Edmond Campbell, Senior News Coordinator

MUNROE

Government Senator Professor Trevor Munroe wants discrimination against persons, with disabilities or health reasons to be made unconstitutional.

He said this would provide a legal foundation for other statutes including proposed legislation dealing with occupational health and safety or the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act (LRIDA).

Senator Munroe's suggestion came during a debate on a motion in the Senate on Friday, which called on the Government to amend the LRIDA to make the practice of screening persons for HIV/AIDS as a pre-requisite for employment illegal.

The resolution was passed with one amendment which states: "Be it resolved that this Senate call upon the Government to put in place the mechanisms that are necessary including legis-lation to address the mischief identified by this motion".

"I am recommending that we ought to include in the amended Charter of Rights - a clause which would make it unconstitutional to discriminate against any of our citizens on grounds of disability and on grounds of (his) health status," Senator Munroe contended.

Reason

However, Prof. Munroe's colleague, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, A.J. Nicholson, said the committee, which examined the Charter of Rights had given a reason why discrimination on the grounds of disability or health was not accepted during its deliberations.

"If you put in the Constitution on the grounds of disability for example, you would have to make sure that every building was disability accommodating. It makes no sense placing something in the Constitution and when someone tries to enforce it, it is a mere puff in the wind," Senator Nicholson argued.

Meanwhile, Opposition Senator Dwight Nelson, who moved the motion, told his colleagues that the Jamaica Employers' Federation and the trade union movement had signed a Memorandum of Understanding declaring that people with HIV/AIDS were entitled to the same rights, benefits and opportunities as people with other serious or life threatening illnesses.

He said the memorandum also stated that management should not require HIV screening as part of the pre-employment or general workplace physical examinations.

However, he charged that this was not being observed by a number of employers, including the media, which he said were the main offenders.

The Opposition senator conceded that there might be occupational situations where medical testing for employment was preferred. However, he said: "What I abhor and want us to eliminate is the prevalence in Jamaica where employers for all occupations institute mandatory HIV/AIDS testing for prospective employees."