艾滋拆迁队引发广泛关注

Hiring sufferers of HIV/AIDS to intimidate debtors or people whose homes developers want to level is relatively common in China, says the founder of a non-governmental organization that helps victims of the disease. His comments came after a recent episode in late December in the city of Nanyang, Henan Province, where police arrested five people over a plot by a developer to form a team of HIV/AIDS sufferers to threaten with infection some residents who refused to make way for a building project. Domestic media has taken to calling the group the “AIDS demolition team.” The supposed HIV/AIDS sufferers told residents they would be infected if they did not move, media reports said, but it is unclear how they would have carried out the threat or if they even had HIV. In addition to the arrests, the city government has also punished 25 officials, including the deputy head of a district housing bureau, for a lack of oversight of the development project and taking bribes. Cheng Shuaishuai, who founded an organization that provides free housing to sufferers of HIV/AIDS, said the kind of intimidation seen in Nanyang happens a lot, especially in rural areas of Henan where people do not understand the disease. The phenomenon is partly the result of the discrimination HIV/AIDS patients face in China and the lack of legal protection afforded them, Cheng said. Many people with the disease quit their jobs because they face prejudice, then have to live in poor conditions, he said. Sufferers are also perceived to be less able to carry out laborious work, which compounds their difficulty in finding work. The result is some sufferers opting for shady assignments. Henan, where the property developer wanted to hire the HIV intimidation team, has a long history of problems with HIV/AIDS. In the 1990s, a government-led program to encourage blood donations resulted in thousands of people getting infected because contaminated medical equipment was used. Cheng says advances in medicines means many people with the virus can lead nearly normal lives, but discrimination persists. HIV/AIDS advocates fear media coverage of the "AIDS demolition team" in Henan and similar cases will stigmatize sufferers in the eyes of the public even more. For Caixin Online, this is Patrick Williams. 近日，河南省南阳市的“艾滋拆迁队”曝光后，引发社会的广泛关注和强烈质疑。经当地政府调查后通报，这支由艾滋病患者组成的拆迁队，是由南阳地产开发商亿安房地产公司雇用当地社会人士刘某，再由刘某找到崔某等六名艾滋病患者组成，并以自身罹病的身份恐吓居民搬迁。当地公安局在调查后，已控制亿安房地产公司相关人员及刘某、崔某等5名主要嫌疑人，另有25名曾收受该开发商礼金的公职人员，被处以党政纪处分。 在河南创办“艾滋公寓”，为艾滋病患者提供免费食宿的反艾滋病歧视行动志愿者程帅帅告诉财新记者，所谓“艾滋拆迁队”或病人从事讨债、收账等情况，在河南仍属常见。 南阳“艾滋拆迁队”事件的主要嫌疑人刘某，在接受新华社采访时就声称，自己组建“艾滋拆迁队”的构想，就是从网上学来的。而艾滋病患者在拆迁、讨债过程中若有“成效”，主要是依靠一般人对艾滋病的恐惧来“完成任务”；而在“任务”的执行过程中，更常夹杂着与病毒传染相关的恐吓言行。