Article 2 of the Saudi AIDS Prevention Law

This article states the purpose of the Law, which is four objectives, without prejudice to the preventive measures and precautions in the relevant laws:

1. Classifying AIDS as a communicable disease, and applying the procedures and measures set out in the Law and its Regulations to prevent it.
2. Preserving the rights of infected persons and their contacts, and stating their duties. The Law is therefore not limited to rights but also specifies duties.
3. Ensuring the care and rehabilitation that infected persons need.
4. Ensuring infected persons' right to continue their education and work.

The phrase "without prejudice": it means this Law does not cancel the preventive measures and precautions found in other relevant laws, but operates alongside them.

The balance in the Law: these objectives show that the Law tries to combine two things: protecting society from the transmission of infection by classifying AIDS as a communicable disease and applying preventive measures, and protecting the dignity of the infected person and the person's rights to care, education and work.

Understanding these objectives helps in interpreting the other articles. Article 3, for example, requires health bodies to provide health care, counseling and psychological support to infected persons and to respect their rights, which is a direct application of the second and third objectives. The terms used here, such as infected person and contact, are defined in Article 1.

Anyone who believes a right of theirs as an infected person or contact has been violated may consult a lawyer specializing in health regulations.