Choose compassion, reject cruelty to end HIV, says top UN rights official

This article is published in association with United Nations.

Global efforts to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic continue to remain insufficient, with deadly consequences, the UN Human Rights Council heard on Thursday.

In a stark assessment of the current situation of the health crisis, Deputy UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif warned that more than nine million people do not receive treatment, while 4,000 girls and young women contract the virus every week.

A staggering three-quarters of them live in sub-Saharan Africa, she noted, reminding Member States that while HIV is “entirely treatable and preventable…the world is off track in ending AIDS.”

Stigma fuelling crisis

“Stigma and discrimination are preventing concrete progress and paving the way for a resurgence of infections,” Ms. Al-Nashif said.

“Together, we have the power and the responsibility to change this. When human rights are promoted, health is protected.”

Other speakers echoed the need for human rights-based approaches to ensure universal access to treatment. They warned that discrimination and harmful laws targeting marginalized communities hinder access to prevention, testing and care.

Keep rights at the core

Florence Riako Anam of the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) quoted Nelson Mandela, saying that HIV is “more than a disease – it is a human rights issue.”

In many countries, criminalization, stigma and discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, drug use as well as sex work continue to obstruct HIV response efforts, with deadly consequences.

GNP+, an NGO collecting data on stigma since 2008, has surveyed 100,000 people across 100 countries. The findings: nearly one in four respondents experienced HIV-related stigma.

Break the barriers

“To end AIDS for good, we must dismantle the human rights-related barriers that prevent certain populations from accessing the services they need and tackle the deep gender inequalities and underlying inequities that drive starkly different health outcomes,” said Vuyiseka Dubula, Head of Community, Rights and Gender at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Ms. Dubula, who lives with HIV in South Africa, noted that while global progress has been significant – new infections down by 61 per cent and AIDS-related deaths by 73 per cent in more than 100 countries over the last two decades—there is still much work to be done.

“This is something to be proud of, but we can go even further in the next five years if we really are focused on ending HIV” Ms. Dubula said, referring to Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3) on ensuring healthy lives for all.

Compassion over cruelty

Adeeba Kamarulzaman of the World Health Organization (WHO) Science Council and the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS and Pandemics echoed the need for more compassionate methods in tackling the epidemic.

She pointed to Malaysia, her home country, which once faced a devastating HIV epidemic but has since made significant progress.

In countries decriminalizing drug use, knowledge of HIV status is 15 per cent higher and HIV incidence is five per cent lower, she explained, adding that in places where sex work is decriminalized, infection rates are further reduced by 4.5 per cent.

“When we choose compassion over cruelty, when we invest in people instead of punishing them, we save lives,” Dr. Kamarulzaman said.

Persistent discrimination

Erika Castellanos, a transgender woman and Executive Director of Global Action for Trans Equality, spoke of her experience in Belize, where LGBTIQ+ people faced up to 10 years in jail before 2016. Even after the law was overturned, little has changed.

“The stigma, discrimination and institutional barriers persist in the systems that deny us dignity, in the services that exclude us and in the societies that still see us as less than human,” said Ms. Castellanos, who has lived with HIV for 20 years.

“I am here because of the hard work, sweat, blood and tears of countless people, many of whom did not survive this epidemic,” she told the Human Rights Council.

“I am alive – because of an HIV response that valued my life.”