NHRC's national seminar on leprosy<br>

The National Human Rights Commission organized a day-long conference on Leprosy in New Delhi on the 18th September, 2012. Inaugurating the semi-nar, Mr. Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Chairperson, NHRC said that the state has a duty to protect rights of persons affected by leprosy. Various programmes have been prepared by the Central and State Governments to provide equal opportunity to leprosy-affected persons in society, but many of these are not being effectively implemented. The statistics related to schemes on leprosy sound good on paper, but ground realities are different.
Justice Balakrishnan said that leprosy is a curable disease, but the misconception about it continues in society. Due to this, leprosy affected persons are denied equal opportunity in society impacting their economic and social status.
Justice Balakrishnan said that there might be instances wherein leprosy affected persons have had been denied their constitutional rights, among others, including right to life, right to liberty and right to equality. Leprosy should not be the reason to deny anyone the right to marry or divorce.
Justice Balakrishnan said that issue of financial assistance to leprosy affected persons is a point of serious concern. Some States have a provision of pension for them, but most of the others do not have such a scheme. Moreover, there is no uniformity in the amount of pension being paid to them. They are forced to live in appalling conditions in colonies, deprived of proper water, sanitation and other facilities which are essential for leading a dignified life. Their children are also discriminated against, and they are not able to avail the facilities of education which is their fundamental right.
Earlier, echoing the similar sentiments on ordeal faced by leprosy patients, Mr. J.S. Kochher, Joint Secretary (Training), NHRC said that it is time some serious attention is paid to address their problems so that there is discernible change on the ground. He said on its part, the NHRC has made several efforts to take up the cause of leprosy patients and has had held consultations with the Central and the State Governments apart from generation of awareness regarding these.
Several important issues concerning the laws, social and economic rights, welfare schemes for the leprosy-affected persons were discussed during the three thematic sessions of the seminar, chaired by the Members of the Commission, Mr. Justice G.P. Mathur, Mr. Justice B.C. Patel and Mr. Satyabrata Pal.
Justice Mathur chaired the session on "Rights of persons affected by Leprosy; Sharing of best practices". Highlighting the legal and policy provisions for the leprosy patients he said that the country has made programmes, but a lot was still needed to be done. He wondered that the drug to cure leprosy in India was still being imported.
Justice Patel chaired the session on "Economic and social rights: Current scenario and challenges". Discrimination associated with leprosy, rights of persons affected by leprosy; their pension and other socio-economic challenges faced by them were highlighted in the session.
Chairing the session on "Review of implementation of central schemes for persons affected by leprosy", Mr. Satyabrata Pal said that an authentic study of the problems of leprosy patients and auditing of their welfare schemes is necessary. The Planning Commission, which has conducted a number of such reviews in different fields, including health, is yet to take up this issue.
It was unanimously felt that in addition to working towards changing the mindset of the people about the myths attached with leprosy, it is essential to have a re-look into all the Acts and Rules at various levels, which may be discriminatory to persons affected with leprosy. It was also felt that apart from the treatment facilities for leprosy-affected persons, their economic and social rehabilitation should receive attention from government.
Participants included, among others, representatives of the Central Ministries, States, civil society, international institutions, SHRCs and senior officers of the NHRC.