Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

( L - R ) Jacobs and Clayton

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) yesterday insisted that there should not be mandatory HIV/AIDS testing for the purposes of employment, noting that this was a violation of human rights.

"The ILO position on it is that testing should not be a pre-requisite for employment (or) access to resources that are available within the company or for promotion or any kind of movement within the organisation," said Nasolo Jacobs, National Programme Coordinator for the ILO.

"It (the ILO Convention) does not actually say that they should not be tested for the purposes of exclusion, it says they shouldn't be tested," Jacobs told a Gleaner Editors' Forum, held at the newspaper's North Street head offices, Kingston.

But while the Jamaica Employers' Federation (JEF) reiterated that employers should not demand that their employees undergo HIV/AIDS testing as a condition of employment, it noted that employers at times have a right to know an employee's status.

No legitimate reason

"We also conclude that it cannot be true that under no circumstances should an employer have any legitimate interest in knowing the HIV/AIDS status of an employee," said Charles Clayton, research and development cooperation manager at the JEF.

Mr. Clayton further explained to The Gleaner that there are certain jobs that could give risky exposure to HIV/AIDS. He noted that if the employer has knowledge of the employees' status, then this could protect the employer, the HIV positive employee and his or her colleagues.

Mr. Clayton pointed out that while the testing for HIV/AIDS is deemed inappropriate, unethical and unfair, employees are routinely subjected, without force, to tests and questions about heart trouble, cancer, high blood pressure, among other things, as a pre-requisite to accessing group insurance and employment.

He noted that the medical tests that people are often subjected to, without complaint, are no less intrusive than the test for HIV/AIDS, noting that the real concern was that while a positive test for other illnesses may not result in stigma and discrimination, there is a real possibility that a positive HIV/AIDS result would lead to the reverse.

And Professor Peter Figueroa, Chief of Epidemiology in the Ministry of Health, said while his ministry wants everybody to get tested, he could not agree with routine testing for employment.

The Ministry of Health estimates that of the 25,000 persons who are living with HIV/AIDS in Jamaica,15,000 do not know their status.