of the tribunal Senior Counsel Annerita Murungi recounts that the stigma in employment, healthcare provision and admission into schools is present today. The HAT, mandated by dint of the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act (HAPCA) to provide a specialised and accessible forum for HIV-related disputes, many PLHIV still struggle with: limited understanding of Tribunal processes; financial and social vulnerability; lack of access to legal assistance; and the complexity of ongoing legal and policy reforms. One such reform is a proposed merger with the Health Tribunal in order to streamline judicial processes, improve operational efficiency and reduce costs by creating a unified-body for health-related disputes.

However, considering the multiplicity of challenges and the omnipresent lack of legal awareness, such a proposition may be overzealous and could actually cause more harm and good. For an effective impact, as reiterated by Senior Counsel Annerita, initiatives should remain grounded in promoting public awareness and education through outreach programs.

The project endeavours to begin by creating a compendium of cases in the HIV/ AIDS tribunal. This involves collating concise but detailed information on the HAT’s cases. To facilitate this, Moses Rotich, Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and a distinguished law reporter for Kenya Law Reports, was tasked with training clinicians on case reporting. This session was remarkable, congruently reinforcing classroom knowledge whilst deepening insights. He began by reiterating accessibility and transparency as the quintessential aims of law reporting. Under this guise and by virtue of the stigma endured by PLHIV, ethical considerations become paramount; privacy, accuracy, neutrality and anonymity.

Consequently, the foundation for the project’s aspirations has been set, promoting access to justice for PLHIV commences.

Written By: Michael Olach