HUMAN RIGHTS OF CHILDREN

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women obliges States parties to address all aspects of gender-based discrimination in law, policy and practice. States are also required to take appropriate measures to modify social and cultural patterns which are based on ideas of superiority/inferiority and stereotyped roles for men and women. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which monitors the Convention has underscored the link between women’s reproductive role, their subordinate social position and their increased vulnerability to HIV infection.
HUMAN RIGHTS OF CHILDREN
The rights of children are protected by all international human rights instruments and, in particular, under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which establishes an international definition of the child as “every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier” (art. 1). The Convention reaffirms that children are entitled to many of the rights that protect adults (e.g. the rights to life, non-discrimination, integrity of the person, liberty and security, privacy, asylum, expression, association and assembly, education and health), in addition to particular rights for children established by the Convention.
117. Many of these rights are relevant to HIV prevention, care and support for children, such as freedom from trafficking, prostitution, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse since sexual violence against children, among other things, increases their vulnerability to HIV. The freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds and the right to education provide children with the right to give and receive all HIV-related information needed to avoid infection and to cope with their status, if infected. The right to special protection and assistance if deprived of his or her family environment, including alternative care and protection in adoption, in particular protects children if they are orphaned by HIV. The right of disabled children to a full and decent life and to special care and the rights to abolition of traditional practices which are prejudicial to the health of children, such as early marriage, female genital mutilation, denial of equal sustenance and inheritance for girls are also highly relevant in the context of HIV. Under the Convention, the right to non-discrimination and privacy for children living with HIV and finally the rightsof children to be actors in their own development and to express opinions and have them taken into account in making decisions about their lives should empower children to be involved in the design and implementation of HIV-related programmes for children.of children to be actors in their own development and to express opinions and have them taken into account in making decisions about their lives should empower children to be involved in the design and implementation of HIV-related programmes for children.necessary to enable women to negotiate safe sex with their husbands/ partners or be able to leave the relationship if they cannot assert their rights (see also “Human rights of women” above). Finally, recognition of the family as the fundamental unit of society is undermined by policies which have the effect of denying family unity. In the case of migrants, many States do not allow migrants to be accompanied by family members, and the resulting isolation can increase vulnerability to HIV infection. In the case of refugees, mandatory testing as a precondition of asylum can result in HIV-positive family members being denied asylum while the rest of the family is granted asylum.Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks”. The right to privacy encompasses obligations to respect physical privacy, including the obligation to seek informed consent to HIV testing and privacy of information, including the need to respect confidentiality of all information relating to a person’s HIV status.