UNAIDS: Human Rights, Ethics, and Law

Abstract

The UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Strategic Plan 1996-2000 highlights the importance of an ethical and human rights response to HIV/AIDS. The importance of this commitment is emphasized by the fact that 15 years into the epidemic a rights-based response to HIV/AIDS is neither widespread nor necessarily translated into effective human rights promotion and protection at national and community levels. The UNAIDS workplan for 1998-99 commits UNAIDS to the identification and promotion of best practices the development of technical resource networks and the provision of technical assistance regarding HIV-related human rights ethics and law. One key goal of UNAIDS is to promote greater access to drugs and treatment in developing countries. This paper has outlined the concerns of UNAIDS in terms of human rights and ethics as well as programmatic activities in the area. To promote an action-oriented research exploring the link between human rights and HIV/AIDS UNAIDS will work with many diverse partners from community-based organizations to people living with HIV/AIDS to human rights activists to national AIDS programs and to the cosponsors of UNAIDS and the UN human rights bodies. An expanded response to HIV/AIDS must consider the complexities and controversies of HIV-related human rights and ethics.