UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights
The UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights was established in 2002 to advise the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS on all matters relating to HIV and human rights. The Reference Group speaks with an independent voice; thus, its views do not necessarily reflect the views of the UNAIDS Secretariat or any of the UNAIDS Cosponsors. Documents pertaining to the UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights can be found in this section.
Human Rights and Universal Access letter sent to Peter Piot
Human Rights and Universal Access at the High Level Meeting
6 June 2008
I am writing on behalf of the UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights to express a number of concerns related to the lack of focus on human rights at the forthcoming High Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS, and to kindly request that, in your interventions at the Meeting, you use the opportunity to highlight the importance of action not only on stigma and discrimination, but the full range of human rights issues that create barriers to universal access.
Statement on Human Rights & Universal Access to HIV Prevention, Treatment, Care & Support
At the High Level Meeting in 2006, world leaders reaffirmed that “the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all is an essential element in the global response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.” Yet, as over 300 civil society organizations from countries across the world have pointed out by adopting the declaration, “Human Rights and HIV/AIDS: Now More than Ever”,1 More than 25 years into the AIDS epidemic, the “essential element” continues to receive insufficient attention in the response to HIV. Without much greater political commitment to, and implementation of, a human rights-based response to HIV, translating into appropriate programming, funding and monitoring in countries, universal access cannot be achieved.