Global Appeal 2013 to End Stigma and Discrimination Against People Affected by Leprosy
Throughout its long history, leprosy has been one of the world’s most misunderstood and stigmatizing diseases. Over the centuries, countless millions afflicted by leprosy have been shunned by their fellow human beings in the belief that they are cursed with a highly contagious, disabling, untreatable disease.
Thanks to modern chemotherapy, leprosy, or Hansen’s disease, is now completely curable. With early diagnosis and treatment, it is not disabling. Nor is leprosy highly transmissible. There is no need to isolate anyone with the disease, exclude him or her from their place of work or ban them from public office.
But old images of leprosy die hard and continue to shape popular perceptions of the disease—perceptions reinforced by stigmatizing terminology. For those that are the object of such prejudice, the social, economic and psychological consequences can be devastating.
Helping to perpetuate these outdated stereotypes are various laws, customs and regulations that discriminate against people affected by leprosy in different parts of the world.
There are no medical grounds for segregating or otherwise singling out a person affected by leprosy. Therefore, any laws that sanction such practices are without foundation.
We call for the abolition of all laws that discriminate on the basis of leprosy, we condemn all acts of discrimination against people affected by leprosy and we support the right of people affected by leprosy to live in dignity enjoying all their basic human rights.
Signatories of Global Appeal 2013 (as of December 25, 2012)
Austria | Austrian Bar |
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Argentina | Colegio de Abogados de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires |
Bahamas | Bahamas Bar Association |
Bangladesh | National Bar Association of Bangladesh |
Belgium | Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten bij de Balie te Brussel (NOAB) |
Brazil | The Brazilian Bar Association |
CESA – Centro de Estudos das Sociedades de Advogados | |
Canada | Canadian Bar Association |
Czech Republic | Czech Bar Association |
Cyprus | Cyprus Bar Association |
Denmark | The Danish Bar and Law Society |
England and Wales | Bar Council of England and Wales |
The Law Society of England and Wales | |
Estonia | Estonian Bar Association |
Europe | Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe |
Finland | Finnish Bar Association |
France | Paris Bar |
Germany | German Bar Association- DAV |
Ghana | Ghana Bar Association |
Hong Kong | Hong Kong Bar Association |
Hungary | Hungarian Bar Association |
India | Society of Indian Law Firms |
Indonesia | Indonesian Advocates Association (PERADI) |
Ireland | The Law Society of Ireland |
Turkey | Istanbul Bar Association |
Japan | Japan Federation of Bar Associations |
Tokyo Bar Association | |
Korea | Korean Bar Association |
Malaysia | Bar Council Malaysia |
Namibia | Law Society of Namibia |
Netherlands | Amsterdam Bar Association |
New Zealand | New Zealand Bar Association |
Nigeria | Nigerian Bar Association |
Northern Ireland | The General Council of the Bar of Northern Ireland |
Law Society of Northern Ireland | |
Poland | Supreme Bar Council/Warsaw |
National Council for Legal Advisers in Poland | |
Scotland | Law Society of Scotland |
Singapore | The Law Society of Singapore |
Slovak Republic | Slovak Bar Association |
South Africa | Law Society of South Africa |
Spain | Valencia Bar Association |
Sweden | The Swedish Bar Association |
Uganda | Uganda Law Society |
Ukraine | Ukrainian Bar Association |
Zambia | Law Association of Zambia |
Total: 40 countires, 1 region, 46 associations |