Outrage as Swaziland MP suggests branding the buttocks of HIV sufferers to promote safe sex



Outrage: Swaziland MP Timothy Myeni suggested making HIV tests compulsory and forcing those who were infected to be permanently marked with a warning logo

A proposal to brand the buttocks of people suffering from HIV has caused outrage in a country ravaged by the disease.



Swaziland MP Timothy Myeni suggested making HIV tests compulsory for every person in the southern African state and then forcing those who were infected to be permanently marked with a warning logo.



Mr Myeni claimed the scheme would help stop the spread of the killer disease by reducing sexual activity between HIV positive people and uninfected partners.



Speaking at a workshop for MPs on how to tackle the AIDS epidemic, he added: 'Before having sex with anyone, people will have to check their partners' buttocks before proceeding,'



Campaigners furiously criticised the idea.



Swazi AIDS campaigner Siphiwe Hlophe said the system would contravene human rights laws.



She said: 'How can a legislator lobby for the branding of HIV positive people?



'We do not need legislators who think like him because some of the people who voted for him could be positive, why is he then discriminating them?



'He must stop lobbying his colleagues for such but instead call for them to stop discriminating positive people.'



Swaziland Aids Support Organisation spokesman Vusi Matsebula added: 'His utterances represent the views of someone who is still sleeping around.



'Maybe the branding will help him know what kind of a person he is about to sleep with.'



Swaziland has the highest HIV infection rate in the world, with around 43 percent of the population believed to be living with the disease.



The tiny landlocked southern African kingdom has previously been criticised for its failure to tackle the condition.



In 2001 Swaziland's king Maswati III was accused of dangerous double standards over HIV.



The monarch, who has at least 17 wives, urged Swazi teens to wait until their twenties before having sex and then publicly selected a 17-year-old girl as his latest bride.



