HIV/AIDS and Human Rights

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HIV/AIDS and Human Rights
A New HIV Infection every Six Seconds
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OUTLINE

• General Facts
• UN Commission on Human Rights
• Human Rights Violations Lead to HIV/AIDS
• HIV/AIDS Leads to Denials in Human Rights
• Causes of Discrimination against PLWHA
• Rights of PLWHA
• Womens Rights
• Women are more Vulnerable to HIV
• Human Rights in the Context of Saudi Arabia

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General Facts

• Over 42 Million today living with HIV/AIDS
• 95 in the developing world
• 28 Million dead already (2002)
• Highest rates amongst people aged 2044
  (productivity)
• Tragedy for Children
• 45 of South African army recruits HIV positive
  Threat to National Security

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UN Commission on Human Rights

• Resolution 49/1999
• Discrimination on the basis of HIV or AIDS
  status, actual or presumed, is prohibited by
  existing international human rights standards,
  and that the term, or other status in
  non-discrimination provisions in international
  human rights texts should be interpreted to
  cover health status, including HIV/AIDS

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Human Rights Violations Lead to HIV/AIDS

• Violations of Civil and Political Rights
• Violations of the right to adequate standard of
  living
• Violations of the right to information and
  education
• Violations of the right to Health and Medical
  services
• Violations of the right to share in scientific
  advancement
• Violations of womens rights
• Violations of the right to non-discrimination
  (Stigma)

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HIV/AIDS Leads to Denials in Human Rights

• The right to freedom from want
• The right to employment and fair labour practices
• The right to education
• The right to health and medical services
• The right to privacy
• The right to freedom of movement
• The right to participation and the right to legal
  remedy

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Causes of Discrimination against PLWHA

• HIV is life-threatening
• Fear of contracting HIV
• Sexual taboos
• Responsibility ( are HIV carriers responsible for
  contracting the disease?)
• Deviant behaviour
• Religious and moral beliefs

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Rights of PLWHA

• The right to life
• The right to liberty and security of person
• The right to the highest attainable standard of
  mental and physical health
• The right to non-discrimination, equal protection
  and equality before the law
• The right to freedom of movement
• The right to seek and enjoy asylum
• The right to privacy
• The right to freedom of expression and opinion
  and the right to freely receive and impart
  information

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Rights of PLWHA (ctd)

• The right to freedom of association
• The right to marry and found a family
• The right to work
• The right to equal access to education
• The right to social security, assistance and
  welfare
• The right to an adequate standard of living
• The right to share in scientific advancement and
  benefits
• The right to participate in public and cultural
  life
• The right to be free from torture and other cruel
  , inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment

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Womens Rights

• UNAIDS and UNGASS Declaration of commitment
• Discrimination in education, health, employment,
  etc
• Sexual and other forms of violence
• Lack of access to reproductive health
• Trafficking
• Stigma
• Economic Dependence
• renders women vulnerable to infection

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Women are more vulnerable to HIV

• Physiologically (soft tissue in female
  reproductive tract, vaginal tissue absorbance of
  fluids, STIs)
• Socially (lack of control over sex relations,
  little access to sexual health information
  services)
• Economically (vulnerable, dependent, desperate.
  Informal employment --gt no health insurance)
• Gender implications (GBV physical abuse, rape,
  commercial Sex-work Sex-Tourism, Trafficking
  for Sexual Exploitation, voluntary or forced
  migration Displacement,

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Human Rights in the Context of Saudi Arabia

• Are Human Rights an issue in terms of HIV/AIDS in
  the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?
• How do you think we are failing?
• Where do you think we can do better?
• Should UNDP advocate and how?
• Stigma

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• The respect of individual human rights is a
  precondition for an effective response to
  HIV/AIDS, and violations of human rights are
  recognized as primary pathogenic forces in the
  spread of the disease.
• Thank you