The Protection of Human Rights in the Context of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (Hiv) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Aids)

A/HRC/RES/16/28No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2011.

What other versions does this mandate have?

2 versions · 2009–2011

2011A/HRC/RES/16/28The protection of human rights in the context of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)LatestCompare with previous version
2009A/HRC/RES/12/27The protection of human rights in the context of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

17 topics

Anti-Discrimination Measures Children Conferences Developing Countries Health Care Delivery Health Policy Health Programmes Hiv/Aids Hiv/Aids Prevention Human Rights Intellectual Property Persons with Disabilities Pharmaceuticals Popular Participation Reproductive Health Vocational Training Women

What does this mandate say?

33 operative paragraphs

Affirms that the protection of human rights in the context of HIV/AIDS, including universal access to HIV-related prevention, treatment, care and support, is an essential element to achieve progressively the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the protection of human rights in the context of HIV/AIDS;

Recalls the 2011-2015 Strategy of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, and encourages States to ensure its implementation, in accordance with their national contexts and priorities, in cooperation with relevant United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies and international and non-governmental organizations;

Calls upon all States and relevant United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies and international and non-governmental organizations to continue to take all steps necessary to ensure the respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights in the context of HIV/AIDS, as referred to in the Guidelines, as an essential part of efforts to achieve the goal of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support;

Urges States to ensure full and unimpeded access for all, particularly key populations, to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, in a public health environment free from discrimination, harassment or persecution against those seeking HIV-related services;

Calls upon States, United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies and international and non-governmental organizations to assist developing countries, upon their request, in their efforts to prevent the spread of the epidemic and alleviate and control the detrimental impact of HIV/AIDS on the human rights of their people;

Reiterates the commitment to significantly intensify prevention efforts and increase access to treatment, in accordance with relevant national circumstances, by, inter alia, strengthening health systems, scaling up strategically aligned programmes aimed at reducing the risks and vulnerability of persons more likely to be infected with HIV, and combining biomedical, behavioural, social and structural interventions, and through the empowerment of women and adolescents so as to increase their capacity to protect themselves from the risk of HIV infection, and through the promotion and protection of all human rights;

Also reiterates that prevention programmes should be at the core of national, regional and international responses to the pandemic, and recalls the commitment to intensify efforts to ensure that a wide range of prevention programmes that are evidence-informed and take into account local circumstances, ethics and cultural values is available in all countries, especially most affected countries, and include information and education based on scientific evidence, and communication in languages most understood by local communities and in accessible formats for persons with disabilities, with the aim of:

Reducing risk-taking behaviours and encouraging responsible sexual behaviour;

Expanding access to essential commodities, including male and female condoms and sterile injecting equipment;

Providing age-appropriate education on sexual and reproductive health, as well as human rights education to all persons, including children and young people;

Considering harm-reduction programmes in relation to HIV as enumerated in the technical guide for countries to set targets for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care for injecting drug users, published by the World Health Organizations, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, in accordance with relevant national circumstances;

Expanding access to voluntary and confidential counselling and testing, and safe blood supplies;

Promoting testing and ensuring early and effective treatment of sexually transmitted, co- and opportunistic infections;

Promoting policies that ensure effective prevention and accelerate research and development into new tools for prevention, including microbicides and vaccines with proven efficacy, as well as universal access to them;

Calls upon all States, United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies, international and non-governmental organizations and relevant stakeholders to integrate HIV/AIDS services into comprehensive health-care services, and to facilitate the incorporation of migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons into national and regional HIV/AIDS strategies;

Urges all States to eliminate gender-based discrimination, stigma, violence and abuse to ensure that women can decide freely and responsibly on matters relating to their sexuality through, inter alia, the provision of health-care services, including sexual and reproductive health, information and education based on scientific evidence, and to integrate the promotion and protection of reproductive rights, as understood in previous international commitments, as components of national strategies on HIV/AIDS;

Calls upon States and United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies and international organizations, within their respective mandates, as well as non-governmental organizations, and relevant stakeholders, to ensure the availability, accessibility and affordability of medicines and health-care services for HIV-positive pregnant women, with a view to eliminating vertical transmission and securing the health of these women;

Requests States to develop further and, where necessary, to establish coordinated, participatory, gender-sensitive, transparent, evidence-informed and accountable national HIV/AIDS policies and programmes, and to implement them at all levels, including in prisons or other detention facilities, in cooperation with civil society, including faith- and community-based organizations, women’s organizations, advocacy groups and representatives of people living with HIV and other key populations;

Calls upon States to address as a priority the vulnerabilities faced by children and adolescents affected by and living with HIV, providing those children and their families with support and rehabilitation, including social and psychological rehabilitation and care, including pediatric services and medicines, and intensifying efforts to develop early diagnosis tools, child-friendly medicine combinations and new treatments for children, particularly for infants living in resource-limited settings, and building, where needed, and supporting social security systems that protect them;

Encourages all States to consider eliminating HIV-specific restrictions on entry, stay and residence and ensure that people living with HIV are no longer excluded, detained or deported on the basis of their HIV status;

Encourages States, United Nations programmes and agencies and relevant stakeholders to ensure that HIV/AIDS programmes and services are inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities and consistent with their human rights;

Urges States to ensure confidentiality and informed consent in the provision of health care, in particular with regard to sexual and reproductive health, to persons living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, including children, according to their evolving capacities;

Encourages States, as appropriate, in the context of HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, to ensure education and training for health workers on non-discrimination, informed consent, confidentiality and the duty to provide treatment, and to ensure education and training for police and other law enforcement officials on non-discrimination and non-harassment, so as to allow outreach and other service activities;

Encourages States, United Nations funds, programmes and agencies, international and non-governmental organizations and relevant stakeholders to ensure the meaningful participation of people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS and key populations in both decision-making processes related to and implementation of policies and programmes on HIV/AIDS;

Encourages all States to apply measures and procedures to enforce intellectual property rights in a manner that avoids the creation of barriers to the legitimate trade of medicines, and to provide for safeguards against the abuse of such measures and procedures, taking into account, inter alia, the Doha Declaration on the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health;

Urges all States to consider taking steps towards the elimination of criminal and other laws that are counterproductive to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support efforts, including laws directly mandating disclosure of HIV status or that violate the human rights of people living with HIV and members of key populations, and also urges States to consider the enactment of laws protecting these persons from discrimination, abuse and violence in HIV prevention, treatment, care and support efforts;

Invites the human rights treaty bodies, when considering national reports, to give particular attention to the protection of human rights in the context of HIV/AIDS;

Invites all special procedures to contribute further to the analysis of the human rights dimensions of the HIV/AIDS epidemic;

Encourages all States to include information on human rights in the context of HIV/AIDS in their national reports to be submitted to the Council in the framework of the universal periodic review mechanism and in their reports submitted to treaty bodies;

Encourages the 2011 World Conference on Social Determinants of Health, organized by the World Health Organization, to address the issue of human rights as a central element in the context of HIV/AIDS;

Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to engage actively with the 2011 General Assembly High-level Meeting on AIDS, providing a human rights-based perspective, and to inform the Human Rights Council thereon;

Decides to hold a panel discussion at its nineteenth session, within existing resources, in consultation with all regional groups, to give voice to people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, in particular young people, women and orphaned children, with a view to taking into account their experiences in reinforcing the centrality of human rights in the response to HIV/AIDS, in the context of the timely achievement of Millennium Development Goal 6 and in compliance with the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS and the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS.

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