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- 2011 Political Declaration: Targets and elimination commitments
- Reducing sexual transmission
- Preventing HIV among drug users
- Eliminating new HIV infections among children
- 15 million accessing treatment
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- Closing the resource gap
- Eliminating gender inequalities
- Eliminating stigma and discrimination
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- 2011 Political Declaration: Targets and elimination commitments
More feature stories on punitive laws
- Countries questioning laws that criminalize HIV transmission and exposure
- To assist countries in the just application of criminal law in the context of HIV, UNAIDS has initiated a project to further investigate current scientific, medical, legal and human rights aspects of the criminalization of HIV transmission.
- To lift stigma around HIV in Egypt, forthcoming feature film tells one woman’s story of overcoming fear and social rejection
- Over the past several years, UNAIDS in Egypt has advocated with scriptwriters and film producers to create feature films that could bring a human face to HIV by creating characters that people could identify with.
- UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights encourages UN Member States to focus on human rights ahead of High Level Meeting on AIDS
- The UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights has issued a statement encouraging UN Member States to reaffirm the focus on human rights that has driven 30 years of progress in the global HIV response.
- Addressing stigma and discrimination and homophobia key to achieving universal access in Latin America
- The Secretary of Health of Mexico, Dr José A. Córdova, called on countries in Latin America to continue efforts to counter stigma, discrimination and homophobia in the region.
- Judicial officials convene in Dakar for consultation on HIV, the law and human rights
- Ministers of Justice and judges from across West and Central Africa gathered on 6-8 February in Dakar, Senegal, for a high-level consultation on HIV, the law and human rights. The meeting aimed to increase the engagement of judicial officials in the HIV response at national levels.
- African HIV prisons network receives prestigious international award
- The African HIV in Prisons Partnership Network has been presented with the prestigious 2010 Healthcare Award by the International Corrections and Prisons Association. Representing a major boost for the network, the award was given during the Association's recent annual conference in Belgium.
- Progress in Caribbean HIV response, yet punitive laws continue to hamper access to services for most vulnerable
- At the 10th annual general meeting of the Pan-Caribbean Partnership Against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP), held in St Maarten, Netherlands Antilles, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé joined former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Caribbean leaders to take stock of progress, challenges and lessons learned in the regional response to the HIV epidemic over the past decade.
- Use light to highlight rights this World AIDS Day
- The first Light for Rights event was held on 1 December 2009 in New York. This year, the campaign aims to encourage 100 cities around the world to dim the lights on public landmarks to remember the devastating affect AIDS has had, and to turn the lights back on to illuminate the fundamental human rights shared by all but often denied people living with HIV.
- Growing concerns over rights and treatment of LGBT people in high-income countries
- UNAIDS speaks with organizations in North America and Europe to better understand patterns of human rights violations and the connections to health.
- Asia-Pacific drive for increased focus on HIV and sex work
- HIV transmission via sex work accounts for many new HIV infections in the Asia-Pacific region. Yet in many countries HIV prevention, treatment and care services for sex workers are lacking. At the first consultation of its kind in the region, sex workers, government officials and United Nations participants emphasized the urgent need for action to increase focus on sex work within national HIV responses.
- African law students argue against criminalisation of HIV transmission
- More than 120 young law students from 60 universities representing 24 African countries gathered in Cotonou (Benin) from 4-9 October 2010 to compete in the 19th African Human Rights Moot Court Competition.
- “Now more than ever”: Marchers in Vienna call for protection of human rights and HIV
- Downtown Vienna was the backdrop for last night’s HIV and human rights march and rally on 20 July. The public event took place during the 18th International AIDS Conference which has brought some 20,000 activists and HIV professionals to the Austrian capital.
- UNODC: humane and effective drug dependence treatment
- Detention of HIV positive drug users is not treatment for their dependence. Drug dependence is a health disorder and punishment is not the appropriate response. This was the key message contained in a UNODC discussion paper launched at the XVIII AIDS Conference in Vienna today.
- Rights Here, Rights Now! The Global Commission on HIV and the Law
- Legal frameworks can be powerful tools for countries struggling to control their epidemics. The last three decades have given rise to contentious legal debates on HIV-related issues (e.g.: criminalization of HIV transmission; legal restrictions on needle and syringe distribution in the US, on methadone in Russia, versus legal comprehensive harm reduction in Australia). The last few years have seen an insurgence of punitive laws and practices related to drug use, HIV transmission and exposure, sex work, and same sex sexual relations. There is also a growing body of evidence on the relationship between HIV and violence against women.
- A human rights-based approach to prevention: Mission impossible?
- From the left: Mirta Roses; Tripti Tandon at ‘Human Rights based approach to HIV Prevention: Mission Impossible’, 18 July 2010. Credit: UNAIDS/Anna Rauchenberger The Global Village of AIDS 2010 was the setting of a UNAIDS satellite session on HIV prevention and human rights. Participants discussed how evidence-informed and rights-based laws, policies and programmes can be scaled-up in support of a ‘prevention revolution’ to break the trajectory of the epidemic.
- UNAIDS calls for protection of human rights of men who have sex with men and sexual minorities at pre-conference forum
- “The human rights of men who have sex with men and other sexual minorities must be fully protected and respected if universal access to HIV services is to be achieved,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Michel Sidibé.
- European Parliament votes for rights-based AIDS response
- In the lead up to the 2010 International AIDS Conference in Vienna, the European Parliament has voted on a Motion for a Resolution on a rights-based approach to the EU's response to HIV. Referring to the UNAIDS Outcome Framework 2009-2011, the Resolution strongly supports the Joint Programme's position on human rights issues such as decriminalization of sexual transmission, injecting drug users and on men who have sex with men.
- Research project during the World Cup gathers data on sex workers and HIV
- As part of the UN South Africa Programme of Support to the FIFA 2010 World Cup, UNFPA and SWEAT (Sex Worker Education & Advocacy Taskforce) partnered with South African researchers to investigate key dimensions of HIV and sex work during the tournament. This rigorous research was supported by a telephone helpline service to respond to health and human rights concerns of sex workers during the World Cup. According to Mr. Eric Harper, Executive Director of SWEAT: “These projects give weight to the rights watch dimension for most-at-risk-populations that is so vital when the largest sporting event in the world occurs.”
- Egyptian actor Amr Waked appointed UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador for Middle East and North Africa
- Renowned Egyptian actor Amr Waked has been named Regional Goodwill Ambassador for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). A popular star, Mr Waked is an influential figure with teenagers as well as adults across the region. Now, he joins UNAIDS' commitment to speaking out against stigma and discrimination of people living with or affected by HIV.
- Landmark forum in China to champion rights-based approach to HIV
- For the first time in China, government and civil society have formed a partnership to offer innovative ideas from a rights-based perspective to strengthen the national response to HIV. The China Red Ribbon Beijing Forum was launched on 5 July 2010 at a high-level meeting attended by Vice Minister of Health Yin Li and more than 100 members of civil society, including grassroots organizations.