We must protect, promote and fulfil human rights if we are to achieve HIV and health targets on the African continent and ensure access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services for all. This was the main call to action during a recent regional consultation for national human rights institutions and parliamentarians held in Nairobi, Kenya.
“This conference is indeed very timely for Africa, as it offers an opportunity to deliberate on how best national human rights institutions can work with parliaments in fostering the right to health through building strong partnerships,” said Enid Muthoni, the International Development Law Organization’s Country Director in Kenya.
National human rights institutions play a key role in promoting and protecting HIV-related human rights, including the right to health, and in ensuring that these are effectively addressed at the local and national levels. They serve as an important bridge between government, civil society and other stakeholders, helping to empower duty-bearers to respond to issues related to the right to health and rights-holders to realize these rights.
“Human rights and health are inherent for everyone. National human rights institutions, parliament and civil society and everyone at an individual level has a role to play in promoting the right to health,” said Madeleine Nirere, Chair of the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions.
The right to health is especially important to promote among people being left behind by the AIDS response, including key populations—such as gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgender people and people who inject drugs—to claim their rights to non-discrimination, HIV prevention and treatment services, information and education and freedom from sexual coercion and violence.
“If you have no health, you have nothing else. Everyone should therefore have a right to health,” said Miriam Were, former Chairperson of Kenya’s National AIDS Control Council and Champion for an AIDS-Free Generation.
The call to action from the consultation focused on a broad-reaching range of human rights issues, including promoting public–private partnerships and policies and actions to end stigma and discrimination in health-care settings and other institutional settings, such as schools and workplaces. The participants also called for the repeal of punitive laws, policies and practices that create barriers to access HIV and health services and appealed to countries to ratify and domesticate the many existing African human rights mechanisms.
“The call to action will enable national human rights institutions and parliamentarians to firmly express their determination to help achieve the health and HIV targets and operationalize the resolutions and mechanisms at our disposal,” said Jantine Jacobi, UNAIDS Country Director in Kenya.
