HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS SAYS WORLD AIDS DAY IS A CALL TO ACTION TO PUT TREATMENT AND PREVENTION WITHIN REACH OF ALL

HR/98/92
30 November 1998




This is the text of a message from High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson to mark the observance of World AIDS Day on 1 December:


This World AIDS Day is yet another occasion to read out a long list of grim figures. According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), a further 5.8 million people were infected with HIV in 1998, with the total number of people living with the virus rising by one-tenth, to 33.4 million worldwide.

Among those hardest hit are the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, where there were four million new infections in 1998. In Botswana alone, one adult in four is infected with HIV. Life expectancy in that country is projected to fall to 41 years by 2005, 29 years less than would be expected in the absence of AIDS.

The current situation is an indictment of the international allocation of resources to fight HIV/AIDS in developing nations. Countries like Botswana simply do not have the means to launch major prevention efforts or distribute effective drugs to treat HIV/AIDS. At a basic level this means that many people in less developed countries are denied their right to basic health care. In the case of HIV/AIDS, the difference in wealth becomes literally a matter of life and death.

In addition to taking millions of lives, the epidemic is wiping out major gains in economic and social development. HIV/AIDS also poses a major challenge to respect for human rights; it has brought in its wake discrimination and practices leading to other human rights violations.

HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects those who are already vulnerable or disadvantaged, including children, women and the poor. For the millions of others suffering from the denial of fundamental human rights, exposure to HIV infection increases dramatically, leading to the likelihood of further exclusion and exposure to violations.

Meanwhile, the lack of enjoyment of civil and political rights denies individuals and communities the opportunity to discuss the difficult issues surrounding HIV/AIDS, to organize themselves into AIDS service organisations and self-help groups and to take the necessary measures for protection from infection.

It is against this backdrop that my Office and UNAIDS have published International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights. The aim is to assist countries to translate international human rights norms into practical observance.

But there must also be international cooperation, including financial and technical support. It is the duty of countries with the means to do so to act in a spirit of solidarity in assisting developing countries implement the guidelines. My Office and UNAIDS are focusing on the integration of HIV/AIDS and human rights into institutional strategies and programmes at national, regional and international levels, as a means to effectively respond to the epidemic.

World AIDS Day is a call to action, a time to harness energies, promote solidarity and fuel new initiatives. It is also a reminder of the challenge we still face in order to respond effectively to the epidemic. Let us rise to that challenge by working to put prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS within the reach of all and by fighting intolerance and discrimination.”