refugee to persecution on the basis of his or her HIV status.A

Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution in other countries. Under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and under customary international law, States cannot, in accordance with the principle of non-refoulement, return a refugee to a country where she or he faces persecution. Thus, States may not return a refugee to persecution on the basis of his or her HIV status. Furthermore, where the treatment of people living with HIV can be said to amount to persecution, it can provide a basis for qualifying for refugee status.The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees issued policy guidelines in March 1988 which state that refugees and asylum seekers should not be targeted for special measures regarding HIV infection and that there is no justification for screening being used to exclude HIV-positive individuals from being granted asylum.
The Human Rights Committee has confirmed that the right to equal protection of the law prohibits discrimination in law or in practice in any fields regulated and protected by public authorities.52 These would include travel regulations, entry requirements, immigration and asylum procedures. Therefore,although there is no right of aliens to enter a foreign country or to be granted asylum in any particular country, discrimination on the grounds of HIV status in the context of travel regulations, entry requirements, immigration and asylum procedures would violate the right to equality before the law The right to liberty and security of person should, therefore, never be arbitrarily interfered with, based merely on HIV status by using measures such as quarantine, detention in special colonies, or isolation. There is no public health justification for such deprivation of liberty. Indeed, it has been shown that public health interests are served by integrating people living with HIV within communities and benefiting from their participation in economic and public life.Compulsory HIV testing can constitute a deprivation of liberty and a violation of the right to security of person. This coercive measure is often utilized with regard to groups leastable to protect themselves because they are within the ambit of Government institutions or the criminal law, e.g. soldiers, prisoners, sex workers, injecting drug users and men who have sex with men. There is no public health justification for such compulsory HIV testing. Respect for the right to physical integrity requires that testing be voluntary and that no testing be carried out without informed consent
Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in part that “Everyone has the right to education. …Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship…”. This right includes three broad components which apply in the context of HIV/AIDS. Firstly, both children and adults have the right to receive HIV-related education, particularly regarding prevention and care. Access to education concerning HIV is an essential life-saving component of effective prevention and care programmes. It is the State’s obligation to ensure, in every cultural and religious tradition, that appropriate means are found so that effective HIV information is included in educational programmes inside and outside schools. The provision of education and information to children should not be considered as promoting early sexual experimentation; rather, as studies indicate, it delays sexual activity
Secondly, States should ensure that both children and adults living with HIV are not discriminatorily denied access to education, including access to schools, universities, scholarships and international education or subject to restrictions because of their HIV status. There is no public health rationale for such measures since there is no risk of transmitting HIV casually in educational settings. Thirdly, States should, through education, promote understanding, respect, tolerance and non-discrimination in relation to persons living with HIV
Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states in part that “Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference. …Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds…”. This right, therefore, includes the right to seek, receive and impart HIV-related prevention and care information. Educational material which may necessarily involve detailed information about transmission risks and may target groups engaged in illegal behaviour, such as injecting drug use and sexual activity between the same sexes, where applicable, should not be wrongfully subject to censorship or obscenity laws or laws making those imparting the information liable for “aiding and abetting” criminal offences. States are obliged to ensure that appropriate and effective information on methods to prevent HIV transmission is developed and disseminated for use in different multicultural contexts and religious traditions. The media should be respectful of human rights and dignity, specifically the right to privacy, and use appropriate language when reporting on HIV. Media reporting on HIV should be accurate, factual, sensitive and avoid stereotyping and stigmatization.