AIDS Leaders Join Annie Lennox in Call on Governments to Protect Human Rights

Vienna—At the 18th International AIDS Conference today, global AIDS leaders and activists joined legendary performer Annie Lennox in calling on governments to protect the human rights of vulnerable populations, including women and children, sex workers, gay men, and people who use drugs.

"After nearly three decades of this epidemic, we know that HIV is ultimately fueled by injustice and social inequality,” said Lennox, who supports HIV efforts in South Africa through her SING campaign. “Those most impacted by AIDS have always been the most vulnerable and most powerless in society. We need government leaders to stand up and protect the human rights of all people.”

Thousands are expected to gather in central Vienna this evening to march in support of human rights as part of the “Human Rights and HIV/AIDS: Now More Than Ever” campaign. The historic event follows a joint statement endorsed by nearly 1,000 organizations calling for human rights to be at the center of the AIDS response (the statement is online at www.hivhumanrightsnow.org). 

“Let us use this moment to reinvigorate the AIDS movement as a human rights movement,” said Prof. Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. “We need a new, strong, and united call for human rights and for continued, ambitious scale-up of treatment and prevention programs—now more than ever.” 

The march for human rights comes at a precarious time for HIV efforts worldwide. Despite recent progress in expanding access to HIV prevention and treatment, wealthy nations including the United States are considering cuts to global funding for AIDS. This will force poor countries to scale back AIDS programs, causing a devastating impact on both individual and public health. Studies increasingly show that funding HIV treatment not only promotes individual health, but also prevents new HIV infections.

“Access to HIV services is both a human rights and a public health imperative,” said Françoise Girard, Public Health Program Director of the Open Society Foundations. “To win the fight against AIDS, we must fully fund HIV treatment and stop human rights violations against the most vulnerable in society.”

Austria, the host country for this year’s AIDS Conference, has only made one donation of 1 million Euros to the Global Fund since 2002. “A stronger financial commitment and contribution of Austria, one of the richest countries in the world, to the global fight against HIV/AIDS would be more than desirable,” said Kurt Krickler, Secretary General of Homosexuelle Initiative (HOSI) Wien. 

Activists from Eastern Europe voiced particular concerns about the human rights of people who use drugs. There are about 1.5 million people living with HIV in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Most are infected as a result of using contaminated syringes to inject drugs. The Vienna Declaration, the official declaration of this conference, calls for governments to shift away from drug policies that criminalize people who use drugs and towards evidence-based approaches that respect, protect, and fulfill human rights.

“A total reorientation of punitive drug policies is needed to ensure access to HIV services for people who use drugs,” said Dr. Julio Montaner, President of the International AIDS Society. “We hope the legacy of this conference will be twofold: greater respect for the human rights of people who use drugs in Eastern Europe and worldwide, and an even stronger commitment to a global HIV treatment-as-prevention strategy.”

The leaders also demanded stronger human rights protections for women, who make up just over half of adults living with HIV globally. Women are more vulnerable to HIV because of violence, discrimination in marriage and access to property, and lack of control over their sexual lives. Despite effective treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, throughout Southern Africa, HIV-positive women report that they have been sterilized against their will. Several governments have also passed laws that are broad enough to make it a crime for a woman to transmit HIV to her child through childbirth. These laws could make women fearful of seeking testing for HIV, disclosing their HIV status, or receiving treatment.

“The silence and stigma surrounding HIV are literally killing thousands of women and children,” said Rolake Odetoyinbo, Executive Director of Positive Action for Treatment Access in Nigeria. “People will not get tested or seek treatment if doing so will open them up to abuse or discrimination.”

About the Human Rights and HIV/AIDS: Now More Than Ever Campaign

The Now More Than Ever campaign represents the hope of AIDS activists everywhere to place human rights at the center of the global AIDS response. The campaign stems from a joint statement that was originally drafted for the 2006 International AIDS Conference by 25 leading AIDS and human rights organizations. The statement has since been endorsed by nearly 1,000 AIDS organizations worldwide, as well as by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Development Programme, and UNAIDS.

About Annie Lennox’s SING campaign

The SING campaign raises funds and awareness in order to contribute to support and change. The money raised by SING helps prevent the spread of HIV in South Africa in different ways, most importantly through treatment literacy programs at a direct grassroots level. SING has already reached out to thousands of people. For more information on Annie Lennox and the SING campaign, go to: www.annielennoxsing.com.