Materials: AIDS and Human Rights

HIV/AIDS and Human Rights

Human rights protection is a main part of the effective counteraction of AIDS epidemic on personal, national and global levels. Consequences of AIDS are graver where the human rights are less protected, especially among the people or communities, living “on the edge” of society, also workers of sex-business, IDUs and MSM. And on the contrary, protection of fundamental human rights increase their ability to protect themselves and others from HIV-infection risk, helps to reduce their vulnerability to HIV and supports them in fight with epidemic circumstances.

Recently there was an opinion that approaches based on human rights compliance to the prophylactics of HIV with an aim of increasing a scope of measures in response to AIDS epidemic reduced a role of public health, which proposes more applied practical approaches. However an experience unambiguously shows that contraposition of public health and human rights protection injures the matter. Strategies of public health and human rights protection are mutually strengthening themselves. Their joining gives a maximum effect in reducing of HIV transmission and improvement of people life quality, living with HIV/AIDS.

Successes, achieved on the basis of human rights compliance.

Approaches to AIDS epidemic, based on the human rights compliance, are giving the positive results as:

• Reinforcement of the work effectiveness of public health. Protection of individual person, if this person lives with HIV, directed to the achievement of maximum high standards of physical and mental health, leads to increase of confidence to the systems of heath. Owing to this, a big number of people in their turn began to seek and get the correspondent information about prophylactics of consulting and care in connection with HIV.

• Providing with participation process of all interested sides, joining the patients and medical workers, what increase a topicality and acceptability of public health strategies.

• Creation of indiscriminative programs, which include the detached groups, exposing to high risk of HIV-infection. For example “The initiatives in fight with HIV/AIDS by the way of getting more knowledge and instruction” in Bangladesh, A project of Sonaqachi in Colcat (India) considers the rights of people busy in sex-business, providing their participation in planning, realization and estimation of all corresponding programs on AIDS.

• Widening of activity in response to AIDS epidemic by the way of presenting to people an opportunity to demand an access getting to services on HIV prophylactics and care. In several countries of Latin America, including Brazil, Costa-Rico, Mexico, Panama and Salvador, it is guarantied owing to access on treatment and other medical services for many PLWHA.

• Increasing of states responsibilities as a result of people acts, requiring a compensation for negative circumstances of politics in the health sphere. Court action on the basis of human rights became one of the methods of people rights realization for getting an access to the medical services, including antiretroviral therapy. For example, in South Africa a campaign on providing of access to the treatment “Treatment action campaign” achieved a rule of court, which obliged a government to provide a delivery of antiretroviral medicament nevirapine to HIV-positive pregnant women in state medical institutions within the scope of phased realization of overall national program on prophylactics of HIV transmission from mother to child.

Progress on national level

In spite of difficulties the positive progressives recently are observed in the sphere of human rights providing on national level. Utilization of all interested participants to the work allowed including the issues of human rights owing to HIV, especially discrimination principles, into the program components, such as national politics on AIDS sphere, strategic and legislative frame. For example on January 2003 there was adopted a Law about HIV/AIDS in Cambodia; on January 2004 a parliament in Malawi adopted a Strategy of fight with HIV/AIDS on the basis of human rights compliance; similar political and judicial reforms were adjudged in Belarus, India, Lesotho, Liberia and Russian Federation.

Meanwhile the youth of Malawi, Sri-Lanka, Zambia and Bangladesh worked out and realized the programs, directed to the overcoming of stigma and discrimination, in support of low grants Program, created by the United Nations Organization on issues about education, science and culture (UNESCO) and UNAIDS.

Human rights and access to the information about AIDS and its prophylactics.

Right for a search, getting and distribution of information is one of the fundamental human rights and required term for providing of effective prophylactics of HIV and AIDS treatment. People have a right to know how to protect them from HIV-infection. They also have a right to know their HIV-status and if they are infected they have a right to know where they can get a treatment, care and support. Adequate information, testing and consulting should be accessible for everybody, who need in it, and rendering with human rights compliance and consideration of ethic and practical norms. Examples of human rights realization in different countries of the world include holding of informational campaigns, directed to the concrete groups of population, such as MSM, IDUs, medics and prisoners (Guinea, Italy, Kuwait, Portugal); inclusion of AIDS questions into school study programs(Argentina, Cuba, Mauricio, Sent-Vincent, Czechia); development of educational and prophylactic groups in communities (Lebanon, Thailand); carrying out of educational and prophylactic programs considering the local cultural peculiarities for aboriginal population, refugees, people, seeking for asylums, and migrants (Canada, the Netherlands, Norway). On March 2004 UN Thematic groups on HIV/AIDS held a number of nation wide consultations on the questions of AIDS and human rights in Cambodia, Nepal, and Thailand and on Fiji. Besides in support of UNAIDS, UN High commissioner Administration on human rights (UNHCO), UN Children Fund (UNICEF), International Labor Organization (ILO), United Nations Development programs (UNDP), Administration of the United Nations Organization on drugs and criminal(UNODK) and Project “Policy” was held at the meeting in Asia-Pacific region on the subject of AIDS and human rights. Representatives from 20 countries of the region were participated in it, and also state officials, members of natissonal councils on AIDS, lawyers, physicians, PLWHA, IDUs, sex-business workers of both sexes, MSM, representatives of youth, mobile groups of population and ethnic minorities. Recommendations, carried out in the course of these consultations, help to the propaganda activity, in particular, Forum of state leaders of Asia-Pacific region. They assist to improvement of education and administration quality, directed to the increasing of human rights problems understanding in connection with HIV/AIDS in the region, and also helps in determination of progressive experience examples. In other regions, UNESCO and UNAIDS maintains in determination of studies holding for youth on the questions about human rights and in French speaking countries of Africa (Yaund, Camerun); in Eastern Europe (Croatia). During the education students got the conduct knowledges. Besides, there was a special attention to the mass media role and communication in informational reports on the basis of human rights, also how to spread myphs and fears, which are often forming and strengthening a stigma and discrimination in connection with HIV/AIDS. To the end of 2003 young people passed such education from more than 60 countries.

A problem is on

In spite of these achievements, a rude violation of human rights in connection with AIDS continues with a painful regularity in different parts of the world. Besides, many times pass between the laws and strategies adoption by the government and their actual realization. Relatively not many countries can fulfill their obligations regarded to the human rights compliance.

Approach providing, based on the human rights

According to the development scopes widening in respond to AIDS epidemic a necessity arises for its fulfillment on the basis of public health practice, providing at that a respect, protection and realization of norms and standards of human rights. It is especially important in conducting the testing on HIV as prerequisites for widening of access to the treatment (look chapter “Prophylactic”).

Providing conception of volunteer testing on HIV rests on the basis all strategies and programs on fight to HIV-infection. Testing voluntaries corresponds to the principles of human rights and provides persistent advantages for public health. It is necessary to carry on a work for providing totality of the following mutually strengthening key factors.

• Abidance of the ethical principles in the course of testing conducting: it includes a determination of testing aim and priorities for people, who are passing it, and also providing of connection between institution, conducting the testing and correspondent institutions rendering a treatment, care and other services. Besides, testing should be conducted in condition, guarantying a confidentiality saving of all medical information.

• Overcoming of circumstances in the case of testing positive result: people, having got testing positive results on HIV, should not be exposed to discrimination and should get an access to a persistent treatment.

• Reducing of stigma and discrimination in connection with AIDS at all levels, especially in medical institutions.

• Providing of supporting legal and political sphere for widening of responding activity, including human rights protection of that people who are applied for services in connection with AIDS.

• Providing of adequate level of medical infrastructure for widening of aforementioned questions and enough quantity of educated personnel, capable to cope with increased demand on testing, treatment and other correspondent services.

Repeated appearance of repressive laws and politics

The number of laws and political decisions were adopted in the last years, restraining the human rights living with HIV/AIDS or conceivably infected.

Experience shows that human rights protection reduces a vulnerability of people with HIV and reduces the negative circumstances of HIV and AIDS. A significant progress is achieved in this sphere, however world should be aware in order not to allow the return to practice, ignoring the human rights.