HIV/AIDS
is a human rights issue …
 HIV/AIDS
is a human rights issue … this is a core
belief of one of the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s
top law students of 2003, Andreas Coutsoudis.
“The HIV/AIDS epidemic cuts across everything
in our society,” he said during an interview
with Sondela held just before he graduated with
the highest honours last year. “Within every
social structure - the family, the economy, general
development, education, housing - there are many
legal issues underlying the effects of HIV/AIDS,
and our Constitution and Bill of Rights make them
even more important.”
As an achiever in the School of Law (in what
was then the University of Natal in Durban), Andreas
was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford
University in England; the award was made in recognition
of his outstanding academic performance, leadership
qualities and activism for social and community
causes. During his years of study he not only
received many prizes and certificates of merit
for his results, but also devoted time and energy
to student governance (as President of the Law
Student Council) and in championship debating
and legal argument (which included membership
of a winning team competing against others from
all over Africa).
For three years, Andreas was active in the loveLife
Debating Outreach Programme, assisting with its
“Lifestyle for Leadership” project,
which is aimed at youth in under-resourced, rural
communities. “Young people need to believe
that there is something to live for,” explained
Andreas. “We found that the girls and boys
we worked with at the Y-Centres really love debating,
so it was very rewarding for me to be able to
pass on my debating experience by teaching them
these skills to competitive level.”
His volunteer team of senior student co-ordinators
tutored the learners and their teachers for contest
against their counterparts from the urban schools,
with loveLife sponsoring transport costs and other
expenses for hundreds of scholars to attend the
sessions.
“We held debates about many topics, not
only HIV/AIDS, but also issues such as the law,
general human rights, educational policies and
various social problems,” recalled Andreas.
“We made the questions stimulating, so that
the youth could learn to think critically for
themselves and also consider the opposing side’s
point of view. Above all, we wanted to inspire
them so that they could have some idea of the
career opportunities that these skills could equip
them for …”
For most of this year, Andreas will concentrate
on his work as assistant to Justice Skweyiya of
the Constitutional Court of South Africa, doing
research, legal writing and general case management.
“I am learning a great deal in working with
my judge,” says Andreas. He will pursue
his higher legal studies once the new academic
year begins at Oxford University in the UK, but
is determined return to South Africa and contribute
his expertise to civil society, whether this be
through HIV/AIDS advocacy or working as a lawyer
for Land Rights. He feels very strongly about
the role that both the media and the justice system
can play in addressing social inequalities.
“Everything I have done and will do would
be wasted if I did not offer my skills back to
my country and its people,” he says. “I
was raised by my parents to live by these values.
My father is a pastor, and my mother (Anna) is
a biomedical researcher working with HIV-positive
mothers and children on prevention of HIV transmission.
She is also the founder of iThemba Lethu transition
home for babies in Cato Manor and of a breastmilk
bank for nutritious infant-feeding.
As a family, we help each other and share our
thoughts and feelings about our projects.”
And Andreas’s message to members of all
our communities? “I think many South Africans
are willing to connect and share their skills
and resources in the struggle against HIV/AIDS
and on other social challenges. It will take time,
but we are becoming more unified, and we can build
our own rights-based legal structures from within
and from the ground up.”
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