Dear Editor,
I wish to respond to misrepresentations by Mr Arif Bulkan, published in the Stabroek News of September 6 under the rubric of the ‘In the diaspora,’ on Caricom policies and practices related to HIV and AIDS and offer some clarifications.
First of all, it is not the practice of the Caricom Secretariat to conduct pre-employment screening in order to discriminate against any prospective employees. The Human Resource Department of the Caricom Secretariat is currently in the process of adopting the ILO workplace policy which prohibits such practices. In fact, as pointed out in the recent articles on this matter, the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS (Pancap) which falls under the purview of the Directorate of Human and Social Development, has been working assiduously over the past 5-6 years, at least, to develop anti-discrimination policies and legislation to prohibit such practices throughout our region, in both public and private sectors (including regional organizations) and has been mobilizing technical assistance and other types of expertise to support its efforts in this regard.
This fact is evidenced by:
1. The draft model anti-discrimination policy completed in June 2010 calls on governments not only to adopt workplace policies but to enact legislation to prohibit discrimination based on real or perceived HIV status and to prohibit consideration of HIV status in recruitment, promotion, conferral of benefits or termination of employment.
2. The accompanying draft model legislation completed in June 2010 proposes that all governments prohibit these discriminatory hiring practices and prohibit discrimination in work and states that no one should be compelled to take an HIV test.
3. Resources mobilized and budgeted by Pancap through a Global Fund Round Grant to commence shortly will be used to facilitate the regional approval process of these model instruments as well as to provide the necessary assistance to member states to adopt and implement the regional models.
In this context and given the sensitivity of the matters raised in Mr Bulkan’s column, the Caricom Secretariat has taken the precaution to examine the issues thoroughly with the Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (Impacs), an independent institution of the Caribbean Community which came into prominence for its coordination of ICC/CWC 2007 and which has overall responsibility for coordinating the implementation of regional security matters including emergency responses, surveillance, border security and all aspects of information sharing among Caricom member states. It reports to the Council for National Security and Law Enforcement (CONSLE).
Based on consultations with Impacs, I hereby bring to your attention the inaccuracies in the details provided by Mr Bulkan of the incident in question. The Executive Director of Impacs has informed that:
a. The candidate was shortlisted for interviews for the position of Research Administrator. Following the interviews, however, he was not on the shortlist to be screened further for that particular position. The trend of results of security screening normally requires Impacs to shortlist the top 2 or 3 candidates, following interviews, for further assessment, since failures at the polygraph and the logistics involved in conducting subsequent examinations can be quite costly.
b. The candidate was not recalled by the panel for any reason. As is the case with most highly qualified candidates, the routine confirmation of the candidate’s interest in having his/her application considered for any other suitable service or position which might arise, was sought of the candidate, who agreed. For convenience, the candidate was invited to submit to the screening process, which meant completing a medical examination (including drug tests), as well as submitting to security and background checks. These are routine requirements for all staff or full-time personnel, for all the Impacs centres.
d. In a telephone conversation in which the candidate sought to clarify his concerns about one stage of the medical, he was advised that the completion of all the screening stages was essential to any consideration, now or later, for the provision of any services or for any employment opportunities, which could be seen as useful in the future.
e. At no time was any offer of employment for any position expressed, promised or guaranteed, and most certainly in no way by the interviewing panel.
f. Impacs has not now or ever refused employment to any candidate consequent on a medical condition referenced in the medical report.
There are apparently several other statements and factual misrepresentations in Mr Bulkan’s column to which Impacs has indicated that it will respond in the course of the next week. In the meantime Impacs has advised that the post of International Affairs Advisor is indeed an approved post on the Impacs structure, which is yet to be processed and/or advertised.
It is unfortunate that Mr Bulkan has sought to publicly issue a statement with so many inaccuracies. But perhaps there is some good outcome in this. It has, for example, shown that there is support for the prohibition of pre-employment screening for HIV. This is certainly a step in the right direction. Therefore Dr Leslie Ramsammy, Minister of Health, Guyana, whose statement on this matter was published in the Stabroek News on September 9, 2010 must be applauded for his usual courage as an advocate for the rights of people living with HIV. Caricom/Pancap looks forward to his continued support as well as that of his colleague Caricom health ministers and attorneys general, some of whom will meet next week at a consultation organized by UNAIDS in the hope of accelerating the national level adoption of the model anti-discrimination policy and legislation.
Yours faithfully,
Edward Greene
Caribbean Community Secretariat
