Human rights are particularly important in the context of HIV?

There is no international treaty or covenant that specifically addresses AIDS. However, a number of provisions from international human rights treaties and declarations have significant implications for the effectiveness of the response to AIDS. parliamentarians should check whether their government has ratified the core treaties and the existing regional treaties and, if not, take action to ensure that it does. There is no international treaty or covenant that specifically addresses AIDS. However, a number of provisions from international human rights treaties and declarations have significant implications for the effectiveness of the response to AIDS. Parliamentarians should check whether their government has ratified the core treaties and the existing regional treaties and, if not, take action to ensure that it does.  

1. The right to the highest attainable standard of health. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) recognizes the right of everybody to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. As part of this obligation, States must take steps to prevent, treat and control epidemic diseases. The obligations of the State include the provision of appropriate HIV-related information, education and support; and access to the means of prevention (such as condoms and clean injecting equipment), to voluntary counseling and testing, to safe blood supplies, to adequate HIV treatment and medications (such as antiretrovirals), to medicines for opportunistic infections, and to medicines for pain and palliative care. States may have to take special measures to ensure that all groups in society (particularly members of marginalized populations) have equal access to HIV-related prevention, treatment, care and support.  
2. The right to life. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) recognizes that “every human being has the inherent right to life”. Interpreting the right to life, the Human Rights Committee has recommended that Namibia “pursue fforts to protect population from HIV/AIDS” and “adopt comprehensive measures encouraging greater numbers of persons suffering from HIV and AIDS to obtain adequate antiretroviral treatment and facilitate such treatment” (2004). It has also called for “equal access to treatment” in Kenya (2005) and for Uganda to “allow greater number of persons suffering from HIV/AIDS to obtain adequate treatment” (2004).  
3. Non-discrimination and equality before the law. International human rights law guarantees the right to equal protection before the law and freedom from discrimination on many grounds.169 The Commission on Human Rights has confirmed that “other status” in non-discrimination provisions in international human rights treaties is to be interpreted to include health status, including HIV status.  
4. Human rights of women. Protection of the rights of women and girls – including sexual and reproductive rights – is critical to preventing HIV transmission and to lessening the impact of the epidemic on women. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) obliges States parties to address all aspects of gender based discrimination in law, policy and practice.  
5. Human rights of children. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), children are confirmed to have many of the rights of adults, in addition to particular rights for children, which are relevant in relation to HIV. Children have the right to freedom from trafficking, prostitution, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse; the right to seek, receive and impart HIV information; and the right to special protection and assistance, if deprived of their family environment. They also have the right to education, the right to health and the right to inherit property. The right to special protection and assistance, if deprived of his or her family environment, protects children if they are orphaned by AIDS, and the right of children to be actors in their own development and to express their opinions empowers children to be involved in the design and implementation of HIV-related programmes for children.  
6. Right to marry and found a family. The ICCPR recognizes the right to marry and found a family. Mandatory pre-marital testing as a precondition to marriage, or forced abortions or sterilization of women living with HIV, violates these (and other) rights.  
7. Right to privacy. This right, set out in the ICCPR, encompasses obligations to respect physical privacy (e.g. the obligation to seek informed consent to HIV testing) and the need to respect confidentiality of personal information (e.g. information relating to a person’s HIV status).  
8. Right to education. This right, provided for by Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 13 of the ICESCR, guarantees that those living with HIV are not discriminatorily denied access to education on the basis of their HIV status. The right to education also encompasses the obligation of States to promote understanding, respect, tolerance and non-discrimination in relation to people living with HIV, and provides that individuals have the right to receive HIV-related education.
9. Freedom of expression and information. Article 19 of the ICCPR provides for the right to seek, receive and impart information related to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. States are obliged to ensure that information on methods to prevent HIV transmission is developed and disseminated without obstacles to access.  
10. Freedom of assembly and association. The right to peaceful assembly and association, provided by Article 20 of the UDHR and by Article 22 in the ICCPR, has frequently been denied to civil society organizations working on human rights and HIV. Organizations should enjoy the rights and freedoms recognized in human rights instruments and the protection of national law. HIV-positive people should be protected against discrimination based on HIV status in admission to trade unions and other organizations.  
11. Right to work. This right, enshrined in Article 23 of the UDHR and Articles 6 and 7 of the ICESCR, entails the right of every person to access employment without any precondition except the necessary occupational conditions. This right is violated when an applicant or employee is required to undergo mandatory testing for HIV and is dismissed or refused employment on the grounds of a positive result. The right to work further guarantees the right to safe and healthy working conditions. Where a possibility of HIV transmission exists, States should take measures to minimize these risks. 
12. Right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications. This right, set forth in Article 27 of the UDHR and Article 15 of the ICESCR, is important in relation to HIV in view of scientific and pharmaceutical advances made in diagnosis and treatment, as well as in the development of a vaccine and new prevention tools such as microbicides. This right also obliges the State to ensure that treatment and participation in clinical trials are made equally available to women and children, as well as to marginalized and vulnerable populations. Right to freedom of movement. This right, found in Article 12 of the ICCPR and Article 13 of the UDHR, encompasses the right of everyone to freely choose his/her place of residence within a country, as well as the rights of nationals to enter and leave their own country. As there is no public health rationale for restricting liberty of movement or choice of residence for people living with HIV, or for restricting travel, such restrictions would be discriminatory.  
13. Right to an adequate standard of living and social security services. The enjoyment of this right, found in Article 25 of the UDHR and in Articles 9 and 11 of the ICESCR, is essential to reducing the impact of HIV on people living with HIV, families impoverished by AIDS, and children orphaned or otherwise made vulnerable by HIV. States should ensure that people living with HIV are not discriminatorily denied an adequate standard of living or social security services, that families, caregivers and children affected by HIV are protected from food insecurity and impoverishment caused by AIDS, that the property of AIDS widows is not grabbed, and that the inheritance of children is not taken.  
14. Right to participation in political and cultural life. This right, found in Article 25 of the ICCPR and Article 15 of the ICESCR, is essential for ensuring the participation of those most affected by HIV in all aspects of HIV-related policies and programmes.  
15. Right to seek and enjoy asylum. Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution in other countries. Under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and under customary international law, States cannot return refugees to a country where they face persecution or torture. Thus, States may not return refugees to persecution on the basis of their HIV status. Furthermore, they cannot undertake special measures, such as mandatory HIV testing, to exclude HIV-positive people from asylum. 
16. Right to liberty and security of person. This right, found in Article 9 of the ICCPR, means that the right to liberty and security should not be arbitrarily interfered with, based merely on a person’s HIV-status (e.g. by placing an HIV-positive individual in quarantine or isolation). Also compulsory HIV testing can constitute a deprivation of liberty and a violation of the right to security of person. Respect for the right to physical integrity requires that testing be voluntary and undertaken with the informed consent of the person.  
17. Freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This right, found in Article 5 of the UDHR and Article 7 of the ICCPR, provides for the State to ensure that prisoners have access to HIV-related information, education and means of protection (such as condoms and clean injection equipment) as well as voluntary counseling and testing and treatment. This right also comprises the State’s duty to combat prison rape and other kinds of sexual victimization in prison. 

Courtesy: http://www.ipu.org