Elimination of Discrimination Against Persons Affected by Leprosy/Hansen's Disease and Their Family Members

Encourages States and relevant stakeholders to give due consideration to the principles and guidelines and to promote awareness, understanding and wider dissemination and use thereof at the national and subnational levels;

Calls upon States to continue and, where appropriate, intensify efforts to eliminate discrimination against persons affected by leprosy/Hansen’s disease and their family members, including by integrating relevant measures into national and subnational laws, policies, programmes and strategies, with due regard to non-discrimination, equality, participation and access to information;

Encourages States and relevant stakeholders, where appropriate and in accordance with national legislation, to make use of accessible digital information and communication technologies to facilitate awareness-raising, including early diagnosis and access to support, participation and the reduction of stigma experienced by persons affected by leprosy/Hansen’s disease and their family members;

Encourages States, with the support of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and relevant United Nations entities, to observe World Leprosy Day, held annually on the last Sunday of January, as an opportunity to raise public awareness and promote public dialogue on the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy/Hansen’s disease and their family members, including through public events, education and outreach activities that should amplify the voices of persons affected by leprosy/Hansen’s disease as a means of eliminating discrimination;

Requests the current Special Rapporteur on the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy (Hansen’s disease) and their family members to report to the General Assembly at its eighty-first session, within existing resources;

Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to submit a comprehensive report to the Human Rights Council at its seventy-first session on the implementation of the principles and guidelines for the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members, as well as on progress towards the elimination of discrimination and protection and fulfilment of the human rights of persons affected by leprosy/Hansen’s disease, to be followed by an interactive dialogue;

Requests the High Commissioner to include the information on the efforts undertaken by States and relevant stakeholders, including the events referred to in paragraph 8 above, in the report to be submitted to the Human Rights Council, and to transmit it to the General Assembly;