The Chronicle

BULAWAYO, Friday, September 25, 1992 — The proposal by a High Court judge to introduce compulsory HIV blood tests for convicted criminals is now being studied by the Law Development Commission.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Paddington Garwe, said this in an interview in Zvishavane on Wednesday.

The commission is responsible for development of law in the country through recommendations it makes to Government.

Mr Garwe said it was too early to say whether or not the commission would make recommendations regarding this proposal.

The proposal was a new idea which had not been introduced anywhere else in the world, he said.

Commenting on the proposal about two weeks ago, the Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr Timothy Stamps, said Zimbabwe would not make HIV blood tests mandatory for prisoners because it was against the country’s national policy to identify HIV positive and AIDS-infected people and treat them differently.

He said, instead, prison authorities should take steps to minimise sexual abuse in prisons.

Meanwhile, Mr Garwe, who is part of a highpowered delegation from the ministry visiting prisons and law courts in the Midlands, said the delegation was assessing overcrowding in prisons among other things.

He said due to the economic hardships facing the country, the crime rate was soaring. As a result some prisons were now overcrowded.