Anand Grover, one of India’s leading human rights litigators and a former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health, will reflect on his advocacy for sex workers, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people living with HIV in both India and Uganda.
In both countries, these populations – which frequently overlap – have faced particularly high levels of discrimination and stigma, with negative effects on their health and ability to participate productively in society. Grover has:
- Defended individuals from these populations in court.
- Worked with advocacy groups and NGOs to reverse discriminatory policies at the country level. (Notably, he led the successful effort to defeat anti-homosexuality law in India's Supreme Court.)
- As UN Special Rapporteur, used his global platform to become involved in relevant legal actions and policy campaigns worldwide.
Grover will discuss lessons learned from his advocacy efforts and explore their relationship to the international right to health.
For over four decades, Grover has argued and won major cases in the Indian Supreme Court and High Courts advancing LGBTQ rights, access to life-saving medicines, and the rights of people living with HIV, sex workers, drug users, women, and children. Trained as a biochemist, Grover is a pioneer in using science to advance health rights in India and worldwide. He is the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health (2008-14).
Grover will be introduced by Pozen Faculty Board member Renslow Sherer, a professor in the Department of Medicine–Infectious Diseases and Global Health.
- Section of Infectious Diseases and Global Health in the Department of Medicine
- The University of Chicago Law School’s International Programs
- Committee on Southern Asia Studies
- Pozen Family Center for Human Rights