Mark Dodd, Dill – The United Nations in East Timor will encourage staff to volunteer for HIV tests but cannot make them compulsory on human rights grounds.

Responding to reports that a Darwin woman had contracted the virus from a UN employee based in East Timor, the Northern Territory Chief Minister, Mr Burke, this week urged the UN to screen all its employees for HIV to prevent its spread in East Timor and Australia, adding that should it fail to do so Canberra should consider restricting the visa that allows UN staff to visit Darwin. The Northern Territory Government says it has diagnosed 10 cases of HIV in visitors from East Timor.

A spokeswoman for the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor yesterday accepted not enforcing compulsory testing of UN personnel posed a health risk, but defended the policy. "We don't do tests for HIV because it is a basic human rights issue and considered discriminatory." she said.

The UN has about 11,250 people in East Timor, including about 8,000 peacekeepers from 10 countries. Only one case of HIV had been detected in East Timor and all donated blood was screened, a senior Dili-based public health official said.