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12 Liverpool L. Rev. 3 (1990)

handle is hein.journals/lvplr12 and id is 1 raw text is: The Liverpool Law Review Vol. XII(1) [1990] 3 HIV, AIDS AND HUMAN RIGHTS L.J. Moran* With the emergence of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, (AIDS) legisla- tors, policy makers, concerned professionals and many others have addressed the question of the relationship between public health policy and the law. Existing practice demonstrates that law has a wide range of functions.' The extensive use of government guidelines2 which recommend strategies and precautions for controlling the spread of HIV demonstrate the importance of the advisory function in law. The enabling or appropriating function of law is demon- strated in the authorised provision of services, such as education,3 * Solicitor, Lecturer in Law. This research has been undertaken with the support of the University of Sussex, Arts Area Research Fund. Special thanks to Neil Duxbury, Zdenek Kavan, Professor Arthur S. Leonard, William B. Rubenstein, Tom Stoddard and the staff of the Aids Discrimination Unit of the New York City Human Rights Commission especially Catherine Franke. 1 The functional categories referred to during the course of the article are drawn from an article by L. Gostin and A. Zeigler, A Review of AIDS- Related Legislative and Regulatory Policy in the United States, in AIDS Law and Policy, 15/1-2 Law Medicine and Health Care (1987), 5- 16, p.5. 2 See, for example, Department of Health and Social Security, Informat- ion and Guidance on A.I.D.S. (Acquired Immune Deficiency Synd- rome) for Local Authority Staff, LASSL (86)8, 1986, and Department of Employment and the Health and Safety Executive, A.I.D.S., Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and Employment, 1986. 3 Education is of particular interest as it demonstrates that government responses to the need for and provision of education are contradictory. On the one hand education has been named as the most significant means of fighting the spread of the virus but on the other hand education reforms have given schools the right to opt out of education (the provision of sex education) which provides important opportunities for HIV/AIDS education. See s.18(2) of the Education Act No. 2 1986 and Department of Education and Science Circular No. 11/87. Similar contradictory messages are be found in s.28 of the Local Government Act 1988 and the Department of Environment Circular 12/88, dealing