NEWS: 2009 World AIDS Day Theme Launched - UNIVERSAL ACCESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

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NEWS: 2009 World AIDS Day Theme Launched

World AIDS Campaign

UN SECRETARY-GENERAL, THE WORLD AIDS CAMPAIGN AND UNAIDS LAUNCH WORLD AIDS DAY

THEME: `UNIVERSAL ACCESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS'.

Ahead of this year's World AIDS Day on 1st December, the United Nations

Secretary - General Ban Ki-moon, the World AIDS Campaign and the Joint United

Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) have come together to announce the theme

of " Universal Access and Human Rights " .

The theme has been chosen to address the critical need to protect human rights

and attain access for all to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. It

also acts as a call to countries to remove laws that discriminate against people

living with HIV, women and marginalized groups. Countries are also urged to

realise the many commitments they made to protect human rights in the

Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS (2001) and the Political Declaration on

HIV/AIDS (2006).

Speaking ahead of the announcement at the United Nations in New York, Michel

Sidib? Executive Director of UNAIDS said, " Achieving universal access to

prevention, treatment, care and support is a human rights imperative. It is

essential that the global response to the AIDS epidemic is grounded in human

rights and that discrimination and punitive laws against those most affected by

HIV are removed. "

Many countries still have laws and policies that impede access to HIV services

and criminalize those most vulnerable to HIV. These include laws that

criminalize men who have sex with men, trans-gendered people and lesbians; laws

that criminalize sex workers; and laws criminalizing people who use drugs and

the harm reduction measures and substitution therapy they need. Some 84

countries have reported that they have laws and policies that act as obstacles

to effective HIV prevention, treatment, care and support for vulnerable

populations.

Speaking from Cape Town, South Africa, The World AIDS Campaign Executive

Director Marcel van Soest said, " The epidemic has not gone away, tens of

millions of people are still affected, but those hit the hardest, the poor and

marginalized in society often don't have a say when big decisions and laws are

made. Their fundamental right to essential health care and life free from fear

of stigma and discrimination must be strengthened. "

Governments continue to pass and enforce overly-broad laws that criminalize the

transmission of HIV which are in direct contradiction to their commitments to

" promote ... a social and legal environment that is supportive of safe and

voluntary disclosure of HIV status. "

Some 59 countries still have laws that restrict the entry, stay and residence of

people living with HIV based on their positive HIV status only, discriminating

against them in their freedom of movement and right to work. At the same time,

laws and regulations protecting people with HIV from discrimination and women

from gender inequality and sexual violence are not fully implemented or

enforced.

The World AIDS Campaign Chairperson, Allyson Leacock added, " The Human Rights

theme is about us, about communities, about people like you and me and our

governments making a commitment to honour and respect the dignity of the

vulnerable and to those already living with HIV. "

For more information please contact:-

Royston

Head of Media and Communications

World AIDS Campaign

royston@...