Deputies of the Standing Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial People's Congress have moved to scrap a regional rule that requires drug addicts to receive compulsory HIV tests.
Analysts said the move was a step forward in human rights protection.
The proposal was part of a campaign to remove or revise 14 coercive regional rules that have no legal basis, the Qianjiang Evening News reported on Wednesday.
According to the Administrative Coercion Law set to be effective next year, all coercive regulations need to have a legal basis, otherwise they must be either revoked or revised.
After reviewing 172 regional rules, the provincial standing committee found 14 without legal basis, including one mandating HIV tests, the newspaper quoted Lü Hanfu, a deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Committee, as saying.
Based on Zhejiang's current regulations on HIV/AIDS prevention, law enforcement officers need to notify local disease control centers after arresting drug addicts and work with them on getting the detainees to take compulsory HIV tests.
However, such tests have no legal basis, the newspaper said.
"The removal of the rule would mark major progress in protecting the human rights and privacy of drug addicts," Li Dan with Dongzhen, an HIV/AIDS prevention NGO, told the Global Times, adding that many countries do not have such compulsory tests.
Li Dun, a Tsinghua University professor and HIV/AIDS prevention activist, told the Global Times that the whole country should follow Zhejiang's example.
"Compulsory HIV tests for drug addicts have been common practice across the country," Li Dun said.
According to Article 23 of the Regulations on AIDS Prevention and Treatment, consultation and testing on HIV/AIDS should be done voluntarily.
But Article 24 states that health and other related departments can formulate circumstances for HIV/AIDS testing in accordance with the needs for the disease's prevention and control.
"The two articles contradict each other, and run counter to the Legislation Law," Li Dun said.
Gao Qiang, 36, a drug addict for 18 years from Kaiyuan, Yunnan Province, told the Global Times that he still undergoes these compulsory tests even though he has been drug-free since 2005.
"I cannot remember how many times the police suddenly broke into my room after I checked into a hotel and forced me to take a urine test to see if I still use drugs. If the urine test is positive, I will be asked to take an HIV test," Gao said.
"In those occasions I felt depressed and discriminated against as my privacy was exposed to others, especially my friends who did not know my past. I totally support the removal of the compulsory test," Gao added.
Wang, a man from Fuzhou, Fujian Province, who has suffered from AIDS for six years, also faced these problems.
"Now, in order to avoid trouble, I either use other peoples' identity cards to check in or call local police to do the test in advance," said Wang, who ended his drug addiction in 2000.
"I hope society treats us a bit more fairly as we have already suffered from discrimination in employment and medical treatment," Wang said.
Both Gao and Wang's claims could not be immediately verified.
The HIV infection rate through drug taking has dropped of late. In 2000, it accounted for 72.1 percent of all affected cases. This had dwindled to 38.5 percent by 2008.
Li Dan said the compulsory test would not help contain the spreading of the disease, and would only push infected people to the fringes of society for fear of discrimination.
"We hope other provinces and municipalities could follow suit. Zhejiang's move may help break public stereotypes of drug addicts," said Li Dan.
Li Dun rejected worries that the repealing of the compulsory test would weaken government efforts toward HIV/AIDS prevention and control.
"Even if the HIV virus were detected, the authorities would have no right to deprive or limit the freedom of sufferers. The law protects their privacy, so we should take other methods to contain the spreading of the disease," Li Dun said.
In April of 2010, days before the opening of the Shanghai Expo, China lifted a two-decade-old travel ban on foreigners with HIV/AIDS.
Vice Premier Li Keqiang vowed at a meeting last week to expand the coverage of effective HIV/AIDS prevention among the nation's high-risk groups to 90 percent within five years.
