Health and Human Rights

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Human Rights and HIV/AIDS
Sofia Gruskin Time to Deliver Wednesday August
9 2006
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HIVand Human Rights Making the Connections
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Some HIV/AIDS-Related Rights

• The right to life, survival, and development
• The right to equality and non-discrimination
• The right to travel
• The right to bodily integrity and security of the
  person
• The right to an identity
• The right to privacy
• The right to seek, receive and impart information

• The right to food
• The right to health
• The right to housing
• The right to social security
• The right to be free from torture
• The right to association
• The right to the benefits of scientific progress
• The right to education

Program on International Health and Human Rights
Harvard School of Public Health
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HIV Related StigmaHIV Related Discrimination

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Program on International Health and Human Rights
Harvard School of Public Health
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Basic Conceptual Relationships
HIV/AIDS ? Human Rights     HIV/AIDS? Human
Rights     HIV/AIDS?? Human Rights

Program on International Health and Human Rights
Harvard School of Public Health
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Different Approaches To The Work Of HIV/AIDS and
Human Rights

• Advocacy
• Legal Standards and Accountability
• Program design, implementation, and evaluation
  a rights-based approach
• It is always important to be clear how rights
  language is being used and for what purpose.

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International Human Rights Documents Relevant to
HIV/AIDS

• 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  (UDHR)
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• 1965 International Convention on the
  Elimination of All Forms of Racial
  Discrimination
• 1966 International Covenant on Economic,
  Social, and Cultural Rights
• 1966 International Covenant on Civil and
  Political Rights
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• 1979 International Convention on the
  Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
  Against Women
• 1985 Convention Against Torture
• Convention on the Rights of the Child
• 2002 International Convention on the Protection
  of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members
  of their Families
• The UDHR is not a legally binding document,
  but has served as inspiration for, and
  incorporated into, all the human rights treaties
  that have followed.
• Legally binding on nations that have ratified

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What human rights are definitional precepts

• International human rights law defines what
  governments can do to us, cannot do to us, and
  should do for us.
• Human rights law is meant to be equally
  applicable to everyone, everywhere in the world,
  across all borders and across all cultures and
  religions.
• Human rights are universal, interrelated and
  indivisible.
• Human rights are primarily about the relationship
  between the people and the state. International
  human rights law consists of the obligations that
  governments have agreed they have in order to be
  effective in promoting and protecting our rights.
  
• Every government in the world has committed to
  promoting and protecting rights in the context of
  HIV and AIDS.

Program on International Health and Human Rights
Harvard School of Public Health
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Different Approaches To The Work Of HIV/AIDS and
Human Rights

• Advocacy
• Legal Standards and Accountability
• Program design, implementation, and evaluation
  a rights-based approach
• It is always important to be clear how rights
  language is being used and for what purpose.

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A rights-based approach to HIV/AIDS refers to the
processes of

• Using human rights as a framework for policy and
  program development.

• Assessing and addressing the human rights
  implications of any HIV/AIDS-related policy,
  program or legislation.

• Making human rights an integral dimension of the
  design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation
  of HIV/AIDS-related policies and programs.

Program on International Health and Human Rights
Harvard School of Public Health
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Critical Components of A Rights-Based Approach to
HIV/AIDS

• Attention to the Legal and Policy Context
• Participation
• Non-discrimination
• The Right to Health (availability, accessibility,
  acceptability, quality)
• Transparency and Accountability

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Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS

• Prevention
• Care, Support and Treatment
• HIV/AIDS and Human Rights
• Reducing Vulnerability
• Children Orphaned and Made Vulnerable by
  HIV/AIDS
• Alleviating Social and Economic Impact

• Research and Development
• HIV/AIDS in Conflict and Disaster-affected
  Regions
• Resources
• Follow up
• - National Level
• - Regional Level
• - Global Level

Program on International Health and Human Rights
Harvard School of Public Health
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Concluding Points

• Human rights are relevant to people infected,
  affected and vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.
• The need to promote and protect human rights in
  the response to HIV/AIDS has been clearly spelled
  out in international sources.
• A rights-based response to HIV and AIDS is the
  most effective.
• Many presentations at this conference will raise
  human rights concerns. Be on the lookout for how
  human rights are considered in the actions being
  suggested.

Program on International Health and Human Rights
Harvard School of Public Health
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Thank You!

• Sofia Gruskin
• sgruskin_at_hsph.harvard.edu