AMSTERDAM / BALI / GENEVA / LONDON / NEW YORK, 11 August 2009 – People living with HIV and their advocates today launched a groundbreaking guidance package, “Advancing the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Human Rights of People Living with HIV”. Now, policy makers, programme managers, health professionals, donors and advocates have an important tool to better support the sexual and reproductive health and rights of people living with HIV.

With input from networks of people with HIV worldwide, the Guidance Package explains what global stakeholders in the areas of advocacy, health systems, policy making and law can do to support and advance the sexual and reproductive health of people living with HIV, and why these issues matter.

Working together legislators, the law courts, government ministries, international organizations, donors, community- and faith-based organizations, and people living with HIV can provide services and legal support that will contribute to improved sexual and reproductive health for everyone.

“From a public health perspective, decision-makers and service providers must recognize that people living with HIV do enter into relationships, have sex, and bear children,” says Dr Kevin Moody, International Coordinator and CEO of GNP+. “Ensuring that we can enjoy these normal aspects of a productive and fulfilling life is key to maintaining our own health, and that of our partners and families.”

For a person living with HIV, dealing with sex means dealing with difficult issues at vulnerable moments and in vulnerable settings. People living with HIV are expected to disclose their HIV status before engaging in sexual relations – in some countries it is even a legal obligation, even though this may lead to gender-based violence.

In order to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), sexual and reproductive health must be addressed adequately and a supportive legal framework is essential. “Stigma, discrimination and punitive laws prevent people living with HIV from accessing services and making informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive futures,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “This Guidance Package will help to ensure that the human rights of all people living with HIV, irrespective of their lifestyles, are respected and that they obtain access to the services and information they need to protect themselves and their loved ones.”

Advancing the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Human Rights of People Living with HIV is the outcome of a comprehensive, two-year process of research and analysis led by the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) and Young Positives in collaboration with EngenderHealth, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Consultations were held in Addis Ababa (March 2006), Amsterdam (December 2007) and at LIVING 2008: The Positive Leadership Summit (August 2008) prior to the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, as well as through an interactive internet discussion forum.

Bali, 8 August 2009— Sixty legal experts, people living with HIV, and representatives from key populations in thirteen countries in the Asia and the Pacific region today called on governments to fight HIV discrimination by strengthening and expanding HIV-related legal services. The experts attended a seminar on HIV-related legal services hosted jointly by the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (APN+), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United National Development Program (UNDP).

The experts also reviewed a Toolkit recently developed by IDLO, UNAIDS and UNDP to improve access to legal services in developing countries and transitional economies, one of the key gaps in the world's response to HIV. The Toolkit will assist governments and NGOs to: 1) develop proposals and submit applications to donors; and 2) initiate, expand and strengthen HIV-related legal services.

The Toolkit guidance covers legal service delivery models applicable in a range of settings for government agencies, stand-alone HIV legal organizations, community service and human rights groups, universities and private sector lawyers. It also includes a model training curricula for lawyers and paralegals, monitoring and evaluation of programs and resource mobilization strategies.

"Experience in the AIDS response 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," said David Patterson, Manager of IDLO's HIV and Health Law Programme. "However, such programmes are not sufficiently supported by national AIDS responses, and where they do exist, quality and scale are often insufficient."

People living with or affected by HIV often require practical assistance to maintain adequate housing, keep child custody, enforce property and inheritance rights, or access health care, education or employment without discrimination. Access to legal services is even more important in punitive legal environments. An increasing number of countries are passing overly broad laws to criminalize HIV transmission. Men who have sex with men, sex workers and people who use drugs face criminal sanctions in many countries, blocking access to HIV services and heightening HIV vulnerability.

“UNAIDS advocates that access to justice must be a basic, programmatic component of the movement for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support,” said Susan Timberlake, Senior Human Rights and Law Adviser, UNAIDS. “The persistent reality of discrimination, whether due to HIV status, gender or social status, means that legal services are a critical and necessary part of a comprehensive response to the epidemic.”

No “one size fits all” for legal services

Legal services in the context of HIV take many forms. These include: legal information and advice, including through telephone hotlines; formal litigation, including strategic litigation to create legal policy; mediation and other forms of dispute resolution; assistance with informal or traditional legal systems (e.g. village courts); and community legal education. Legal service providers are not always lawyers. They may be paralegals, volunteers, students or peer educators. Such services are provided in a range of settings, including HIV treatment and counseling centers, mainstream legal aid centers, as well as prisons and community settings. Work may also be linked to advocacy for law reform.

According to Jeff O’Malley, Director, HIV/AIDS Group, UNDP, “the rationale for supporting HIV legal services rests on two related arguments. One, they are essential to improving access to justice and a key means to protect the human rights of socially marginalized and vulnerable populations. Two, they are essential as a means to ensure optimal HIV, health and development outcomes, all of which are underpinned by the realization of rights.”

“One of our goals is to support countries to recognize how important legal services can be to the achievement of universal access and MDG 6, and then work with them to develop a strategy to scale up these services,” explained O’Malley. “Existing HIV-related legal services are generally small in scale and patchy in coverage. With high levels of ‘legal’ marginalization of key populations, the achievement of universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support demands a commitment to strengthening legal protection and access to HIV-related legal services.”

“There are extraordinary examples of great work being done to provide legal services," said Patterson. "It is imperative that legal services are taken to scale with the same urgency that we seek to provide treatment.”

The seminar included participants from Australia, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. The seminar took place prior to the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific. The Congress is due to be opened on Sunday, 9 August, by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, H.E. Hj. DR. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Financial support for the seminar was provided by AusAID and OFID.

APN+ is the network of people living with HIV and AIDS in the Asia Pacific region. It was established in 1994 at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur by 42 people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV) from eight countries in response to the need for a collective voice for PLHIV in the region, to better link regional PLHIV with the Global Network of PLHIV (GNP+) and positive networks throughout the world, and to support regional responses to widespread stigma and discrimination and better access to treatment and care. APN+ is now celebrating its 15 year anniversary with members from 28 countries from across the Asia Pacific Region and maintains a Secretariat Office in Bangkok which coordinates a growing number of regional PLHIV focused projects. www.apnplus.org

AusAID is the Australian Government agency responsible for managing Australia's overseas aid program. The objective of the aid program is to assist developing countries reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development, in line with Australia's national interest. Additional financial support for this seminar was granted through AusAID’s International Seminar Support Scheme (ISSS). The ISSS funds attendance at international development-oriented seminars in Australia and overseas. The scheme helps to develop knowledge and technical expertise in developing countries, and builds linkages between the government, academic and community sectors in Australia and our partner developing countries. www.ausaid.gov.au  

IDLO is a non-partisan, intergovernmental organization that promotes legal, regulatory and institutional reform to advance economic and social development in transitional and developing countries. Founded in 1983 and one of the pioneers of rule of law assistance, IDLO uses its access to governments and interest groups of differing ideologies, as well as its expertise and vast stakeholder network, to create opportunity for those most in need. www.idlo.int

OFID is the development finance institution of OPEC Member States, established to provide financial support for socio-economic development, particularly in low income countries. In Asia Pacific, OFID supports IDLO programs on HIV and law in China, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. www.ofid.org  

UNAIDS is an innovative joint venture of the United Nations, bringing together the efforts and resources of the UNAIDS Secretariat and ten UN system organizations in the AIDS response. The Secretariat headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland—with staff on the ground in more than 80 countries. The Cosponsors include UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank. Contributing to achieving global commitments to universal access to comprehensive interventions for HIV prevention, treatment, care and support is the number one priority for UNAIDS. Visit the UNAIDS website at www.unaids.org  

UNDP is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners. www.undp.org  

NEW YORK, 16 June 2009 – Ahead of this year’s World AIDS Day, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the World AIDS Campaign and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) have come together to announce the theme of ‘Universal Access and Human Rights’.

The theme has been chosen to address the critical need to protect human rights and attain access for all to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. It also acts as a call to countries to remove laws that discriminate against people living with HIV, women and marginalized groups. Countries are also urged to realise the many commitments they made to protect human rights in the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS (2001) and the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS (2006).

Speaking ahead of the announcement at the United Nations in New York, Michel Sidibé Executive Director of UNAIDS said, "Achieving universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support is a human rights imperative. It is essential that the global response to the AIDS epidemic is grounded in human rights and that discrimination and punitive laws against those most affected by HIV are removed.”

Many countries still have laws and policies that impede access to HIV services and criminalize those most vulnerable to HIV. These include laws that criminalize men who have sex with men, trangendered people and lesbians; laws that criminalize sex workers; and laws criminalizing people who use drugs and the harm reduction measures and substitution therapy they need. Some 84 countries have reported that they have laws and policies that act as obstacles to effective HIV prevention, treatment, care and support for vulnerable populations.

Speaking from Cape Town, South Africa, The World AIDS Campaign Executive Director Marcel van Soest said, “The epidemic has not gone away, tens of millions of people are still affected, but those hit the hardest, the poor and marginalised in society often don’t have a say when big decisions and laws are made. Their fundamental right to essential health care and life free from fear of stigma and discrimination must be strengthened.”

Governments continue to pass and enforce overly-broad laws that criminalize the transmission of HIV which are in direct contradiction to their commitments to “promote…. a social and legal environment that is supportive of safe and voluntary disclosure of HIV status.” Some 59 countries still have laws that restrict the entry, stay and residence of people living with HIV based on their positive HIV status only, discriminating against them in their freedom of movement and right to work.

At the same time, laws and regulations protecting people with HIV from discrimination and women from gender inequality and sexual violence are not fully implemented or enforced.

The organisation’s Chairperson, Allyson Leacock added, “The Human Rights theme is about us, about communities, about people like you and me and our governments making a commitment to honour and respect the dignity of the vulnerable and to those already living with HIV.”

SENEGAL/GENEVA, 20 April 2009 – UNAIDS welcomes the decision by Dakar’s court of appeal to release nine members of a Senegalese AIDS awareness organization, imprisoned since December 2008.

The men were sentenced in January 2009 for what the Senegalese courts termed as ‘acts against nature and the creation of an association of criminals’.

The announcement to release the men came further to an appeal supported by civil society organizations, the public sector and partners including UNAIDS, UNDP, the French Embassy and the Swedish Embassy representing the European Union, which had been working towards securing the release of the detainees since their incarceration last year.

UNAIDS had strongly urged all governments to take steps to eliminate stigma and discrimination faced by men who have sex with men and create a social and legal environment that ensures respect for human rights.

“Homophobia and criminalization based on a person’s sexual orientation is fuelling the AIDS epidemic,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “I welcome today’s decision by the court of appeal to release these men. We urge Senegal to take steps to remove such laws that block the AIDS response.”

The rights of men who have sex with men need to be protected and stigma and discrimination addressed by amending laws that prohibit sexual acts between consenting adults in private; enforcing anti-discrimination; providing legal aid services; and promoting campaigns that address homophobia. Failure to do so will jeopardize countries abilities to achieve their goals of universal access by 2010.

Geneva, 27 November 2008— Criminalization of adult sexual behaviour and violation of human rights of people living with HIV are hampering HIV responses across the world. UNAIDS urges countries to remove laws and policies make it difficult for people to access HIV prevention and treatment and adopt laws that protect people living with HIV from discrimination, coercion and monitoring in their private lives.

Recently, a number of countries and local bodies are considering a range of legal measures such as making homosexuality a crime, using technology to trace movements of people living with HIV, and mandatory HIV testing and forced rehabilitation of sex workers and people who are addicted to drugs. Such measures have a negative impact on delivery of HIV prevention programmes and access to treatment by people living with HIV. Not only do they violate human rights of individuals, but further stigmatize these populations.

"Homophobia - in all its forms - is one of the top five barriers to ending this epidemic, worldwide,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot. “If communities, NGOs, governments and international organizations do not respect and promote the rights of all people with diverse sexuality, we will not end AIDS."

All forms of restrictions on people living with HIV, whether it is limiting their ability to travel, monitoring their movements or criminalizing transmission of HIV, are not based on sound public health practices. It can alienate people living with HIV from society and facilitate further transmission of HIV.

Laws that reduce stigma and discrimination, protect privacy, and promote gender and sexual equality help save lives. Only 26% countries report having laws that protect men who have sex with men. Currently 84 countries in the world have legislation that prohibits same sex behaviour. In the 2006 political declaration on HIV/AIDS, governments committed to removing these legal barriers and passing laws to protect vulnerable populations. Countries that have non-discrimination laws against men who have sex with men, injecting drug users and sex workers have achieved higher rates of coverage of HIV prevention efforts.

Contact UNAIDS: Mallory Smuts | +41 22 7911697, email: smutsm@unaids.org

About UNAIDS

UNAIDS is an innovative joint venture of the United Nations, bringing together the efforts and resources of the UNAIDS Secretariat and ten UN system organizations in the AIDS response. The Secretariat headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland—with staff on the ground in more than 80 countries. Coherent action on AIDS by the UN system is coordinated in countries through UN theme groups, and joint programmes on AIDS. UNAIDS’ Cosponsors include UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank. Visit the UNAIDS Web site at www.unaids.org

“The private sector can influence these governments to do the right thing,” Schreiber said. “We call on CEOs to show your leadership by joining the pledge to end discrimination of people with HIV.”

See countries, fact sheets and up-to-date list of CEOs

Below are CEOs who have signed as of 19 July, 2012:

Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Group Managing Director/CEO, Access Bank Plc

Mark Bertolini, Chairman, CEO and President, Aetna

Cynthia Carroll, Chief Executive, Anglo American plc

Vincent A. Forlenza, Chairman of the Board, CEO and President, BD

Debra Lee, Chairman & CEO, BET Networks

Lamberto Andreotti, CEO, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

Muhtar Kent, Chairman of the Board and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company

Glenn K. Murphy, Chairman and CEO, Gap Inc.

Jonathan D. Klein, CEO and Co-Founder, Getty Images

John C. Martin, PhD, Chairman and CEO, Gilead Sciences, Inc.

Karl-Johan Persson, CEO, H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB

Jean-François van Boxmeer, Chairman of the Executive Board/CEO, HEINEKEN NV

Bong Yong Dam, CEO, Hub One International Company Ltd.

Alex Gorsky, CEO, Johnson & Johnson

Kenneth Cole, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Kenneth Cole Productions

Chip Bergh, President & CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Kenneth C. Frazier, Chairman, President & CEO, Merck & Co.

Heather Bresch, CEO, Mylan

David J. Stern, Commissioner, National Basketball Association (NBA)

Blake Nordstrom, President, Nordstrom, Inc.

Douglas A. Michels, President & CEO, OraSure Technologies, Inc.

Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, CEO, Vestergaard Frandsen

Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Unite

William H. Roedy, AIDS Activist and former Chairman, MTVN International