HIV AND PERCEIVED OR ASSOCIATIVE DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION

That this House notes that legal protection for people living with HIV from the effects of HIV prejudice and discrimination has been greatly improved by the extension of the Disability Discrimination Act to cover conditions such as HIV effectively from the point of diagnosis; notes that people who are not themselves HIV positive can face discrimination because of an association with someone who is HIV positive or because they are perceived to be HIV positive; further notes that this could include partners of people with HIV, family members and carers, or just people who belong to groups amongst whom HIV is of higher prevalence, such as gay men and recent African migrants; further notes that the European Court of Justice has been asked to determine whether the European Framework Directive on Equal Treatment in Employment prohibits discrimination on grounds of association with a disabled person following a reference from the Employment Tribunal and the appeal decision of the EAT in the case of Attridge Law and S Law v. Coleman (UKEAT/0417/06/DM); congratulates Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Malta, Denmark, Portugal and Spain for introducing legislation to protect people who experience discrimination on the basis of association or perception of disability; and calls on the Government to follow suit and make explicit provisions prohibiting discrimination on the basis of association or perception of disability in future legislation.