By IANS
Kochi (Kerala) : Kerala, where five children were recently thrown out of a school because they are HIV-positive, Thursday became the first state in India to join an international campaign for the nomination of an Argentine HIV/AIDS activist for this year’s Nobel peace prize.
Kerala joined the campaign with former Supreme Court justice V.R. Krishna Iyer firing off an email to the Nobel committee urging the nomination of Patricia Perez, a 45-year-old HIV-positive woman and founder of the Forum of Non-Governmental Organisations that fights discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS.
Iyer’s email was sent on behalf of the Foundation for Integrated Research in Mental Health (FIRM), an NGO that launched the India chapter of the international campaign of solidarity with Perez.
“We have decided to take this campaign in India because even in a literate state like Kerala, HIV-infected people face discrimination,” said FIRM chairman Lalu Joseph.
The e-mail campaign evoked a lot of interest after the President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya Rosales, began the initiative some time back.
Iyer’s email expressed solidarity with the Honduras president.
“This is my vision for the world, a world where there is no discrimination, where all are equal and I extend my support for this campaign,” said Iyer, who was a minister in the E.M.S. Namboodiripad-led government in Kerala in 1956.
Perez was tested HIV positive in 1986 when she was 24 years old.