Vol 14, No 5 (C)
BACKGROUND: HIV/AIDS IN INDIA
ABUSES AGAINST HIV/AIDS OUTREACH WORKERS
During the writing of this report,
Ashok Pillai, president of the Indian Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS
in Chennai, died on April 19, 2002, at the age of thirty-one, one month
after he graciously received a Human Rights Watch team in his office and
helped us to understand the challenges faced by persons with AIDS in India.
Ashok Pillai was an inspiring defender of the human rights of persons infected
and affected by HIV/AIDS. His life was an example of one of his principal
messages, that HIV/AIDS does not cause people to "turn into skeletons"
and be written off. In the eleven years since his infection, in various
forums in India and around the world, Ashok Pillai courageously raised
attention to the indignity and human rights abuses suffered by people with
HIV/AIDS and those around them. This report is dedicated to his memory.