Women and girls

Resolution on ‘Women, the Girl Child and HIV and AIDS’ updated, strengthened and adopted by consensus at the 68^th session of the Commission on the Status of Women

GENEVA/NEW YORK, 25 March 2024—On 22 March, governments attending the 68^th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) adopted, by consensus, a resolution focused on advancing the rights and empowerment of women and girls as part of efforts to end AIDS.

The updated resolution 60/2, Women, the Girl Child and HIV and AIDS, underscores the urgent need to prioritize the health and rights of adolescent girls and young women in the context of the ongoing global AIDS pandemic. It recognizes that adolescent girls and young women are still disproportionately affected by HIV due to various socio-economic factors, including gender inequalities, poverty, and lack of access to education and healthcare.

The resolution underscores the imperative of advancing gender equality as central to ending AIDS, and reaffirms the commitments made in the 2021 United Nations General Assembly Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS. The resolution calls for all governments to enact and intensify the implementation of laws and policies to eliminate all forms of gender-based violence, as well as end HIV-related stigma and discrimination against women and girls. It also calls for promoting active and meaningful participation and leadership of women and girls living with HIV in the AIDS response.

Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS, expressed optimism and her profound appreciation for the adoption of the resolution, stating, "By committing to prioritizing the health and rights of women and girls in all their diversity and addressing HIV comprehensively, leaders have helped safeguard the health of women and girls, which will result in a more equitable and resilient future.”

Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, a cosponsoring organization of UNAIDS which was instrumental in organizing and ensuring a successful outcome of CSW said, “Empowering women, securing rights and achieving equality is an imperative.”

UNAIDS applauds the leadership of Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Angola as its current chair for successfully championing the update of the resolution which was initially adopted in 2016. The updated resolution will continue to serve as a guiding framework for governments, communities and civil society groups, and all stakeholders as they collaborate to safeguard the rights of women and girls living with, at risk of and affected by HIV.

Crucially, UNAIDS emphasizes the importance of translating the commitments outlined in the resolution into concrete actions at the national, regional, and global levels. Efforts must focus on closing the gender gap in HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, while also addressing the underlying social, economic, and structural factors that perpetuate gender-based discrimination, violence, and inequalities and increase the vulnerability of women and girls to HIV.

UNAIDS remains steadfast in its commitment to working collaboratively with governments, civil society, and other partners to create a world where the rights and dignity of all women and girls are respected, protected, and fulfilled, including women and girls living with, at risk of and affected by HIV.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Despite substantial declines in new HIV infections globally, the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to disproportionately impact adolescent girls and young women in many countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2022, there were 3,100 new weekly infections among adolescent girls and young women aged 15-24 years.  In sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls and young women accounted for more than 77% of new infections among people aged 15-24 years in 2022.

That’s why Education Plus Initiative co-hosted with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg a high-level side event on the margins of the 68^th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) to bring attention to the cost of inaction, calling for more consistent investment in education, health and economic rights of adolescent girls and young women in Africa. The CSW, which runs from 11- 22 March 2024, is the United Nations largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment, with this year’s priority theme, Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective.

Speakers included four ministers from Luxembourg, Benin, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, senior government officials from Cameroon and South Africa, and heads of UN agencies who co-lead Education Plus, ATHENA network. Hannah Dolly Kargbo, a young activist from Freetown, Sierra Leone, and founder of the Girls Advocacy Development Network (GADNET), pre-recorded a video that showed her work with young people to advance rights.

The event, Education Plus investment cases for transformative results: leveraging girls completion of secondary education for gender equality and HIV prevention mobilized government, partners and key stakeholders towards accelerated actions and translate commitments to action for gender equality and HIV prevention in Africa.

The costs of inaction on the rates of HIV in adolescent girls and young women remain significant, not only counted in terms of the harmful impacts on girls’ lives but in how they undermine prospects for poverty eradication and the well-being and resilience of families, communities, societies and national economies.  For instance, the lack of educational and economic opportunities that result in women’s diminished labour force participation is estimated to cost the African region US$60 billion in economic losses every year. And yet Africa could gain US$500 billion per year through multi-sectoral investments in adolescents and youth, especially girls, by capitalizing on demographic windows of opportunity.

Education Plus calls for investment in the education and empowerment of adolescent girls and young women, and 15 champion countries are already committed to using education as a means to reduce high HIV rates.  Investments that guarantee education for all young people, violence-free school environments, provision of stigma-free health services, comprehensive sexuality education, access to sexual reproductive health and rights services and economic autonomy and empowerment are key to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. When adolescent girls and young women complete secondary school, their risk of getting HIV is reduced significantly.

GENEVA/NEW YORK, 11 March 2024 - UNAIDS is gearing up for the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (#CSW68) which begins today and will run until 22 March 2024. #CSW68, the United Nations largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment, is being held this year under the priority theme, Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective.

Despite progress, no country has achieved gender equality to date, and violations of women’s human rights and gender-based violence are continuing to fuel the AIDS pandemic. The world is off track to meet the gender targets set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in many of the world’s poorest countries, the debt crisis is squeezing out investment in education, health, and social protection, particularly hurting women and girls.

Around the world today, 129 million girls are out of school, denying them lifesaving information on how to protect themselves from HIV. Every three minutes, an adolescent girl or young woman (15-24 years) acquired HIV in 2022 in sub-Saharan Africa, and across Africa, AIDS remains the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age.

"There can be no more excuses. Ending AIDS among women and girls is not only a moral imperative but also a strategic priority for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Only by protecting and investing in the rights of women and girls can we protect their health, and only by protecting women’s health can we end the AIDS pandemic. We must seize this opportunity to accelerate progress towards a world where every woman and girl can, not just survive, but thrive."

During #CSW68 UNAIDS will be co-hosting several key events including a high level meeting co-convened by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Education Plus (a joint initiative of UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women) which will mobilize government, partners and stakeholders to accelerate scaled up actions on women’s rights and leverage girls’ education for gender equality and HIV prevention across Africa.

UNAIDS is urging renewed action and anticipates strong outcomes from #CSW68. UNAIDS looks forward to the partnerships that will be forged to accelerate progress towards gender equality and ending AIDS as a global public health threat.

UNAIDS remains steadfast in its commitment to working collaboratively with governments, civil society, and other partners to create a world where the rights and dignity of all women and girls are respected and protected, including women and girls living with, at risk of and affected by HIV.

#CSW68, hosted by the United Nations, will convene leaders, advocates, governments, civil society organizations, activists and experts to discuss, agree on actions and investments that can end women’s poverty and advance gender equality.

Follow the Education Plus event live on Tuesday 12 March at 08:00 – 09:30 EST - Making Education Investment Cases Work for Gender Equality and HIV Prevention  

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

One-third of people living with HIV in Asia and the Pacific are women. But their issues are often hidden.

Gender-based violence. Restricted economic opportunities. Child marriage. Underage pregnancy. Denial of property rights.

A UNAIDS-supported initiative by the International Community of Women Living with HIV Asia and Pacific (ICWAP) supports positive women’s organising. The Feminist School is a learning and consciousness raising programme that began in South Africa, and has been utilised in Asia-Pacific since 2016. The methodology, anchored in feminist principles, is specifically designed to enable women living with HIV to understand their personal experiences, locate them politically and develop strategies for community-driven advocacy. 

“Marching in the month of March is not enough to realize women’s rights,” insists ICWAP Regional Director, Sita Shahi. “We need to speak up on the issue of gender inequality in the HIV response and the need for increased investments in women and girls. Women and girls living with HIV are going through serious human rights violations that, in turn, undermine their right to health.”

The Feminist School brings together women living with HIV, women from key populations, and young women from across the region.  In the past two years, with support from UNAIDS, ICWAP has made adaptations to include modules on sexual and reproductive health and rights, movement building, leadership skills and the elimination of mother-to-child transmission (EMTCT).

“Feminist leadership training reveals the challenges faced by women living with HIV in the region. I have gained a lot of knowledge from the cross-country discussions and learned lessons about how women from different countries are breaking down human rights-related barriers, including stigma and discrimination,” said Salina from Malaysia.

Last year, a new module on the Global Fund processes was added.

“We recognized the importance of ensuring that interventions led by women living with HIV are included in Global Fund funding requests,” explained UNAIDS Asia Pacific Regional Adviser for Community-Led Responses, Michela Polesana.

UNAIDS supported a Global Fund Grant Cycle Seven (GC7) project focused on supporting the engagement of networks of women living with HIV in Cambodia, India, Thailand and Viet Nam in the current process. It found that organizations in these countries were at different stages of readiness and involvement. For example, India’s Positive Women Network (PWN+) was already participating in the process and benefitted from ICWAP’s technical support to strengthen their advocacy and organization.

Another UNAIDS-supported strategy ICWAP employed to bolster GC7 engagement was the facilitation of peer-to-peer growth by and for women living with HIV through the roll-out of an online Feminist School training. Through this initiative, country networks were supported in engaging in the Global Fund process and learned about its gender equality strategy, including the gender equality markers (GEM). They also received training to support them in their work to hold governments accountable.

The organization partnered with Ikatan Perempuan Positif Indonesia (IPPI), the Thai Positive Women’s Network, Viet Nam’s Women’s Network, the Association of Positive Women Advocates Inc (APWAI) from the Philippines, Women affected by HIV and AIDS (WABHA) from Papua New Guinea and an informal network of women living with HIV in Cambodia.

The groups identified priority issues for advocacy and recommendations for next steps and devised country-specific advocacy plans.

The advocates agreed on a set of three shared priorities. First, a seat for women living with HIV on each Country Coordinating Mechanism. Second, for positive women networks to reclaim antenatal care activities in prevention of mother-to-child transmission programmes. And finally, for capacity building for young positive women leaders.

Feminist school is helping women living with HIV to organize to secure their human rights. To protect women’s health it is vital to protect women’s rights. And to protect women’s rights it is vital to support women’s leadership.

“This is all about bridging the gap between outgoing leaders and an incoming, new generation,” Ms. Shahi said.

GENEVA, 6 March 2024— Ahead of International Women’s Day, celebrated on 8 March, UNAIDS is calling for the protection of women’s rights to protect their health.

The world is way off track to meet the gender, equality and HIV targets that are part of the Sustainable Development Goals. At the current rate of progress, it will take an estimated 300 years to end child marriage, 140 years for women to be represented equally in positions of power and leadership in the workplace, and 47 years to achieve equal representation in national parliaments.

In addition, around the world at least five women or girls are killed every hour by someone in their own family. One in three women worldwide experience sexual or gender-based violence.

Women who experience violence are more at risk of acquiring HIV. This risk is heightened for the 600 million women and girls who live in the world’s conflict-affected countries, facing an increased danger of sexual violence. And in the majority of the world’s poorest countries, the debt crisis is squeezing out investment in education, health, and social protection, particularly hurting women and girls.

Women are further threatened by the organized pushback against women’s rights. “Today, women’s hard-won rights are under a globally coordinated, ruthless attack. Those facing the most vicious attack are already the most marginalized women,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “The injustices faced by women are not natural disasters to prepare for, like hurricanes or storms. They are man-made, and, as such, we can unmake them.”

The good news is that across the world, women and girls are leading struggles for equality and rights. Women are standing up against oppression in their homes, workplaces, and communities. Women’s movements are providing direct support to women and girls who face violence, and marching and striking for equality. To protect women’s rights, it is vital to support and resource these community organizations, civil society groups and women’s organizations—the frontline defenders of those rights.

Like justice, health is never given, it is won.

UNAIDS’ call this International Women’s Day, is to protect women and girls’ health, protect women and girls’ rights. In doing so, the world will end AIDS, and will overcome the inequalities driving it.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

OSLO/GENEVA, 1 February 2024—At a conference hosted in Oslo by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, has made an impassioned call to all international partners to support women and girls from marginalized communities at the frontlines of the defence of human rights. Only by ensuring that the rights of everyone are protected can the world ensure that the health of everyone is protected, and that the Sustainable Development Goals are achieved.

In her keynote speech at the Rights and Resistance conference Ms Byanyima said, “We cannot separate sustainable development from human rights. We must put human rights at the centre of our development efforts. The AIDS movement, of which I am proud to be part, has been resolute in this. We have demonstrated how patriarchal, racist, and homophobic laws, policies, practices and norms undermine health and hurt everyone.”

She said that progress was in peril from a backlash on human rights but that hard-won gains could be protected and expanded by doing three things:

• Deepening our understanding of the pushback on human rights and democracy
• Bringing our efforts together and connecting the dots to link the struggles, thinking long term and being bold
• Backing and resourcing the people most impacted by the attacks on rights—foremost by supporting women and girls from the poorest and most marginalized communities

In her speech, Ms Byanyima underlined some of the gains made by human rights defenders in recent years through the leadership of women and girls and LGBTQ communities.

• 50 million more girls are in school than were in 2015
• Whereas a few decades ago, two-thirds of countries criminalised same-sex relationships, today two-thirds of countries do not criminalise them.

Opening the conference, Norway’s International Development Minister, Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, said, “We have an obligation to back those who risk their lives fighting for values that we take for granted. Norway will continue aiding those actors on the ground who stress the universality of human rights. We will support free and independent media, including at the local level. Finally, all Norwegian development aid shall be rights-based."

Human rights violations continue to drive the HIV epidemic among women and girls. Every week, 4000 adolescent girls and young women aged 15—24 became infected with HIV globally in 2022. 3100 of these infections occurred in sub-Saharah Africa.

Upholding the rights of marginalized communities is vital for enabling success in the HIV response. When marginalized communities are criminalized or stigmatized, their vulnerability to HIV infection increases, and their access to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support services is obstructed. UNAIDS research shows that the decriminalization of same-sex relationships is a crucial step in ending the AIDS pandemic.

UNAIDS is highlighting that the recent, well-coordinated and well-funded global pushback against women’s rights, against the human rights of LGBTQ people, against sexual and reproductive health and rights, against democracy and against civic space is not only a threat to everyone’s freedom, it is a threat to everyone’s health. In response to this threat, the AIDS movement and its allies are pushing back against the pushback, reminding world leaders of their commitments to uphold all human rights for all people.

UNAIDS is supporting frontline human rights defenders in both crisis response and in the longer-term work and is helping to expand support for human rights by demonstrating that laws, policies and practices which uphold human rights help countries to ensure public health and to get on track to end AIDS.

The UNAIDS Executive Director expressed confidence that the advancement of rights can be won. “Progress is not automatic. But if we are courageous and united, progress is possible,” said Ms Byanyima.

The full version of Ms. Byanyima’s speech (delivered at 12:50 CET February 1) can be viewed here.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

UNAIDS Statement on the International Day to End Violence Against Women and the Launch of 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-Based Violence: Unite! Invest to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls

What will it take for the world to end gender-based violence?

The answer is crystal clear: governments must empower and fund women-led organizations worldwide. We must let communities lead.

One in three women worldwide has experienced violence, often from someone she knows. Women who experience violence are also more at risk for HIV. As Ayu Oktariani of the Indonesian Positive Women Network says, “The perception that women living with HIV are ‘bad women’ makes people normalize violence against them.”

Gender-based violence has indeed become normalized across the globe. Yet it is a gross violation of human rights on an epic scale. As such, it requires an epic response.

But today, a staggering one in five countries worldwide has no laws providing enforceable penalties against gender-based violence.  And only 1 percent of gender-focused government aid is directed to women-led organizations.   

It is time for governments to recognize violence against women for the crime it is and increase funding for those who know best how to tackle it at its roots – women-led organizations.  

Across the globe, women-led organizations are on the ground, providing support to women at risk, advocating for policy change, and shifting societal attitudes toward marginalized groups of women such as sex workers, trans women, lesbians, and women with HIV. Research shows that the single most critical factor driving both global and domestic policy change in ending violence against women and girls is the presence of a strong and autonomous feminist movement.  

Millions of women worldwide are actively engaged in ending gender-based violence. For example, in Haiti, Refuge des Femmes d'Haiti supports women and girls affected by gang violence in Port-au-Prince. In Peru, Miluska Vida y Dignidad and Trans Organizacion Feminista help cis and transgender sex workers by training police and providing legal aid and other services. In Zimbabwe, SASA! mobilizes communities to respond to HIV-related violence towards women.    

Many of these women work as volunteers or for low pay in organizations that are often under-funded and with insecure financial futures. It is time to stop our reliance on the good will of women to make change happen in the face of violence against them. 

UNAIDS calls upon governments and international agencies to support and invest in women’s rights and service organizations – the unsung heroes of the movement to end gender-based violence – at levels that reflect the enormity of this pandemic of violence.

This is key to ending violence against women and girls in all their diversity. It is also key to ending AIDS.