the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS

Young people, like all other human beings, have the right to life, to development of their potential to the fullest, and to protection from
abuse and exploitation, as well as the right of access to information and material aimed at promoting their health and their well-being…
These are among the rights listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights treaties and conventions and also
in the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights (Please refer to Brochure 1 “Basics to get started”, for more information
on the contents of the Guidelines).
To what extent are young people aware of their rights ? – Do conditions to exercise, claim and defend their rights exist in the community and
country where they live? – Do they have places where they can go to make complaints? - When and where the answer to these questions is “no”,
young people become more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Similarly, when there is no enabling environment, young people living with HIV/AIDS
become particularly exposed to discrimination, stigma and isolation.
Advocacy is a powerful tool to redress abuses and to engage in favour of laws, public policies and
community practices that recognise the human rights of young people in the context of HIV/AIDS.
Advocacy means speaking up for your rights and the rights of others. For example, writing a letter to a parliamentarian in support of a national
law providing more youth-friendly health services, providing legal assistance to an HIV-positive student who has been denied access to a
university because of his/her status, is advocacy.
Advocacy can be conducted individually, and collectively by one or several organizations. It addresses more than human rights, respect and
protection at the national level. You can also advocate for initiatives and practices within your community or for private corporate policies, that
are compatible with human rights standards.
In recent years, successful advocacy campaigns have been carried out in many countries :
•To obtain better access to treatment and care by people living with HIV/AIDS.
•To stop compulsory HIV testing in the army, civil service, or in schools and universities.
•To abolish laws that criminalise private homosexual acts.
•To obtain public support for needle exchange programmes for injecting drug users.
It is important to emphasise that advocacy for human rights in the context of HIV/AIDS is not about making
charitable concessions to people living with HIV/AIDS, or to vulnerable groups. It is about recognising the
rights that already belong to every human being, such as respect for our human dignity and our equal right
to participate fully in social and family life.
When identifying human rights issues for which you will advocate, it is important to keep in mind that states that have signed international human
rights treaties, have 3 types of obligations concerning human rights they have recognised:
Σ•Obligation to respect human rights (= not to take measures that violate human rights)
Σ•Obligation to protect/promote human rights (= take action to prevent - or provide remedy for -violations by others)
•Σ Obligation to fulfil human rights (= take positive steps so that rights can be fully exercised, for example through laws and budgetary
allocations)