social security and other benefits for workers living with HIV

Protection for social security and other benefits for workers living with HIV, including life insurance, pension, health insurance, termination and death benefits;
Adequate health care accessible in or near the workplace;
Adequate supplies of condoms available free to workers at the workplace;
Workers’ participation in decision-making on workplace issues related to HIV and AIDS;
Access to information and education programmes on HIV, as well as to relevant counselling and appropriate referral;
Protection from stigmatization and discrimination by colleagues, unions, employers and clients;
inclusion in workers’ compensation legislation of the occupational transmission of HIV (e.g. needle stick injuries), addressing such matters as the long latency period of infection, testing, counselling and confidentiality.
laws governing the legal and ethical protection of human participation in research, including HIV-related research, should be enacted or strengthened in relation to:
Non-discriminatory selection of participants, e.g. women, children, minorities;
Informed consent;
Confidentiality of personal information;
Equitable access to information and benefits emanating from research;
Counselling, protection from discrimination, health and support services provided during and after participation;
The establishment of local and/or national ethical review committees to ensure independent and ongoing ethical review, with participation by members of the community affected, of the research project;
for use of safe and efficacious pharmaceuticals, vaccines and medical devices.
Anti-discrimination and protective laws should be enacted to reduce human rights violations against women in the context of HIV, so as to reduce vulnerability of women to infection by HIV and to the impact of HIV and AIDS. More particularly, laws should be reviewed and reformed to ensure equality of women regarding property and marital relations and access to employment and economic opportunity, so that discriminatory limitations are removed on rights to own and inherit property, enter into contracts and marriage, obtain credit and finance, initiate separation or divorce, equitably share assets upon divorce or separation, and retain custody of children. Laws should also be enacted to ensure women’s reproductive and sexual rights, including the right of independent access to reproductive and STD health information and services and means of contraception, including safe and legal abortion and the freedom to choose among these, the right to determine number and spacing of children, the right to demand safer sex practices and the right to legal protection from sexual violence, outside and inside marriage, including legal provisions for marital rape. The age of consent to sex and marriage should be consistent for males and females and the right of women and girls to refuse marriage and sexual relations should be protected by law. The HIV status of a parent or child should not be treated any differently from any other analogous medical condition in making decisions regarding custody, fostering or adoption.