The Global AIDS Strategy 2021-2026 includes a series of bold goals for the international community to achieve, among which is the target that less than 10% of people living with HIV and key populations (such as people who use drugs) will experience stigma and discrimination by 2025. The central importance of exposing, tackling and reducing stigma has long been recognised at the international, regional and national levels, as stigma and discrimination are proven to be significant barriers to people accessing the health and social support and services that can save lives.

In order to make progress towards these targets, radical changes are needed to how people who use drugs – a key population for the HIV response – are treated and protected. Ghana has already made important strides in this direction, with the passing of the Narcotics Control Commission Act (Act 1019) in 2020 which reduced penalties for drug use offences while promoting alternatives to incarceration and harm reduction responses. Yet, accelerated efforts are needed in the country to create a conducive environment in which people who use drugs feel safe, supported and free from stigma. 

To this end, UNAIDS Ghana and the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) hosted a National Stakeholder Dialogue in April 2024 in collaboration with key national partners such as the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Ghana AIDS Commission, and the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC). The Dialogue had two main objectives: to bring together the key actors in Ghana to discuss the issues of stigma and discrimination; and to inform the development of a national stigma reduction roadmap for people who use drugs. It was attended by more than 55 participants representing government, academia, civil society, service providers, youth and the affected community.

National stakeholder dialogue: Towards a stigma reduction roadmap for people who use drugs in Ghana

On the 10th of December, the UN celebrated the 

 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Last week, just before this auspicious milestone, another historical human rights moment unfolded in Vienna as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) formally launched its new 

 on the human rights dimensions of drug policies.

In the report, Mr Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights unequivocally recognised that prohibitionist drug policies drive widespread human rights violations, and fuel discrimination. Given the serious, 

ongoing and unmitigated human rights violations

 that are meted out in the name of drug control, Mr Turk’s strong condemnation of the so-called ‘war on drugs’ is 

When the report was released, 134 NGOs from all over the world joined a 

 welcoming its findings and concrete recommendations to transform global drug policies away from the failed punitive paradigm.

The report’s launch in Vienna, the heart of the UN drug control system, took place in an electric environment. For decades, the UN drug control bodies have delivered little to no progress in aligning drug policies with human rights. In fact, many actors in the drug control regime remain wedded to the failed policies of prohibition and punishment. The strong report from OHCHR was not well received by many of them.

While human rights issues and actors have become increasingly visible and present at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), the last resolution explicitly focusing on human rights was passed 15 years ago, in 2008. Equally problematic is the fact that no CND resolution has ever encouraged or recognised the contributions of UN human rights entities to the UN drug control debate.

Instead, progress on UN drug policy has taken place outside of the Vienna setting. In the past year, new ambitious resolutions have been passed at both the 

 that have elevated critical, and previously neglected, topics such as the rights of Indigenous Peoples and farmers, racial justice and unequivocal support for harm reduction. It is high time for the CND to catch up with these policy developments or risk sliding into irrelevance.

At the launch of the OHCHR report, which was co-sponsored by 15 member states, the European Union and several UN agencies in addition to OHCHR (namely UNAIDS, UNDP and WHO), panellists all made clear that a ‘business as usual’ approach to drug policy would be unconscionable in light of the devastation and failure of punitive approaches:

“Colombia needs to solve this situation in order to overcome the violence that keeps us from jumping to another level of development. After years and years of seeing that consumption of illegal substances has not decreased, we share the view that we need to bring a more modernised approach to international drug policy.” - H.E. Ambassador Laura Gil, Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna at the launch of the OHCHR report, 7th December 2023.

“When we go to the CND next year, I hope we can be honest about where we are and have practical discussions about where we need to be and how to get there. This report provides an excellent overview of the problems and shortcomings of the current approach and clear guidance on how to course correct. This is not about tinkering around the edges, but as outlined in this report, is about a fundamental shift in how we approach drug use and support our communities to lead.” Christine Stegling, Deputy Executive Director, UNAIDS at the launch of the OHCHR report, 7th December 2023.

The UNODC was notable in its absence in supporting the launch event, or indeed in welcoming the OHCHR report in any way. It should be acknowledged that the agency has done some important work on human rights at an operational level, and on certain issues such as compulsory drug detention and the HIV response for people who use drugs. However, UNODC has historically failed to systematically centre human rights in its work. The clearest examples of this failure include the lack of reference to, or recommendations towards, the human rights dimension of drug policies in the annual World Drug Report; or its ongoing silence in the face of grave human rights violations committed in the name of drug control, such as the 

. The lack of forceful defence and promotion of the decriminalisation of drug use and possession for personal use - a policy that is at the centre of the 

For the past three years, on International Human Rights Day, IDPC has sent 

 to the UNODC Executive Director, Ghada Waly, urging her to take up the issue of human rights more systematically within the work of this UN drugs agency. Each time, these letters have gone unacknowledged, and unanswered.

The presentation of OHCHR’s report in Vienna is a historical moment that builds on the 

 over the past decade in firmly centring human rights in UN drug policy debates. It is cause for hope that true transformational change is coming that heralds a genuine paradigm shift away from repression and punishment towards drug policies that truly prioritise human rights, health, development and social justice.

As we mark the 75th anniversary of the most important UN human rights document in history, we call on the entire UN system - including UNODC and the CND - to prioritise human rights as the most fundamental principle in drug policies and programmes.

This will also require political courage and leadership from like-minded Member States that have traditionally promoted a human rights-based approach to drug policy to ensure that human rights remain high on the CND’s agenda by introducing new progressive resolutions and language, and pushing the UNODC to take on a stronger stance on pressing human rights issues going forward.

International Human Rights Day 2023: The time to correct course on UN drug policy & human rights is now

Let Communities Lead - World AIDS Day 2023

The world can end AIDS, with communities leading the way. Organisations of communities living with, at risk of, or affected by HIV are the frontline of progress in the HIV response. Communities connect people with person-centred public health services, build trust, innovate, monitor implementation of policies and services, and hold providers accountable.

But communities are being held back in their leadership. Funding shortages, policy and regulatory hurdles, capacity constraints, and crackdowns on civil society and on the human rights of marginalised communities, are obstructing the progress of HIV prevention and treatment services. If these obstacles are removed, community-led organisations can add even greater impetus to the global HIV response, advancing progress towards the end of AIDS.

This World AIDS Day is more than a celebration of the achievements of communities; it is a call to action to enable and support communities in their leadership roles. World AIDS Day 2023 will highlight that to unleash the full potential of community leadership to enable the end of AIDS:

Communities’ leadership roles need to be made core in all HIV plans and programmes and in their formulation, budgeting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. “Nothing about us without us.”

Communities’ leadership roles need to be fully and reliably funded to enable the required scale up,and be properly supported and remunerated. “Not ending AIDS is more expensive than ending it.”

Barriers to communities’ leadership roles need to be removed. An enabling regulatory environment is needed which facilitates communities’ role in provision of HIV services, ensures civil society space, and protects the human rights of all, including of marginalised communities, to advance the global HIV response. “Remove laws that harm, create laws that empower.”

Communities are leading World AIDS Day, and across the world are shaping the events and tailoring the detailed calls to their specific needs. Through photos and videos shared by groups on social media and aggregated by UNAIDS, people will be able to witness the kaleidoscope of events taking place, be inspired by the determination and hope, and hear communities’ calls for action.

Adaptable materials for World AIDS Day will be shared on the UNAIDS special World AIDS Day page, beginning in October. To highlight the narrative continuation, the campaign materials’ colour scheme and fonts will be the same as those which were used in July in 

. The imagery also will make use of the same design concept as used in The Path That Ends AIDS, with a shift that to highlight communities’ leadership role the angle will move from looking from above the people to looking up at them, and more face on. Materials will be tailorable by countries and communities.

Because change depends not on a moment but on a movement, the message “Let Communities Lead” will not only ring out on one day. It will be at the core of activities that will build up across November, see the release of the World AIDS Day Report – entitled Let Communities Lead – in late November, reach a crescendo on World AIDS Day on 1 December, and continue to echo throughout December and beyond.

“The end of AIDS is possible, it is within our grasp” says UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima. “To follow the path that ends AIDS, the world needs to let communities lead.”

World AIDS Day 2023

A report released this week has highlighted how continuing criminalisation and marginalisation of key populations are stymying efforts to end the global HIV/AIDS epidemic.

, entitled ‘The Path that Ends AIDS’, says that ending AIDS is a political and financial choice, and that in countries where HIV responses have been backed up by strong policies and leadership on the issue, “extraordinary results” have been achieved.

It points to African states that have already achieved key targets aimed at stopping the spread of HIV and getting treatment to people with the virus. It also points out that a further 16 other countries, eight of them in sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for 65% of all people living with HIV, are close to doing so.

But the report also focuses on the devastating impact HIV/AIDS continues to have and how alarming rises in new infections in some places are being driven largely by a lack of HIV prevention services for marginalized and key populations and the barriers posed by punitive laws and social discrimination.

Marginalising key populations impacting efforts to end HIV/AIDS epidemic

The International Committee of Jurists (ICJ) along with UNAIDS and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) officially launched a new set of expert jurist legal principles to guide the application of international human rights law to criminal law.

Ian Seiderman, Law and Policy Director at ICJ said, “Criminal law is among the harshest of tools at the disposal of the State to exert control over individuals...as such, it ought to be a measure of last resort however, globally, there has been a growing trend towards overcriminalization.”

“We must acknowledge that these laws not only violate human rights, but the fundamental principles of criminal law themselves,” he said.

For Edwin Cameron, former South Africa Justice of the Constitutional Court and current Inspecting Judge for the South African Correctional Services, the principles are of immediate pertinence and use for judges, legislators, policymakers, civil society and academics. “The 8 March principles provide a clear, accessible and practical legal framework based on international criminal law and international human rights law,” he said.

UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director for the Policy, Advocacy and Knowledge Branch, Christine Stegling said, “I welcome the fact that these principles are being launched on International Women’s Day (IWD), in recognition of the detrimental effects criminal law can, and too often does have on women in all their diversity.”

“We will not end AIDS as a public health threat as long as these pernicious laws remain,” she added. “These principles will be of great use to us and our partners in our endeavors.”

The 8 March principles for a human rights-based approach to criminal law proscribing conduct associated with sex, reproduction, drug use, HIV, homelessness and poverty

The below text is a response from Keith Scott, medical pratictioner and civil society collegue:

In its three previous declarations on HIV, the General Assembly has repeatedly and unanimously reaffirmed that “the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all is an essential element in the global response to the HIV epidemic, including in the areas of prevention, treatment, care and support.” The UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights therefore offers a number of human rights-oriented recommendations to Member States for the 2016 Political Declaration, under three broad headings:

§ removing punitive laws, policies and practices, particularly those targeting key populations, and instead creating a more enabling environment through protective laws, policies and practices;
§ accelerating universal access to treatment; and
§ scaling up the human rights programs that are essential to an effective response to HIV.

In the enclosed brief, the UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights explains why each of these areas of human rights concern requires attention, and sets out, in the Annex, specific proposed language for inclusion in the Political Declaration.

This is a key moment in the HIV response. Extraordinary progress has been made in responding to one of the world’s worst public health crises – and the international community has unanimously agreed on “ending AIDS by 2030” as one of the Sustainable Development Goals. But the crisis of both HIV prevention and treatment continue, with millions of new infections each year and less than half of those in need of life-saving antiretroviral medication receiving it. It is simply not possible to achieve “the end of AIDS” without a political and financial commitment to rapidly scaling up the response to meet ambitious HIV prevention and treatment targets, and, to that end, without taking action to protect and promote human rights, particularly the rights of the populations and communities most heavily affected by the epidemic. Efforts to “fast-track” the end of AIDS through the achievement of ambitious HIV prevention targets, or of the “90-90-90” treatment targets, will not succeed without attention to the structural factors continuing to drive new infections or impeding access to medicines.

The human rights approach has brought great success and saved millions of lives. Now is not the time for national governments, donors or the United Nations to back away from the fundamental principles of human rights. We all want to achieve the end of AIDS, but in speaking of an end, we must speak boldly and honestly not only of the successes of the HIV response, but also of the failures—including the ongoing human rights failures—because both successes and failures offer key lessons to galvanize future commitment and action, not only to end AIDS eventually but also to transform and advance global health more broadly, in keeping with the Sustainable Development Goals. Otherwise, we risk falsely declaring “the end of AIDS” while the epidemic becomes another disease of those who are poor and marginalized.

About the UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV & Human Rights
The Reference Group was established in 2002 to advise UNAIDS on all matters relating to HIV and human rights. The membership of the Reference Group brings together people from the HIV and human rights community, including advocates, jurists, ethicists, people living with HIV, people working in the NGO and community sector, people working in the government sector, and academics. The Reference Group speaks with an independent voice. Thus, its views do not necessarily reflect the views of the UNAIDS Secretariat or any of the UNAIDS Cosponsors. The Reference Group advises UNAIDS on how it can strengthen the capacity of governments, civil society and the private sector to protect and promote human rights in relation to HIV, and how it can best operationalize human rights and GIPA (Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV) principles in UNAIDS’ policies and technical support.

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National stakeholder dialogue: Towards a stigma reduction roadmap for people who use drugs in Ghana

International Human Rights Day 2023: The time to correct course on UN drug policy & human rights is now

World AIDS Day 2023

Marginalising key populations impacting efforts to end HIV/AIDS epidemic

The 8 March principles for a human rights-based approach to criminal law proscribing conduct associated with sex, reproduction, drug use, HIV, homelessness and poverty

High-level meeting on HIV: Contribution of the UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV & Human Rights