The fourth Elizabeth Taylor Human Rights Award will be bestowed to Kenya’s human rights lawyer and the Executive Director of KELIN, Allan Maleche. Laela Wilding, Naomi deLuce Wilding and Quinn Tivey, grandchildren of Elizabeth Taylor and Ambassors of the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, will give him the biannual award during the opening ceremony of the 22nd International AIDS Conference 2018 on the evening of Monday, 23 July, in Amsterdam. The presentation will take place on the same stage from which the famed actor and activist addressed the 8th International AIDS Conference in 1992.
Mr. Maleche was appointed the first executive director of the Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network on HIV and AIDS (KELIN) in 2010. He is also the Board Member of the Developing Country NGO Delegation the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria Board and a member of the Audit and Finance Committee of the Fund.
“On behalf of my colleagues and the communities we serve, I am deeply honoured to accept the Elizabeth Taylor Human Rights Award,” Allan Maleche said. “Despite the successes we have had, there are still many human rights issues we need to address. Roughly the same number of people died of AIDS last year as the year before. This is unacceptable given the life-saving ARVs that we have. Globally, 40 % of people who need ARVs do not have access to them.”
“We also need to respect the right to choice of people living with HIV, especially women. Women of reproductive age should not be denied the opportunity to use Dolutegravir (DTG). Instead, the government should solve the problems such as lack of access and choice for contraceptives. Women must be supported to have planned pregnancies and be granted DTG if they wish to take it,” added Allan Maleche.
With his colleagues at KELIN, Allan Maleche has litigated landmark cases that halted the forced sterilization of women living with HIV, stopped the unjust use of public health concerns as a reason to incarcerate people living with TB, prevented the government of Kenya from making the names of children living with HIV available to the public and much more. Under his leadership, KELIN has gained an international reputation for confronting powerful institutions and winning landmark cases protecting the rights of people affected by HIV and tuberculosis. Mr. Maleche’s exemplary work has not gone unnoticed in Kenya and was named Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year 2016 as well as listed as one of the Top 40 under 40 men in the Kenyan Business Daily.
“Allan Maleche knows that the law is a powerful tool to protect human rights,” IAS President Linda-Gail Bekker said. “As a tireless crusader for the rights of people living with and affected by HIV and TB, Allan has achieved legal victories that have not only protected individuals. They have also led to smarter, more effective policies that reject stigma and discrimination and advance more humane and effective approaches to ending the twin epidemics of HIV and TB.”
“Twenty-six years ago, my grandmother Elizabeth Taylor focused the world’s attention on this epidemic at the 8th International AIDS Conference here in Amsterdam. Whenever she spoke about AIDS, Elizabeth made it clear that respecting the human rights of everyone living with and at risk for HIV is the only way to end the epidemic. She would have been proud to see this award go to such a dedicated human rights crusader, Allan Achesa Maleche,” said Quinn Tivey.
This award will inspire KELIN and partners to continue and expand this important work.
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KELIN Communications
Email: kkarambu@kelinkenya.org / Tel: +2547246 17198
