This is an archive of the Treatment Action Campaign's public documents from December 1998 until October 2008. I created this website because the TAC's website appears unmaintained and people were concerned that it
was becoming increasingly hard to find important documents.

The menu items have been slightly edited and a new stylesheet applied to the site. But none of the documents have been edited, not even for minor errors. The text appears on this site as obtained from the Internet Archive.

The period covered by the archive encompassed the campaign for HIV medicines, the civil disobedience campaigns, the Competition Commission complaints, the 2008 xenophobic violence and the PMTCT, Khayelitsha health workers and Matthias Rath court cases.

JOINT PRESS STATEMENT BY THE AIDS CONSORTIUM, AIDS LAW PROJECT, CENTRE FOR APPLIED LEGAL STUDIES, NATIONAL COALITION FOR GAY AND LESBIAN EQUALITY, AND THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS - TREATMENT ACTION CAMPAIGN

Tuesday, April 20, 1999, 2pm. For Immediate Release

We would like to commend the decision of Justice Edwin Cameron for his stand on openness before the Judicial Services Commission today. For many years before his appointment as a Judge, Justice Cameron was one of the pioneers of calls for human rights, equality, dignity and privacy for all people -- including people with HIV and AIDS. His decision today is in keeping with this.

Justice Cameron's openness is a courageous personal step. It has been taken after careful consideration of the impact that it will have on his personal life -- as well as on the lives of other people living with HIV and AIDS.

We call on all South Africans to continue to respect his right to privacy as well as the rights of millions of others. We restate that the decision to be open about one's HIV status is voluntary. It should be made only when a person feels safe in the knowledge that such disclosure will not lead to personal abuse, unfair discrimination and stigma.

Judge Cameron's decision must not be misunderstood. In his press statement today he confirms that respect of the right to privacy, confidentiality and of access to life-improving treatment is an essential pre-condition for individual 'openness'. It does not in any way lend support to those who are calling for compulsory partner notification or compulsory disclosure.

All South Africans, but especially the government, the churches and people with power and influence in society have a duty to campaign for acceptance of people with HIV.

Issued on behalf of:

Mazibuko Jara & Zackie Achmat: National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality: (011) 487 3810 Peter Busse & Mercy Makhalemela: National Association of People Living With HIV /AIDS (011) 403 8113 Morna Cornell: AIDS Consortium (011) 403 0265 Phumi Mtetwa: Treatment Action Campaign: (011) 403 6918

For further comment please contact Mark Heywood (011) 403 6918