Workshops in Brazil and India lay groundwork for report to UN sub-commission.

　

At last year's session of the UN Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, members agreed to investigate discrimination against persons affected by leprosy, appointing fellow member Yozo Yokota^* as special rapporteur.
　Prof. Yokota will present his findings at the sub-commission's 57th session this August. To assist him in preparing his report, earlier this year The Nippon Foundation organized seminars in Brazil and India on leprosy and human rights.
　The seminars provided Prof. Yokota with an opportunity to hear directly from patients and recovered persons and visit leprosy settlements and hospitals to investigate social discrimination.
　Earlier in the year, Prof. Yokota attended the African Leprosy Congress, where he also interviewed people affected by leprosy.

　

　

The Brazil seminar (February 27-28) was held in Rio de Janeiro with the cooperation of Sao Paulo University, the health ministry and MORHAN. In addition to Prof. Yokota, fellow sub-commission members Jose Bengoa (Chile), Iulia-Antoanella Motoc (Romania) and El-Hadji Guissé (Senegal) also attended. From Brazil, there were participants from the health ministry, the government special secretariat of human rights, legal circles and NGOs as well as recovered persons.
　Sessions included testimony by leprosy-affected persons; the results of a fact-finding survey on Brazil's 33 leprosy colonies; and a report by government agencies tackling human rights issues. By the end of the two-day seminar, a number of proposals addressed to the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) had been drawn up:

　

　

The following month, a second workshop was held in Pune, India (March 18-19) with the cooperation of the International Leprosy Union and IDEA India.
It focused on discrimination in specific areas such as health services, education, housing, marriage, inheritance and disability prevention and also tackled broader social issues involving isolation, stigma and the law.
　Attended by leprosy specialists, legal experts, representatives of NGOs, human rights organizations and others, the workshop heard accounts of discrimination experienced by the many recovered persons present, for whom this was an important opportunity to speak out.
　During the workshop, the result of a recent survey commissioned by an Indian human rights committee on social discrimination against leprosy-affected people in four states was announced. It showed the severe discrimination faced by patients and recovered persons in their daily lives.

　

Prof. Yokota stressed the importance of incorporating the voices of the leprosy-affected in his report, which he said is taking shape as a result of his participation in these seminars. “Normally, it's a three-year process involving a preliminary report, an interim report and a final report. But to speed things up, I am positioning the report I shall be submitting in August as a final report, so that the sub-commission may act on it swiftly.
　“Following on from that, I am hoping that the UNCHR will promptly issue a resolution and that governments in each country will take all necessary measures so that as quickly as possible we can achieve a society in which persons affected by leprosy are accorded equal treatment.”
　Adding a further proposal to those made at the Brazil conference, Prof. Yokota suggested that on World Leprosy Day each year, the UN secretary general, the high commissioner for human rights and political leaders from different countries invite persons affected by leprosy to hear their views.

　

^* Professor of International Law at Chuo University, Tokyo