New York- June 18th – 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 World AIDS Campaign 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. “

For more information

Royston Martin

Head of Media and Communications

World AIDS Campaign