Draft language in a Rwandan reproductive health bill threatens the human rights of many Rwandan citizens. The Human Rights Watch has highlighted several provisions that they say should be struck from the bill, including:

1. compulsory HIV testing
2. sterilization of all individuals with intellectual disabilities

These two provisions are not only counter to human rights, but counter to the interests of better reproductive health.

The HIV testing language is specific to three provisions: it would require all individuals who want to be married to undergo testing first and present a certificate, would force individuals to be tested again later if thier spouse asks, and would allow a doctor to test children or "incapacitated" individuals to be tested without consent or confidentiality.

Both the HIV and the sterilization provisions run counter to human rights and are widely recognized to run counter to interests of public health as well- forcing people to do anything leads to more people taking more risks to get around doing it, and singling out groups and times in a persons life to target stigmatizes people, which makes marginalization even worse. According to Reuters:

Ensuring that all HIV testing is confidential, conducted with informed consent, and accompanied by counseling is widely recognized as integral to effective HIV prevention and treatment strategies.
Systematic, forced sterilization has been recognized as a crime against humanity by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Hopefully, the Rwandan parliament will take out this problematic language and respect the rights of Rwandans.