GENEVA, 25 November 2015—On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, UNAIDS is urging countries to put women and girls at the centre of efforts to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

AIDS is the leading cause of death of women of reproductive age (15–49 years) and adolescent girls and young women are most affected by HIV. Every year around 380 000 adolescent girls and young women become newly infected with HIV and in sub-Saharan Africa adolescent girls and young women aged 15–24 years account for one in every four new HIV infections.

“AIDS-related deaths are increasing among adolescents and we are seeing increased violence against young women,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé. “Our call is to address the root cause—gender inequality, which can result in violence, lack of esteem, growing vulnerability and difficulty for young women and girls to make empowered and informed decisions about their health and well-being.”

In some regions, women who have experienced physical or sexual partner violence are 1.5 times more likely to acquire HIV compared to women who have not. While the experiences of violence faced by women living with HIV mirror those of women generally, living with HIV exposes women and girls to other forms of violence, including forced and coerced sterilization, because of their HIV-positive status.

The heightened vulnerability of women and girls to HIV is intricately linked to the sociocultural, economic and political inequalities they experience. Ending the AIDS epidemic will depend on a social justice agenda that demands equity in education, employment, political representation and access to justice and health, free from violence.  

At the start of the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, which is being held under the 2015 theme of “From peace in the home to peace in the world: make education safe for all,” UNAIDS is urging all countries to ensure the engagement and empowerment of women as a top priority to enable women and girls to live in a world free of inequalities and violence.

The newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the UNAIDS 2016–2021 Strategy, reflect a collective global commitment to achieve gender equality, eliminate gender-based violence and advance the rights of women and girls, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, and their empowerment. Significantly, they provide a bold blueprint for action. These goals and targets call for true collaboration across sectors and generations to scale up efforts to ensure the safety and empowerment of women and girls everywhere. 

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Women living with HIV in western and central Africa gathered in Abuja, Nigeria, from 2 to 5 November for a workshop to improve their leadership skills and ability to advocate for the ambitious 90–90–90 treatment target.

The target is that by 2020, 90% of people living with HIV will know their status, 90% of people who know their HIV-positive status will be accessing antiretroviral treatment and 90% of people on treatment will have suppressed viral loads. If the target is reached by 2020, ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat is possible by 2030.

Under the umbrella of the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS, West Africa, the 47 participants from 16 countries enhanced their understanding of the ambitious treatment target and policies on elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

They agreed to champion the 90–90–90 treatment target in western and central Africa and to urge their governments to increase domestic funding for health, including the AIDS response, to 15% of national budgets, as recommended by the African Union in its 2001 Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases. Participants also agreed to advocate for the full engagement and representation of women living with HIV in the national planning and decision-making processes.

UNAIDS, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Robert Carr Civil Society Networks Fund supported the training.

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Twelve United Nations (UN) entities have released a joint statement calling for an end to violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people. The joint statement highlights the UN’s inter-agency commitment on working with Member States to protect, respect and fulfil the right of LGBTI people to live free from violence, persecution, discrimination and stigma. It also calls on countries to repeal discriminatory laws.

LGBTI people face a wide range of human rights violations. The UN and others have documented widespread physical and psychological violence against LGBTI people in all regions, including murder, assault, kidnapping, rape and sexual violence, as well as torture and ill-treatment in institutional and other settings.

In many countries, the response to these violations is inadequate; in others, human rights defenders challenging these violations are frequently persecuted and face restrictions on their activities. The legislative framework can exacerbate the situation, with 76 countries criminalizing consensual same-sex relationships between adults. These laws expose individuals to the risk of arbitrary arrest, prosecution, imprisonment and even the death penalty in at least five countries.

Punitive environments that marginalize LGBTI people also create significant challenges in responding to HIV. Gay men and other men who have sex with men are 19 times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population, and HIV prevalence among gay men and other men who have sex with men is rising in certain regions, including Asia and the Pacific and Latin America. Transgender women are 49 times more likely to be living with HIV.

In addition to violating the fundamental human rights of LGBTI people, punitive laws severely restrict the ability of LGBTI people to access critical HIV and other health services. Service providers are often forced to stop working, owing to harassment or fear of prosecution.

The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, re-affirmed his support for LGBTI rights with a message delivered during last year’s UN General Assembly. “The fight for human rights—and the fight against discrimination—lies at the core of the mission of the United Nations. The fight for equal rights demands global engagement. That is why the United Nations actively works to tackle homophobia and transphobia around the world,” he said.

The UN entities that have signed the joint statement on ending violence and discrimination against LGBTI people are: the International Labour Organization (ILO); the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women); the World Food Programme (WFP); the World Health Organization (WHO); and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Read the joint statement

United Nations entities call on States to act urgently to end violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI)[1] adults, adolescents and children.

All people have an equal right to live free from violence, persecution, discrimination and stigma. International human rights law establishes legal obligations on States to ensure that every person, without distinction, can enjoy these rights. While welcoming increasing efforts in many countries to protect the rights of LGBTI people, we remain seriously concerned that around the world, millions of LGBTI individuals, those perceived as LGBTI and their families face widespread human rights violations. This is cause for alarm – and action.

Failure to uphold the human rights of LGBTI people and protect them against abuses such as violence and discriminatory laws and practices, constitute serious violations of international human rights law and have a far-reaching impact on society – contributing to increased vulnerability to ill health including HIV infection, social and economic exclusion, putting strain on families and communities, and impacting negatively on economic growth, decent work and progress towards achievement of the future Sustainable Development Goals. States bear the primary duty under international law to protect everyone from discrimination and violence. These violations therefore require an urgent response by governments, parliaments, judiciaries and national human rights institutions. Community, religious and political leaders, workers’ organizations, the private sector, health providers, civil society organizations and the media also have important roles to play. Human rights are universal – cultural, religious and moral practices and beliefs and social attitudes cannot be invoked to justify human rights violations against any group, including LGBTI persons.

PROTECTING INDIVIDUALS FROM VIOLENCE

States should protect LGBTI persons from violence, torture and ill-treatment, including by:

• Investigating, prosecuting and providing remedy for acts of violence, torture and ill-treatment against LGBTI adults, adolescents and children, and those who defend their human rights;
• Strengthening efforts to prevent, monitor and report such violence;
• Incorporating homophobia and transphobia as aggravating factors in laws against hate crime and hate speech;
• Recognizing that persecution of people because they are (or are perceived to be) LGBTI may constitute a valid ground for asylum, and not returning such refugees to a place where their life or freedom might be threatened.

The United Nations and others have documented widespread physical and psychological violence against LGBTI persons in all regions - including murder, assault, kidnapping, rape, sexual violence, as well as torture and ill-treatment in institutional and other setting. LGBTI youth and lesbian, bisexual and transgender women are at particular risk of physical, psychological and sexual violence in family and community settings. LGBTI persons often face violence and discrimination when seeking refuge from persecution and in humanitarian emergencies. They may also face abuse in medical settings, including unethical and harmful so-called "therapies" to change sexual orientation, forced or coercive sterilization, forced genital and anal examinations, and unnecessary surgery and treatment on intersex children without their consent. In many countries, the response to these violations is inadequate, they are underreported and often not properly investigated and prosecuted, leading to widespread impunity and lack of justice, remedies and support for victims. Human rights defenders combatting these violations are frequently persecuted and face discriminatory restrictions on their activities.

REPEALING DISCRIMINATORY LAWS

States should respect international human rights standards, including by reviewing, repealing and establishing a moratorium on the application of:

• Laws that criminalize same-sex conduct between consenting adults;
• Laws that criminalize transgender people on the basis of their gender expression;
• Other laws used to arrest, punish or discriminate against people on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

In 76 countries, laws still criminalize consensual same-sex relationships between adults, exposing individuals to the risk of arbitrary arrest, prosecution, imprisonment – even the death penalty, in at least five countries. Laws criminalizing cross-dressing are used to arrest and punish transgender people. Other laws are used to harass, detain, discriminate or place restrictions on the freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. These discriminatory laws contribute to perpetuating stigma and discrimination, as well as hate crime, police abuse, torture and ill-treatment, family and community violence, and negatively affect public health by impeding access to health and HIV services.

PROTECTING INDIVIDUALS FROM DISCRIMINATION

States should uphold international human rights standards on non-discrimination, including by:

• Prohibiting discrimination against LGBTI adults, adolescents and children in all contexts – including in education, employment, healthcare, housing, social protection, criminal justice and in asylum and detention settings;
• Ensuring legal recognition of the gender identity of transgender people without abusive requirements;
• Combating prejudice against LGBTI people through dialogue, public education and training;
• Ensuring that LGBTI people are consulted and participate in the design, implementation and monitoring of laws, policies and programmes that affect them, including development and humanitarian initiatives.

LGBTI people face widespread discrimination and exclusion in all contexts - including multiple forms of discrimination based on other factors such as sex, race, ethnicity, age, religion, poverty, migration, disability and health status. Children face bullying, discrimination or expulsion from schools on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, or that of their parents. LGBTI youth rejected by their families experience disproportionate levels of suicide, homelessness and food insecurity. Discrimination and violence contribute to the marginalization of LGBTI people and their vulnerability to ill health including HIV infection, yet they face denial of care, discriminatory attitudes and pathologization in medical and other settings. Transgender people are frequently denied legal recognition of their preferred gender or face abusive requirements such as forced sterilization, treatment or divorce to obtain it, without which they suffer exclusion and marginalization. The exclusion of LGBTI people from the design, implementation and monitoring of laws and policies that affect them perpetuates their social and economic marginalization.

UNITED NATIONS SUPPORT

Our organizations stand ready to support and assist Member States and other stakeholders as they work to address the challenges outlined in this statement – including through constitutional, legislative and policy changes, strengthening of national institutions, and education, training and other initiatives to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the human rights of all LGBTI people.

[1] While this statement refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people, it should also be read to refer to other people who face violence and discrimination on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics, including those who may identify with other terms.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

AIDS strategies and efforts must give greater priority to humanitarian emergencies and the millions of people affected by them, members of the UNAIDS governing body agreed at the thematic segment of the 36th meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB), which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, on 2 July.

New data presented at the thematic session by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNAIDS Secretariat estimate that of the 314 million people affected by humanitarian emergencies in 2013, 1.6 million people--or 1 in 22-- are living with HIV, and many thousands more are at risk.

“We are talking about incredible numbers of people and multiple layers of vulnerability. This is too big a scale and impact to ignore. We have to ensure that HIV prevention and treatment services are systematically integrated into emergency responses,” said Mr Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

The thematic session contemplated the vast and complex issue of HIV in emergency contexts, including the delivery of health and HIV services in the context of conflict situations, natural disasters, public health emergencies, displacement and migration. On protection issues, vulnerability to HIV due to sexual violence, human rights violations, restrictions, punitive laws and policies were topics of discussion. On resilience, participants talked about the need for community building and preparedness.

Panelists from a wide range of countries including Burundi, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Haiti, Lebanon, Liberia, Nepal, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Ukraine told of the realities on the ground. They spoke of barriers and opportunities and gave examples of successful government and civil society efforts to address HIV in the wide variety of humanitarian emergency contexts.

In his keynote speech, former refugee Mr Noé Seisaba from Burundi, who founded the Stop SIDA organization that brings key HIV initiatives to refugee camps and settings, called for the community of people living with HIV to be involved in all aspects of planning and implementation. “I faced a lot of discrimination, but I broke my silence on HIV to try to make working on HIV a community issue and to show that we can intervene as refugees because we have a true understanding of the challenges and realities,” he said. “I am happy to see we are all talking about this issue, but I want to see concrete action.”

Many participants echoed that community involvement and empowerment of people living with and most affected by HIV are critical to achieve results for people in such difficult contexts. “If we are going to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, we have to shine light on root causes of vulnerability in humanitarian settings and increase action to promote respect for rights and basic humanitarian dignity,” said Mr George Okoth-Obbo, Assistant High Commissioner for Operations at UNHCR.

Cross-regional strategies were encouraged to enable maximum impact and coverage of people. The challenge of sexual violence in emergency settings and gender inequalities was highlighted as a fundamental issue to be given greater focus, action and investment. 

To support the capacity of countries to integrate human rights in their Fast-Track approaches to HIV programming, UNAIDS and the Alliance Nationale Contre le Sida (ANCS) Senegal held a three-day capacity building workshop in Dakar, Senegal from 22 to 24 June 2015.

The workshop highlighted the continued political, legal, cultural, social, and programmatic challenges that hinder efforts to address the HIV epidemic. Participants pointed out that existing programmes to address these challenges in Western and Central African countries remain largely insufficient and inadequate.

According to participants, human rights, gender equality and the involvement of people living with HIV and key populations are often cited in HIV planning documents. Yet, they are rarely translated into specific human rights programmes. And where these programmes are included in the national HIV planning documents, they are not addressed at the costing and budgeting phase, there are little metrics to track progress, and when implemented, these programmes are often not evaluated or taken to scale.

Participants

The workshop brought together more than 50 participants from 10 countries across Western and Central Africa including Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal.

Participants included decision makers and technical experts involved in HIV strategic planning at country level, officials from national AIDS commissions, Ministries of Health and Justice, people living with HIV and other key populations and community-based organizations. A wide range of technical and other partners including UNDP, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and the Technical Support Facility for west and central Africa also participated in the workshop.

This workshop was the seventh and last in the series of regional workshops held since 2011, with support from the Ford Foundation.  

Key messages

• Participants stressed the importance of the workshop in highlighting approaches and tools for ensuring the inclusion of programmes to advance human rights and gender equality.

• The workshop led to the elaboration by each country team of a national action plan with specific commitments to integrate human rights and gender programmes in their national AIDS response that clearly spells out partners and timelines for its implementation.

• The meeting concluded with the development and endorsement of the “Dakar Declaration on scaling up the HIV response, realizing the human rights and full access to services for everyone in West and Central Africa” in which participants committed to specific actions in their respective countries to advance evidence-informed and rights-based programmes in national HIV responses.  

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The Rudra Béjart School of Dance Lausanne has given a special performance at UNAIDS headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, to celebrate International Women’s Day.

The specially choreographed performance by 38 dancers from 15 countries was a powerful visualization of young people’s strength, innovation and unity—qualities that are essential to advancing gender equality and Fast-Tracking the end of the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

The event was attended by more than 200 people, including ambassadors from the Permanent Missions to the United Nations of Haiti, Namibia and Zambia.

The Rudra Béjart School of Dance Lausanne is a private international free school sponsored by the Sandoz Family Foundation, Béjart Ballet Lausanne, Loterie Romande, the Fondation Leenaards, the Fondation Maurice Béjart and Jaquet Droz.

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Message from UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé on International Women’s Day

GENEVA, 8 March 2015—As we celebrate International Women’s Day, world leaders and civil society are gathering in New York to take part in the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. There, they will review the progress made since the adoption 20 years ago of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which set ambitious targets designed to improve the lives of women around the world. The Platform for Action strived to make sure that women and girls could exercise their freedom and realize their rights to live free from violence, go to school, make decisions and have unrestricted access to quality health care, including to sexual and reproductive health-care services.

In the response to HIV, there have been major advances over the past 20 years and new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths are continuing to decline. However, in reducing new infections this success has not been shared equally.

In 2013, 64% of new adolescent infections globally were among young women. In sub-Saharan Africa, young women aged 15 to 24 are almost twice as likely to become infected with HIV as their male counterparts. Gender inequalities, poverty, harmful cultural practices and unequal power relations exacerbate women’s vulnerability to HIV, but concerted global commitment and action can reverse this.

Twenty years ago, world leaders recognized that gender inequality was a major barrier to women achieving the highest possible attainable standards of health, and that women had unequal opportunities to protect their health and well-being. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action recognized fundamentally that the human rights of women include their right to assume control over matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence. We should all be concerned that 20 years on, the United Nations Secretary-General’s report on the implementation of the Beijing Declaration underscores unacceptably slow progress in many areas, including the persistent denial of sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The core principles of the Beijing Declaration are at the heart of UNAIDS’ commitment to ending the AIDS epidemic. As the world moves towards collectively agreeing global sustainable development goals, we need to reaffirm the commitment that no one is left behind.

UNAIDS has put forward a global Fast-Track Target of reducing HIV infections to less than half a million per year by 2020. Reaching this ambitious target means committing to reducing new infections among women and girls by at least 75% over the next five years. The 90–90–90 treatment targets are also important as AIDS is the leading cause of death globally among women of reproductive age and of adolescent girls in Africa. The 90–90–90 treatment targets are: 90% of people living with HIV knowing their HIV status; 90% of people who know their HIV-positive status receiving treatment; and 90% of people on HIV treatment having a suppressed viral load so their immune system remains strong and they are no longer infectious.

Ensuring that women and girls are empowered to protect themselves from HIV, to make decisions about their own health and to live free of violence, including violence related to their HIV status, will be crucial to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.