- About UNAIDS
- Our work
- Targets and commitments
- 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
- Avoiding TB deaths
- Closing the resource gap
- Eliminating gender inequalities
- Eliminating stigma and discrimination
- Eliminating travel restrictions
- Strengthening HIV integration
- 2011 Political Declaration: Targets and elimination commitments
More feature stories on punitive laws
- Landmark Delhi High Court decision recognizes inappropriate criminalization as a barrier to health, human rights and dignity
- The Delhi High Court declared section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalised consensual sexual acts of adults in private as violative of the rights to privacy, liberty, health and equality enshrined in the Constitution of India. Though the decision was largely seen as a victory for the men who sex with men and transgender people, it is a victory for all – regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. The judgment is noteworthy and progressive in terms of its rejection of a hetero-normative and homogenous conception of sexuality.
- Anti-homophobia campaign to end discrimination in Latin America
- May 17 marks the International Day Against Homophobia which is an initiative to end discrimination and demand respect for the rights of homosexuals, transsexuals and lesbians.
- International Day against Homophobia
- By signing the 2006 United Nations Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, governments committed to removing legal barriers and passing laws to protect vulnerable populations. However, over 80 countries still criminalize consensual same sex acts among adults.
- Strengthening and expanding HIV legal services
- Experience in the response to AIDS has shown that access to legal services is an important part of guaranteeing protection from discrimination, getting redress for human rights violations, and expanding access to HIV prevention and treatment. Yet such programmes are not sufficiently supported by national AIDS responses, and where they do exist, quality and scale are often insufficient.
- 'Never abandon, never give up’: ILO film helps China’s migrant workers challenge AIDS stigma
- Zhang Xiao Hu is one of China’s estimated 200 million migrant workers. He is also one of the stars of ‘Never abandon, never give up’, a short Charlie Chaplin-style film aimed at reducing HIV stigma and promoting condom use among the country’s migrant workers. Beginning on 4 May, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Mega-info Media, the company which runs China’s national railway station television network, will begin screening the film in 500 stations in 450 cities across the country. Over a three month period, 40 million people will have an opportunity to see the film.
- ILO: Action against stigma brings hope to Ethiopia’s agricultural cooperatives
- Ajama Kalacha works hard on his small agricultural plot in Ethiopia’s highlands to provide an income for the extended family he supports. Even though life is tough, Ajama is an optimist - his community treats him well and he believes his prospects for making a living from the land are good. But he was not always so confident.
- El Salvador: Ministerial decree to reduce homophobia in health services
- The Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance of El Salvador approved, as part of its National Plan on HIV prevention, a set of actions to reduce homophobia and any type of discrimination based on sexual orientation in the health services.
- Greater action needed to protect women’s inheritance and property rights in the face of HIV
- If more women are to avoid HIV infection, laws on inheritance and property rights should be revisited, revised or better enforced. This was one of the key messages emerging from a high-profile side-event on women’s inheritance, land and housing rights in the context of HIV, which took place yesterday, 12 March, during the 53rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women held at UN Headquarters in New York.
- HIV prevention hampered by homophobia
- Every two or three days a person is killed in Brazil in violence connected with his or her sexuality, according to Brazil’s oldest gay rights association, Grupo Gay da Bahia (GGB). In Mexico, the reported figure is nearly two a week.
- Guyana launches national ‘faith-and-HIV’ coalition
- The National AIDS Programme Secretariat of the Ministry of Health in Guyana (NAPS/MOH) convened a National Conference on “faith-and-HIV,” supported by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) on 11 December 2008. The aim of the conference was to establish a national coalition of faith leaders of all denominations in Guyana to address HIV-related stigma and discrimination.
- New generation of health and human rights advocates inspired by Dr Jonathan Mann
- “We have lost him, but we have not lost the legacy he left us,” said Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia of Dr Jonathan Mann, the visionary epidemiologist, advocate and scientist who highlighted the inextricable links between human rights and public health. In commemoration of his untimely death ten years ago, and to celebrate his legacy and the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UNAIDS, WHO and OHCHR hosted “HIV, health and human rights: The Legacy of Jonathan Mann Today” on 24 November 2008.
- ICASA 2008: Social change needed to reduce HIV risk and vulnerability
- Social issues like gender inequality, violence against women and the criminalization of activities like sex work, injecting drug use and same sex intercourse are factors that can make people more vulnerable to HIV infection. To discuss the challenges of social drivers, UNAIDS Secretariat, UNESCO and the Social Change Communication Working Group held a satellite session at ICASA on Sunday 7 December.
- ICASA 2008: First Ladies of Africa speak out on stigma
- Stigma towards people living with HIV as well as the need to halt the spread of the disease were the main themes discussed by a gathering of First Ladies of Africa which took place earlier today in Dakar. Their panel discussion on the HIV response was moderated by Mr Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director
- HIV, Health and Human Rights: The Legacy of Jonathan Mann Today
- Today a public event in celebration of Jonathan Mann and his legacy on HIV, health, and human rights is being held at UNAIDS Secretariat, Geneva. The event, co-hosted by UNAIDS, the World Health Organization and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, also marks the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- “Artists Against AIDS” help fight stigma and discrimination in Russia
- UNAIDS has brought together 23 artists from Russia, Ukraine, the United States of America, Spain and Greece to participate in an art exhibition to help decrease stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV. All proceeds of the artwork sale will be donated to an orphanage that cares for children who have been affected by AIDS.
- Verdict on a Virus: Public Health, Human Rights and Criminal Law
- The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) launched on 13 November 2008 a new report Verdict on a Virus: Public Health, Human Rights and Criminal Law. The aim of the publication is to provide information about the criminalization of HIV transmission or exposure and its related health, human rights and legal implications.
- "What role can the law play?"
- During his recent trip to Beijing as a guest of UNAIDS, Justice Edwin Cameron of South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeals used every opportunity to raise the question, “What role can the law play in China in response to HIV?”
- Advocating against overly-broad application of criminal law to HIV transmission
- As more countries are passing laws that criminalize HIV transmission, public health and human rights experts are concerned about the potential adverse consequences of such laws for both effective responses to HIV and the individuals involved. In order to help guide policy, UNDP and UNAIDS recently published a policy brief on “Criminalization of HIV transmission.”
- Justice Edwin Cameron adds a new dimension to China - Africa relations
- The South African Supreme Court Judge Edwin Cameron visited China from 27th to 31st October at the invitation of China’s Ministry of Health and UNAIDS. Through his visit, he set out to support the response to AIDS in China with a special focus on legal issues, discrimination and rights of people living with HIV.
- Faces against HIV stigma and discrimination
- HIV has often been associated with behaviours that may be considered socially or morally unacceptable by many people such as sex work, sex outside marriage or with multiple partners, sex between men and injecting drugs. This single fact, fueled by high levels of ignorance, denial, fear and intolerance, has widely stigmatized HIV infection.