HIV-RELATED LEGAL SERVICE MODELS
Toolkit: Scaling Up HIV-Related Legal Services
law and have a good understanding of local police and prosecution practices. The retainer is funded through a donor grant from the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) to the UDAAN Trust for the National MSM and HIV Policy Advocacy and Human Rights Task Force. Through this project, the taskforce works with human rights lawyers to defend men who have sex with men and transgender people in the Indian court system. Model 8. HIV LEGAL SERVICES PROVIDED BY A UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL This model maximizes use of volunteer students and lawyers and provides ready access to academics and experts. The model can be highly efficient in terms of cost. University legal aid centres can have outreach capacity and good links to the private legal profession for pro bono referral. In Africa, services provided by law students exist in high HIV prevalence settings, including in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Sierra Leone, United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Examples are also found in Brazil, China and South Asia. In many countries, however, the work that law students can do on behalf of clients is restricted because of their inability to practise before courts.
Case study: law school legal services, South Africa In South Africa, legal services provided by law schools are relied on extensively to provide low-cost or free advice and representation services to poor communities. The University of KwaZulu-Natal operates a legal service with two main goals: the provision of free legal services and practical legal training to law students. The university provides legal and educational services in the fields of access to land and housing, livelihoods, gender and children’s rights, juvenile justice and HIV. The service addresses systemic causes of human rights abuses through monitoring, advocacy, documentation and networking. HIV issues addressed by the service have included discrimination in the workplace and insurance, HIV testing issues, access to treatment, discrimination in relation to benefits, services, treatment and care. In some instances the representation of a client has required court advocacy. However, in most instances issues have been resolved through negotiation with the relevant institution. The service has mainstreamed HIV issues into its overall work, to address the issues holistically. Ramgobin A (2003). Discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS. Paper delivered at the First All-Africa Colloquium on Clinical Legal Education, Durban, South Africa. Open Society Justice Initiative. Combining learning and legal aid: CLE in Africa. Durban, South Africa.
Case study: Zambian students initiate national HIV legal service, ZARAN ZARAN (Zambia AIDS Law Research and Advocacy Network) began as an association at the University of Zambia. It was initiated by a group of law students who were interested in addressing the legal and ethical challenges of HIV. In 2001, ZARAN evolved from a student organization and was registered as a nongovernmental organization. These changes included setting up a secretariat, recruiting staff, establishing a governance body and mobilization of resources for the operations of the organization. ZARAN conducts research, capacity-building of the legal profession and advocacy and runs a legal clinic. ZARAN has partnered with the Southern Africa Litigation Centre to conduct test cases on HIV-related discrimination to challenge the dismissal of HIV-positive members of the Zambia Air Force. 26