New Delhi: Chairman of the NHRC Justice (RET) Arun Kumar Mishra said on Tuesday that countries need to revoke the laws and various provisions, which discriminate against leprosy affected people, and they need to be replaced by policies and frameworks that will protect their human rights.
He led a meeting organized by the National Human Rights Commission to discuss issues relating to people affected by leprosy, officials said.
“Countries need to revoke laws and various provisions, which are discriminatory to people affected by leprosy.
It needs to be replaced by policies and frameworks that will protect their human rights,” Mishra said like saying in a statement issued by Statement issued by.
NHRC.
During the discussion, it was very felt that in addition to some problems though, the Covid-19 pandemic further worsened the conditions of people affected by leprosy, especially those related to food and their livelihoods, he said.
He said joint efforts need to be made to be sensitive and create the awareness needed among different stakeholders who are leprosy is not a very contagious disease, and that the people affected can be cured and can be integrated into the mainstream and be questioned with family they.
Revealing serious concerns over the poor living conditions of the colony of leprosy people, the NHRC chairman said some “drastic and concrete actions” must be taken to ensure that the scheme and funds mean to the welfare of those people and their colonies are implemented, with all funds Really and intended to use correctly.
He said civil society and NGOs also need to work more sincerely to improve the cause of people affected by leprosy and to integrate their colonies with the mainstream of the community.
Integrated efforts also need to be done to convince people affected by leprosy to return to their homes, he said.
Some other important suggestions that arise during the discussion include that the state needs to conduct research to find out how many leprosy cases are reported every year to understand whether this disease decreases or increases in the country.
They also need to study to find out the number of colonies of people affected by leprosy and the number of people living there; Appoint Nodal’s welfare officials to act as bridges between state machines and colonies of people affected by leprosy to help them benefit from the government scheme, the statement said.
Focus on education and kids counseling from leprosy affected people to overcome stigma and help them integrate with the mainstream of the community; It must be ensured that sanitation, water, electricity and other basic facilities, including health services, financial assistance is given to people affected by leprosy who live in separate colonies, NHRC suggests.
Another suggestion is to give them skills for their socio-economic empowerment to get sustainable livelihoods with dignity; And these countries need to regulate the fund monitoring system given to NGOs working for the welfare of leprosy people to ensure the use of the right funds, the statement said.
The meeting was attended by members of the NHRC Justice M M Kumar and Rajiv Jain, Secretary General, Bimbadhar Pradhan, and field expert, including Vineeta Shanker, former Executive Director of India Leprosy Foundation and Nikita Sarah from Leprosy Mission India, among others.