Human Rights in the Context of Hiv and Aids

A/HRC/RES/38/8View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2018.

What other versions does this mandate have?

3 versions · 2018–2024

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/56/20

2024A/HRC/RES/56/20Human rights in the context of HIV and AIDSLatestCompare with previous version
2021A/HRC/RES/47/14Human rights in the context of HIV and AIDSCompare with previous version
2018A/HRC/RES/38/8Human rights in the context of HIV and AIDS

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

What subjects does this mandate have?

12 topics

Anti-Discrimination Measures Conferences Consultations Education Health Care Delivery Health Policy Hiv/Aids Hiv/Aids Prevention Human Rights Regional Cooperation Reproductive Health Right to Health

What does this mandate say?

25 operative paragraphs

Affirms that respect for and the protection and fulfilment of human rights in the context of HIV, including universal access to HIV-related prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support, are an essential element in achieving the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and in ending AIDS;

Welcomes the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: On the Fast Track to Accelerating the Fight against HIV and to Ending the AIDS Epidemic by 2030, adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 70/266 of 8 June 2016, and urges States to take all steps necessary to implement the commitments therein;

Calls upon all States and relevant United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies, and international and regional intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, to continue to take all steps necessary to ensure respect for and the protection and fulfilment of human rights and to prevent and eliminate stigma, discrimination, violence and abuse in the context of HIV as an essential part of efforts to achieve the goal of universal access to HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support;

Urges States to ensure full and unimpeded access for all persons living with, presumed to be living with, at risk of or affected by HIV, including key populations, to HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support, in a public health environment free from discrimination, harassment or persecution against those seeking HIV-related services, while respecting and protecting their right to privacy, confidentiality and free and informed consent;

Also urges States to bring their laws, policies and practices, including their strategies for implementing the HIV- and other health-related Sustainable Development Goals, fully into compliance with their obligations under international human rights law, and to review or repeal those that are discriminatory or that adversely affect the successful, effective and equitable delivery of HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support programmes for all persons living with, presumed to be living with, at risk of or affected by HIV, including key populations;

Expresses grave concern that discriminatory attitudes and policies towards persons living with, presumed to be living with, at risk of or affected by HIV, including those co-infected by tuberculosis, continue to be reported, and that restrictive and punitive legal and policy frameworks continue to discourage and prevent people from having access to prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support services;

Welcomes and encourages regional efforts to set ambitious targets and design and implement strategies to accelerate the response to end AIDS;

Encourages the exchange, among countries and regions, of information, research, evidence, best practices and experiences for implementing the measures and commitments relating to the global response to HIV and AIDS, as well as subregional, regional, interregional and global cooperation and coordination;

Reaffirms that access to safe, effective and affordable medicines, diagnosis and treatment for all, without discrimination, in the context of epidemics such as HIV and AIDS, is fundamental to the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;

Recognizes the need to scale up national, regional and international efforts, including by increasing investments, funding, official development assistance, and technology transfer on mutually agreed terms, to reduce the rate of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths, in order to avoid the epidemic rebounding in some countries, which may not reach the ambitious, time-bound targets and commitments already set, including the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS 90-90-90 treatment targets by 2020 and the target of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030;

Strongly encourages States, in the context of HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support, to provide human rights education and training for health workers, the police, law enforcement officers and prison staff, and other relevant professions, with a special focus on non-discrimination, free and informed consent and respect for the will and preferences of all, confidentiality and privacy, and non-harassment, so as to allow outreach and other service activities and to exchange best practices in this regard;

Stresses that the lack of respect for and of protection and fulfilment of the human rights of all women and girls and their sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences, and of their enjoyment of the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, aggravates the impact of the epidemic among them and increases their vulnerability;

Calls upon States to address as a priority the vulnerabilities faced by children affected by or living with HIV, providing those children and their families with social protection, support and rehabilitation, including social and psychological rehabilitation and care, paediatric services and medicines, free from stigma and discrimination, and intensifying efforts to eliminate vertical transmission and to develop and provide 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;

Emphasizes that addressing the specific needs of adolescents and young people, especially girls and young women, in the response to HIV is a key element in efforts to achieve an AIDS-free generation, and urges Member States to develop accessible, available and affordable primary health-care services of high quality, including sexual and reproductive health care, as well as comprehensive education programmes, including those related to sexually transmitted infections, and to strengthen efforts in this regard, including by ensuring the active involvement of young people living with or affected by HIV in the response;

Calls upon States to accelerate efforts to scale up scientifically accurate, age-appropriate comprehensive education, relevant to cultural contexts, that provides adolescent girls and boys and young women and men, in and out of school, consistent with their evolving capacities, with information on sexual and reproductive health, sexuality and HIV prevention, gender equality and women’s empowerment, human rights, and physical, psychological and pubertal development;

Recalls that the multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination, stigma, violence and abuse often faced by persons living with, presumed to be living with or affected by HIV and by members of key populations have negative consequences for their enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of mental health;

Emphasizes the need to take into account the public health dimension of the world drug problem, in accordance with the operational recommendations of the outcome document of the thirtieth special session of the General Assembly, entitled “Our joint commitment to effectively addressing and countering the world drug problem”;

Stresses that breaking the cycles of HIV transmission requires ensuring that all people receive adequate HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support throughout their life cycles, including specialized care for HIV and other chronic conditions linked to ageing, response to drug-resistant strains of HIV, and resistance to antiretrovirals as well as antimicrobial resistance;

Urges States to address the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and the specific health-care needs experienced by migrant and mobile populations, and by refugees and crisis-affected populations, in the context of HIV and to eliminate stigma, discrimination and violence, as well as to review policies related to restrictions on entry on the basis of HIV status with a view to eliminating such restrictions and the return of people on the basis of their HIV status, and to support their access to HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support;

Stresses the need to ensure that gender equality strategies also address the impact of harmful gender norms, including delayed health-seeking behaviours, lower coverage of HIV testing and treatment and higher HIV-related mortality among men, in order to ensure better health outcomes for men and to reduce HIV transmission to partners;

Also stresses that comprehensive HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support should be available in prisons and other custodial settings;

Encourages States, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, international, regional and non-governmental organizations, national human rights institutions and other relevant stakeholders to ensure the meaningful participation of persons living with or affected by HIV and of key populations both in decision-making processes relating to, and in the implementation of, policies and programmes on HIV;

Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to organize a consultation, in the first half of 2019, in coordination with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, lasting one and a half days, to discuss all relevant issues and challenges pertaining to respect for and the protection and fulfilment of human rights in the context of the response to HIV, with a focus on regional and subregional strategies and best practices;

Also requests the High Commissioner to invite to the consultation Member States and all other stakeholders, including relevant United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes, the special procedures, in particular the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, the treaty bodies, regional human rights and health organizations and bodies, national human rights institutions and civil society, including persons living with, presumed to be living with, at risk of or affected by HIV;

Further requests the High Commissioner to prepare a report on the outcome of the consultation, in which the High Commissioner identifies regional and subregional strategies and best practices to respond to the HIV epidemic and to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of persons living with, presumed to be living with, at risk of or affected by HIV, and to present the report to the Human Rights Council at its forty-first session.

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