“AIDS epidemic still being driven by human rights violations”

News

“AIDS epidemic still being driven by human rights violations”

8 June 2016
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

GENEVA (3 June 2016) – In an public statement* ahead of the High-Level Meeting on ending AIDS by 2030 (New York, 8-10 June), a group of United Nations independent experts has warned that the AIDS epidemic is still driven by human rights violations around the world, including discrimination, violence, punitive laws, policies and practices.

The UN Special Rapporteurs on the right health Dainius Pῡras; on human rights defenders, Michel Forst; on extreme poverty, Philip Alston; and on violence against women Dubravka Šimonović; and the Chairperson of the UN Working Group on Discrimination against women, Frances Raday, urged all Governments to remove punitive laws, policies and practices, including overly broad criminalization of HIV transmission, third-party notification requirements, mandatory testing and others that block key populations’ access to health services, goods and information.

“Such laws and practices impede, and sometimes altogether bar, certain populations from accessing information, as well as health goods and services that are critical to the prevention, treatment, and care of HIV,” they said.

Click here to read the full article.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Thumbnail: Flickr CC Natia Koiava