programmes adequately address the HIV

As human rights are universal, they apply to all people. Every human being is entitled to
the highest attainable standard of health, privacy, liberty and security, freedom of expression
and assembly, gender equality, freedom from violence and arbitrary arrest, free choice
of employment and just and favourable conditions of work, non-discrimination, and the
prohibition of forced labour, child labour and trafficking.
The UN system affirms the universality, inalienability and interdependence of rights,
and promotes and supports their application in practice, including for sex workers, their
clients and otherwise in the context of sex work, even where sex work is criminalised. The
recommendations outlined under each of the three pillars below are informed by, and aim
to consolidate the application of, the rights and responsibilities of those involved in sex
work. Within the international framework of human rights, a rights-based approach will be
applied according to the mandate of each member of the Joint United Nations Programme
on AIDS30.
Studies, as well as programmatic experience, have demonstrated the feasibility of
reducing HIV transmission associated with sex work. However, few national policies and
programmes adequately address the HIV-related needs of sex workers and their clients, or
their potential to contribute to national responses to HIV. States are encouraged to develop
the programmes needed to reduce HIV risk and vulnerability in the context of sex work.
The increasing mobility of people within and across national boundaries heightens the
importance of UN guidance on HIV and sex work that is based on universal principles
and that facilitates cross-border collaboration to achieve and sustain universal access to HIV
prevention, treatment, care and support for all people who need them.