The International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS

The Guidelines resulted from a request made many years ago by the Commission on Human Rights which underlined the need and the imperative to provide guidance to States on how to take concrete steps to protect human rights in the context of HIV. As the epidemic has evolved, the lessons learned from it confirm that the protection of human rights in the context of HIV reduces suffering, saves lives, protects the public health, and provides for an effective response to HIV. This is the basis for the joint work of OHCHR and UNAIDS, the tenth anniversary of which we also mark in 2006.
We urge governments, non-governmental organizations, the United Nations system, and regional bodies to benefit from and build upon these Guidelines, and continue to find ways to operationalise their commitment to protect human rights in the response to HIV।
The International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights arose because of various calls for their development in light of the need for guidance for Governments and others on how to best promote, protect and fulfil human rights in the context of the HIV epidemic. During the first International Consultation on AIDS and Human Rights, organized by the United Nations Centre for Human Rights, in cooperation with the World Health Organization, in Geneva, from 26 to 28 July 1989, participants discussed the possible elaboration of guidelines to assist policymakers and others in complying with international human rights standards regarding law, administrative practice and policy.2 Several years later, in his report to the Commission at its fifty-first session (E/CN.4/1995/45, para.135), the United Nations Secretary-General stated that “the development of such guidelines or principles could provide an international framework for discussion of human rights considerations at the national, regional and international levels in order to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of the complex relationship between the public health rationale and the human rights rationale of HIV/AIDS. In particular, Governments could benefit from guidelines that outline clearly how human rights standards apply in the area of HIV/AIDS and indicate concrete and specific measures, both in terms of legislation and practice, that should be undertaken”.C