Human Rights at AIDS 2008

It's no news to anyone that protecting human rights is central to stopping HIV. The concept was enshrined in the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and in countless national and regional declarations. Human rights and HIV is listed as one of the "key themes" of AIDS 2008. So why has there been so little progress on guaranteeing legal and human rights protections for people living with or at risk of HIV?

A lot of it obviously has to do with who's on the receiving end of rights abuses and discrimination, as so starkly shown in the U.S. Black AIDS Institute report released today. It's thousands of prisoners living with HIV in Ukraine who can't get access to care and treatment. Cambodian sex workers who are rounded up en masse under a new law that's trampling over HIV prevention efforts. People who use drugs in the USA who still can't get reliable access to sterile syringes in many parts of the country. LGBT and MSM who are criminalized, denied a voice, and used as a target for political pandering. And perhaps most staggeringly, it's the mass subordination of women and girls that perpetuates violence and cuts them off from equal access to information, prevention and treatment. As Human Rights Watch's Jose Miguel Vivanco says in a new release, "...until [governments] act to end such abuses, even the best-planned policies to treat HIV and stop the spread of AIDS will fail."

All these issues and more will be taken up in dozens of sessions at AIDS2008. If you're going to Mexico City or following the conference online, one excellent resource is the Delegates' Guide to Law and Human Rights at AIDS 2008.

To coordinate human rights activities at the conference, a coalition of 24 organizations has organized the first-ever Human Rights Networking Zone in the Global Village. Featuring more than 30 sessions, the Human Rights Networking Zone includes tracks on: Human rights and HIV in Africa and Latin America, Human rights in prisons and other detention facilities, Violence and vulnerability, Youth, human rights and HIV, Women, human rights and HIV, and Human rights in health care settings. Several films will be screened, including an outstanding 30 minute documentary on Korsang, a Phnom Penh harm reduction organization. The organization Witness will provide video advocacy spot trainings alongside other skills building sessions.

The networking zone is attached to the "Human Rights and HIV/AIDS, Now More Than Ever" campaign, which calls on governments, donors, service providers and activists to place human rights at the center of the AIDS movement. You can join with the more than 500 organizations that have already endorsed the declaration, which is available in 10 languages.

The networking zone will culminate in a rally at the Global Village main stage on Thursday, August 7 beginning at 1:30 pm, and featuring keynote speeches from Peter Piot (UNAIDS), Michel Kazatchkine (Global Fund), Mary Robinson (Ethical Globalization Initiative, and former UN high commissioner for Human Rights and president of Ireland) and Mark Heywood (AIDS Law Project, South Africa).

You can follow it all and get a complete schedule of sessions on a page hosted by the Open Society Institute. For AIDS2008.com, I'll be posting audio interviews, photos and more.