HIV and AIDS: Amnesty International's Human Rights Concerns
Human rights violations drive the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The 2001 UNGASS Declaration
of Commitment explicitly recognized this critical connection:
“The full realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all is an essential element in a global response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, including in the areas of prevention, care, support and treatment, and that it reduces the vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and prevents stigma and related discrimination against people living with or at risk of HIV/AIDS.”A quarter-century into the epidemic 14,000 new infections and 8,000 deaths occur every day. States are failing to meet targets set for prevention, treatment and care.
At the UN General Assembly meeting this June 2006, Amnesty International will call on States to renew their commitment to address HIV/AIDS using a rights based framework, urging governments to design and implement responses to HIV/AIDS according to the guidance summarized in the United Nations International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights.
AI calls on all state governments to:
1. Fulfill the international commitment to the right to health
All people have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard
of physical and mental health. The right to health includes timely and appropriate
access to health care services as well as the underlying determinants of
health such as access to safe water, food, nutrition, housing and health-related
education and information, including on sexual and reproductive health.
2. Remove funding conditions that inhibit the prevention of HIV/AIDS
Governments must not set funding conditions that deny people access to life-saving
information, commodities and services such as condoms and harm reduction
measures. Nor may governments discriminate against individuals on the basis
of age, marital status, occupation, sexual orientation or expressions, gender
identity or expression, or disability.
3. Ensure equal access to treatment
Governments should ensure equal access to all HIV related treatment, including
anti-retroviral medicines. This might include removing barriers such as
costs related to accessing health care, including transportation and user
fees that deter poor people from accessing the health care they require.
4. Ensure access to information
States have a positive duty to provide information on all aspects of HIV/AIDS
including information on the prevention and treatment of the disease. States
also have an obligation to correct misinformation when it stigmatizes people
living with or at risk of HIV/AIDS or undermines accurate information regarding
prevention, treatment and care. Information should be accurate, accessible
to the target audience, and expressly address how to prevent transmission.
This includes the right to information about safer sexual practices, access
to information on the use of condoms and other barrier methods, and health-related
education and information on sexuality including sexual orientation, sexual
health, reproduction and reproductive health. Furthermore, governments should
ensure that injecting drug users and their sexual partners have access to
information on access to clean needles and other harm reduction strategies.
5. Guarantee sexual and reproductive rights
People should have the freedom to decide freely in matters related to their
sexuality, free from discrimination, coercion or violence. Sexual health
has an indispensable role to play in the struggle against intolerance, gender
inequality and HIV/AIDS and States must protect and promote sexual health
as an integral element of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the
highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
6. Safeguard women’s rights and stop violence against women
Governments must ensure that women can protect themselves from HIV infection
by reducing the factors leading to women’s increased risk of being
infected. Violence against women is a risk factor for HIV infection and
the prospect of violence is heightened when women disclose an HIV positive
test result to their partners or husband. Economic inequalities and women’s
lack of sexual autonomy are also risk factors which must be addressed.
7. Ensure participation of people living with HIV/AIDS
Governments are urged in particular to support actively the principle of
greater involvement of people living with HIV in the development and implementation
of HIV/AIDS related programs, including in education, outreach, prevention
and service provision. Participation of people living with HIV/AIDS in aspects
of HIV policy design and implementation is crucial to successfully fighting
the pandemic.
8. Share equally the benefits of scientific progress
Everyone has the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and
its applications, including equal access to treatment such as anti-retroviral
medicines and treatment for opportunistic infections, regardless of where
a person lives, their gender or economic status. This also includes the
further development and distribution of a female driven prevention methodology
such as a microbicide and access to the life-saving commodities that will
prevent further transmission of HIV/AIDS.
9. Affirm the right to privacy and confidentiality
The right to privacy, including confidentiality, of patient records and
HIV status is essential to ensuring that people come forward for HIV testing
and treatment. Governments must ensure that all testing is based on fully
informed consent, including pre-test and post-test counseling, is confidential,
and implemented according to the standards set out in the UN Guidelines
on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights.
10. Monitoring and evaluation for human rights and evidence-based
solutions
States need to regularly report on and evaluate their progress in implementing
and honoring the commitments made and targets set in the fight against HIV/AIDS,
and their human rights obligations. Governments should ensure, including
through the provision of adequate resources to civil society, that monitoring
of all targets is inclusive, participatory and through a process that is
accountable to the communities most affected by HIV/AIDS.