HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, and structural discrimination: elucidating relationships, enabling resistance

Abstract

This study focuses on the interrelations between HIV/AIDS, human rights, and structural discrimination. Specifically, it examines the restrictions imposed on individuals living with HIV/AIDS and their denial of access to public service positions in Brazil. Additionally, it analyses these restrictions in terms of their compliance with human rights norms and practices. Objective To explore the relationships between HIV/AIDS, human rights, and structural discrimination by examining the denial of access to public service positions in Brazil due to discrimination against individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Method An empirical research was conducted employing a human rights approach, taking into account cases of restrictions in public service in Brazil. Subsequently, an argument was articulated that enables resistance through a discourse centered on human dignity. Conclusion There is an ongoing and unresolved process of repeated and systematic human rights violations against individuals living with HIV/AIDS. The violations perpetrated by the State at municipal, state, and federal levels infringe upon fundamental human rights to citizenship, equality, privacy and intimacy, the right to work, and the right to non-discrimination.