HIV-positive journalist challenges his dismissal, deportation

More than 100 protestors gathered outside the Johannesburg offices of Qatari state-owned media company Al-Jazeera to protest the journalist's alleged dismissal due to his HIV-positive status.

Qatar is a signatory to one of the ILO's eight fundamental conventions, the 1958 Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, which requires states to enact legislation prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex, nationality, or religious or political beliefs, and Al-Jazeera has denied allegations that the reporter was removed from his post due to his HIV status, but Section27, a South African human rights organisation, has lobbied South Africa's delegation to the ILO to lodge a complaint against Qatar for its failure to abide by international labour conventions. "You see this sort of thing in movies and you react with disbelief; you see it happen to other people and it still seems unbelievable," the journalist, who has chosen to remain anonymous, told IRIN/PlusNews.

While the 1958 declaration does not address discrimination based on HIV status, its preamble references the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which can be interpreted to include HIV, and Section27 attorney Nikki Stein is arguing that the two declarations should be read together. Stein told IRIN/PlusNews that, while the South African Ministry of Labour has agreed with her interpretation, Section27 has not received a response to its request that South Africa lodge a complaint against Qatar at the ILO. Qatar is one of about five countries that deny visas to people living with HIV, and one of about 20 that can legally deport HIV-positive foreigners. Stein's client called his deportation one of the most traumatic events in his life. "What Al-Jazeera did to me makes a mockery of their so-called commitment of fair treatment and giving a voice to the voiceless," he told IRIN/PlusNews.

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