Human Rights in the Context of Hiv and Aids

A/HRC/RES/56/20View 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 2024.

What other versions does this mandate have?

3 versions · 2018–2024

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).

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Extracted automatically from each entity’s budget submission.

What subjects does this mandate have?

8 topics

Anti-Discrimination Measures Financing Health Policy Hiv/Aids Hiv/Aids Prevention Human Rights International Cooperation Right to Health

What does this mandate say?

38 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;

Encourages States to take all the steps necessary to meet the commitments made in the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Ending Inequalities and Getting on Track to End AIDS by 2030, adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 75/284;

Urges States to end all inequalities and human rights violations and abuses faced by persons living with, at risk of or affected by HIV and by communities, and to end the inequalities within and among countries that are barriers to sustaining the gains made in the HIV response and ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030;

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 all 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 combination HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support;

Urges States to accelerate the integration of HIV services into primary health care towards universal health coverage and resilient health and social protection systems and 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 the right to privacy, confidentiality and free and informed consent as critical to sustaining the gains made in the HIV response;

Also urges States to adopt or strengthen programmes or other measures to achieve the societal enabler targets outlined in the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Ending Inequalities and Getting on Track to End AIDS by 2030, including enabling laws, policies, public education campaigns and ongoing pre- and post-qualification anti-stigma training for health-care workers, law enforcement officers, public service workers and non-State actors, such as community leaders and religious and faith-based leaders, that dispel the stigma and discrimination that still surrounds HIV, as critical to reducing inequalities in the HIV response and sustaining the gains made towards ending AIDS as a public health threat beyond 2030;

Further 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 restrictive, punitive or discriminatory legal and policy frameworks that adversely affect the successful, effective and equitable delivery of, and access to, HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support programmes and services for all persons living with, presumed to be living with, at risk of or affected by HIV, including key populations;

Urges States to tackle 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, including by leveraging the potential of “Undetectable = Untransmissible (U = U)”, and to ensure their access to prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support services;

Calls upon States to end impunity for human rights violations and abuses against persons living with, at risk of or affected by HIV by meaningfully engaging and ensuring access to justice for them, providing legal literacy programmes, increasing their access to legal support and representation and expanding sensitization training for judges, law enforcement officers, health-care workers, social workers and other duty bearers;

Also calls upon States to incorporate strategies to implement and maintain the societal enabler targets adopted by the General Assembly in the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Ending Inequalities and Getting on Track to End AIDS by 2030, namely by removing punitive legal and policy frameworks, ending stigma and discrimination and addressing gender inequalities and gender-based violence and harmful practices, which are critical to the effectiveness of the HIV and AIDS response and contribute to removing barriers in accessing health services and to enabling individuals and communities to better protect their health and well-being;

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

Calls upon States, in the context of HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support, to incorporate human rights education and training for health-care workers, the police, law enforcement officers and prison staff and other relevant professions into pre- and post- qualification training, 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 exchange best practices in this regard;

Stresses that the lack of respect for and of protection and fulfilment of all 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 right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, aggravates the impact of the epidemic among them and increases their vulnerability;

Urges States to eliminate all forms of sexual and gender-based violence, including intimate partner violence and domestic violence, by adopting and enforcing laws, changing gender stereotypes and negative social norms, perceptions and practices and providing tailored services that address the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence faced by women and girls living with, at risk of or affected by HIV;

Calls upon States to address the inequities and 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, 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 developing social security systems that protect them;

Urges States to address the specific needs of adolescents and young persons, especially girls and young women, and persons with disabilities in the response to HIV as a key element in efforts to achieve an AIDS-free generation, to develop accessible, available and affordable primary health care and services of high quality, including sexual and reproductive health services, as well as education programmes on sexual and reproductive health and rights, including those related to sexually transmitted infections, and to strengthen efforts in this regard, including by removing obstacles, such as age-of-access laws, to access by adolescents and young persons to HIV-related and sexual and reproductive health services and by ensuring the active involvement of adolescents and young persons living with or affected by HIV in the response;

Calls upon States to accelerate efforts to scale up scientifically accurate, age-appropriate comprehensive education on sexual and reproductive health, 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 comprehensive HIV prevention, gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment, human rights and physical, psychological and pubertal development to enable them to build self-esteem and risk reduction skills and to empower them in their decision-making, communication and development of respectful relationships, in order to enable them to protect themselves from HIV infection;

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 physical and mental health;

Emphasizes the need to take into account the human rights and public health dimensions of the world drug problem, in accordance with the operational recommendations contained in 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”;

Encourages the exchange, among countries and regions, of information, research, evidence, best practices and experiences, and subregional, regional, interregional and global cooperation and coordination, with a view to implementing measures and meeting commitments relating to the global response to HIV and AIDS, in particular the commitments contained in the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Ending Inequalities and Getting on Track to End AIDS by 2030, with developed countries and those in a position to do so taking the lead to facilitate the voluntary transfer of financial resources and technology on mutually agreed terms and to promote capacity-building where necessary;

Calls upon States to take all the measures necessary to prevent, diagnose and treat HIV and its co-infections and comorbidities and to ensure access to safe, effective and affordable medicines, health technologies, diagnosis and treatment for all, without discrimination, in the context of epidemics such as those of HIV and AIDS, which 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, and to maintain and expand, beyond 2030, the provision of treatment to persons living with HIV in order to sustain the gains made and avoid the epidemic rebounding in some countries, including critical investment in, and leveraging of, the 10-10-10 targets on societal enablers, including protection of human rights, reduction of stigma and discrimination and law reform, by 2025;

Urges States to break the cycle of HIV transmission by ensuring that all people receive adequate HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support throughout their life cycles, including specialized care for HIV, other chronic conditions, psychosocial disabilities and non-communicable diseases linked to HIV and ageing, as well as mental health and psychosocial support services, response to drug-resistant strains of HIV and resistance to antiretrovirals, as well as antimicrobial resistance, and, in this context, to establish effective systems for monitoring, preventing and responding to the emergence of drug-resistant strains of HIV and antimicrobial resistance;

Also 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, to eliminate stigma, discrimination and violence, 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;

Recognizes that timely, equitable and unhindered access to safe, affordable, effective and quality medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics and other health products and technologies is one of the fundamental elements for the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and the corresponding objectives of universal health coverage and health for all, without discrimination, with special attention to reaching those furthest behind first, and urges States to ensure access to and the use of the full range of HIV interventions, including by tailoring combination HIV prevention, early detection, including the use of self-tests, in line with national testing algorithms and World Health Organization guidance, and HIV diagnosis, treatment, care and outreach services to meet the diverse needs of key populations and all persons living with HIV, including in prisons and other custodial settings;

Urges States to accelerate efforts to collect, use and share granular data, including through community-led research, as applicable, that are disaggregated by income, sex, gender, mode of transmission, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, marital status, geographical location, key population and other characteristics relevant in national contexts in a manner that fully respects confidentiality and the human rights of persons living with, at risk of or affected by HIV and other beneficiaries, and to strengthen national capacity to collect, use and analyse such data, including through technical, financial and capacity-building support for developing countries, including least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States, to further strengthen the capacity of national statistical authorities and bureaux;

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

Urges States to commit to the greater involvement of persons living with HIV and AIDS and to empower communities of persons living with, at risk of or affected by HIV, including women, adolescents and young persons and community-led organizations, to play their critical leadership roles in the HIV response by ensuring that relevant global, regional, national and subnational networks and other affected communities are included in HIV-response decision-making, planning, implementing and monitoring and are provided with sufficient technical and financial support;

Urges the international community to continue to assist developing countries in promoting the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including through access to medicines, in particular essential medicines, vaccines and other prevention technologies, diagnostics, medical devices, assistive technologies and other health products that are affordable, safe, efficacious and of quality, and through financial and technical support, training of personnel and other capacity-building measures, while recognizing that the primary responsibility for respecting, protecting and fulfilling all human rights rests with States and also recognizing the fundamental importance of the voluntary transfer of environmentally sound technologies and financial resources on favourable terms, including on concessional and preferential terms, as mutually agreed;

Urges States to fulfil their commitment to ensuring global accessibility, availability and affordability of safe, effective and quality-assured medicines, including generics, vaccines, diagnostics and other health technologies to prevent, diagnose and treat HIV infection and its co-infections and comorbidities by urgently removing, where feasible, all barriers, including those related to regulations, policies and practices that hamper access to health technologies and objectives, and promoting the utilization of all available tools to reduce the prices of health technologies and costs associated with lifelong chronic care and to promote fair and equitable allocation of health products among and within countries to advance efforts to safeguard the full realization of the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;

Calls upon the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and its co-sponsor organizations to support countries in addressing the legal, social, economic, political and structural drivers of the AIDS epidemic, including through the promotion of all human rights and of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls;

Urges States to create and maintain a safe and enabling environment, online and offline, in which civil society, including communities of people living with, at risk of or affected by HIV, including women, adolescents and young persons, persons with disabilities and key populations, can operate free from hindrance, insecurity and reprisals, including by putting in place and, where necessary, reviewing and amending relevant laws, policies, institutions and mechanisms, and also urges States to ensure that such measures are gender-, disability- and age-responsive, address HIV-related stigma and take into account the needs of different groups, including key populations, and the online dimension of threats and attacks;

Calls for urgent action to close the HIV and AIDS resource gap, taking into account the need for additional annual investment of $8 billion and increased investment in societal enablers in order to reach the 2025 targets on the basis of shared responsibility and global solidarity, encourages countries to scale up domestic and international funding for HIV response, and emphasizes that action is needed to ensure political, programmatic and financial accountability and sustainable and equitable finance at all levels;

Urges States to take action to sustain the gains made in the HIV response beyond 2030 and to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of persons living with, at risk of or affected by HIV in order to reduce vulnerability to HIV and increase access to services, including, but not limited to, by eliminating HIV-related stigma and discrimination, removing discriminatory laws, achieving gender equality and protecting civic space;

Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in consultation with the secretariat of the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS and relevant experts, to convene at the fifty-eighth session of the Human Rights Council a panel discussion, accessible to persons with disabilities and open to the participation of States, local authorities, relevant treaty bodies and special procedures of the Council, academia, civil society and other relevant stakeholders, to discuss the realization of human rights in sustaining and increasing the gains made in the HIV response and leaving no one behind and to provide recommendations to countries on that matter;

Also requests the High Commissioner to prepare and submit to the Human Rights Council, at its sixtieth session, a report under agenda item 3, in formats accessible to persons with disabilities, on a sustainable HIV response with regard to the human rights of persons living with, at risk of or affected by HIV, taking into consideration the outcomes of the panel discussion to be convened at the fifty-eighth session;

Further requests the High Commissioner to prepare a report, in consultation with Governments, civil society, community-led organizations and other stakeholders, on the impact, results and state of implementation of societal enablers by States, as recognized in the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Ending Inequalities and Getting on Track to End AIDS by 2030, and to present it to the Human Rights Council at its sixty-fourth session, in formats accessible to persons with disabilities, and to share its findings and recommendations with the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS, the World Health Organization, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and other relevant stakeholders as a contribution to its work in supporting States in sustaining and increasing the gains made in the HIV response and leaving no one behind;

Requests the High Commissioner to invite contributions to the reports from States and all other stakeholders, including relevant United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes, the special procedures of the Human Rights Council, 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.

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