Despite the existence of human rights obligations and policy commitments, HIV-related stigma and discrimination continues to be widespread around the world and in all sectors of society.

Following a call from civil society in 2017 to accelerate and scale up action to address stigma and discrimination, UNAIDS, UN Women, the United Nations Development Programme and the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) agreed to co-convene the Global Partnership to Eliminate All Forms of HIV-Related Stigma and Discrimination.

The global partnership was launched on 10 December on the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, during an event in Geneva, Switzerland. The panel of people speaking at the event included Phanpob Plangprayoon, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Thailand to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva, Dan Namarika, the Secretary for Health of Malawi, Raquel Duarte, the Deputy Minister of Health of Portugal, and Simran Shaikh, a community representative to the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB).

The panellists presented programmes that have proved to be effective in reducing HIV-related stigma and discrimination in the areas in which the global partnership will focus—health care, schools, the workplace, the family, justice systems and emergency and humanitarian settings.

“This partnership aims to translate Member States’ commitments into well-resourced programmes that are proved to work and that can result in the enjoyment of HIV-related rights for all,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

“The Global Network of People Living with HIV is pleased to be a co-convenor of this critical and ground-breaking global partnership that seeks to transform our communities’ best strategies for addressing and measuring HIV-related stigma and discrimination into actionable and accountable global targets and goals,” said Javier Hourcade Bellocq, GNP+ Board Chair.

People living with HIV, adolescents, young people and key populations experience discrimination, including discrimination based on their gender and gender identity, race, ethnicity, age, drug use, sexual orientation and migration status. These added layers of stigma and discrimination increase their vulnerability to HIV and undermine their rights, including the right to health, work and education.

At the end of the event, the UNAIDS PCB nongovernmental organization delegation called on Cosponsors, Member States, civil society, key populations, communities and partners to join the global partnership and lead and support concrete country actions and investments to end HIV-related stigma and discrimination.

Unjust laws can prevent people from accessing the services they need to prevent or treat HIV, and people who use drugs need help and care, not punishment—these are two of the messages from the new Model Drug Law for West Africa. Launched on11 September in Dakar, Senegal, the model drug law aims to guide policy-makers in the region on how to better frame their drug laws.

It is increasingly recognized that the current drug laws are not effective and result in enormous costs. The model drug law shows how countries can modify their laws in order protect the health and welfare of people while at the same time allowing law enforcement to focus on the most serious drug offences.

“The risk of acquiring HIV is 23 times higher among people who inject drugs, yet they still face human rights abuses, punitive legal environments and are left out of health and HIV programming,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “It is essential that countries take a human rights-based approach that is grounded in scientific evidence and includes critical harm reduction services to protect the health and welfare of people who inject drugs and their communities.”

Drawn up by the West Africa Commission on Drugs, a group convened by Kofi Annan comprising experts from western Africa, the model drug law notes that barriers to accessing health services for people who use drugs need to be removed. People who inject drugs are one of the groups at highest risk of exposure to HIV, but they remain marginalized and often out of reach of health and social services.

The model drug law suggests removing criminal penalties for people who use drugs and making harm reduction measures available. It has been shown that harm reduction works—when harm reduction services are made available, new HIV infections fall sharply. For drug use, and possession of drugs for personal use, the model drug law sets out alternatives to conviction and punishment.

“Our current drug laws stigmatize and penalize drug users. However, pushing them to the fringes of society or locking them up in ever increasing numbers will not solve the problem. On the contrary, it worsens health issues and puts enormous pressure on the already over-stretched criminal justice systems,” said Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria and Chair of the West Africa Commission on Drugs.

The model drug law also seeks to enhance access to essential medicines such as morphine and other opioids to manage pain. Many people in western Africa are denied the pain-relieving medicines that they need because doctors and other health professionals are not prescribing opioids for fear of prosecution. The model drug law suggests special protection for medical staff to help remove barriers to accessing pain relief.

Experience around the world has shown that it is possible to change drug laws for the better. The new model drug law is a step towards making such changes in western Africa.

GENEVA, 10 August 2018—UNAIDS welcomes the appointment of former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet as the United Nations new human rights chief.

Ms Bachelet ended her second four-year term as president earlier this year, having already held the post between 2006 and 2010. She was the first woman to be elected to Chile’s highest office. After her first term, she was appointed the first ever Executive Director of the UN gender equality office, UN-Women based in New York.

A former paediatrician, the politician also held key government posts as Chile’s Minister of Defence and Minister of Health.

The High Commissioner is the top official who speaks out for human rights across the whole UN system, strengthening human rights mechanisms; enhancing equality; fighting discrimination in all its forms; strengthening accountability and the rule of law; widening the democratic space and protecting the most vulnerable from all forms of human rights abuse. Headquartered in Geneva, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is mandated to promote and protect the universal exercise and full realization of human rights, across the world, as established in the UN Charter.

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.

Stigma and discrimination in health-care settings is a major obstacle to ending AIDS. Widespread across the world, stigma and discrimination seriously reduces the quality of life of people who experience it and hinders their access to health and HIV services.

How to catalyse country initiatives and reduce stigma and discrimination in health-care facilities was the focus of a session at the International AIDS Conference on 23 July in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The session, Catalyzing Thailand and Regional Initiatives on Zero Discrimination in Healthcare Settings and Building Bridges Towards a Global Compact to Eliminate all Forms of HIV-Related Stigma and Discrimination, brought together representatives of the Governments of Thailand, Viet Nam and the Netherlands and representatives of regional civil society networks, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNAIDS.

Thailand is acknowledged as a pioneer in reducing stigma and discrimination in health-care settings in Asia through its innovative system-wide response. The event heard that the Thai stigma and discrimination reduction package is based on global measuring tools and contains a permanent monitoring system, evidence-informed actions at health facilities and community engagement at all levels.

Viet Nam piloted a stigma and discrimination reduction programme in Ho Chi Minh. At the session, Huu Thuy Do, Head of the Information, Education and Communication Department of the Viet Nam Administration for AIDS Control, explained how Viet Nam learned from cooperation with Thailand and how the Thai model was translated to the city level in Viet Nam.

Based on the experiences of Thailand and Viet Nam, speakers encouraged countries to foster cross-border links on stigma and discrimination reduction efforts in health-care settings in order to achieve more effective and efficient joint global action.

The participants also learned from the Dutch approach, which directs attention to the inequality of access to HIV prevention and treatment services while promoting an enabling legal environment to prevent stigma and discrimination.

The participants heard that the greater engagement of communities, people living with HIV and key populations in the development and monitoring of programmes against stigma and discrimination is a core element for successful stigma and discrimination reduction programmes. Their participation not only increases access by hard-to-reach communities, but also helps ensure that a rights-based approach is used.

The event concluded with the presentation of the Global Framework for Action, an initiative led by civil society that aims to catalyse and accelerate the implementation of commitments made to end HIV-related stigma and discrimination in different settings.

Quotes

One of the most watched events of the year got Cynthia Weber wondering: can the use by Sky News of artificial intelligence (AI) at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle be a good thing?

For the first time in history, a news broadcaster used AI facial recognition technology during a live broadcast. Cynthia, a professor of international relations and gender studies at the University of Sussex, explained that using software to name wedding guests may be a nifty trick, but there are worries about the implications.

“Some claim that this technology can identify a person’s sexual orientation,” Cynthia said while speaking during an event for the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia in Geneva at UNAIDS headquarters.

Referring to a Stanford University study that analysed more than 35 000 images on a United States dating website of white, able-bodied, 18–40-year-olds, the researchers compared their AI-generated sexual orientations against sexual orientations researchers found in dating profiles. The study claimed that AI facial recognition technology could determine a person’s sexual orientation with up to a 30% greater accuracy than people can.

Cynthia said that LGBTI advocacy organizations labelled the study junk science—the study used a skewed sampling in terms of race and age and the study equates sexual orientation with sexual activity. “The result is that the study’s artificial intelligence algorithm only finds what it was programmed to find: stereotypes about straights, gays and lesbians,” said Cynthia.

Cynthia believes that AI knowledge may generate opportunities in many fields, but sees far more risks and dangers than advantages for LGBTI people.

When AI meets facial recognition technology and a sexual orientation algorithm, at least four issues arise. First, privacy. In national and international law, a person’s face is not protected by privacy laws. That allows faces to be scanned and read by everyone, from governments to Sky News.

Secondly, accuracy. “In a world beyond the royal wedding, artificial intelligence facial recognition technology is far from perfect, even when it just tries to match names with faces, much less when it tries to match presumed sexual orientations with faces,” Cynthia said.

For Cynthia, the key issue is knowledge. How does a sexual orientation algorithm know better than an individual his or her sexuality? Cynthia considers the binary approach of code and computer-readable data not compatible with the vast gender and sexuality spectrum.

Finally, the issue of what the AI information will be used for worries Cynthia. “Let Sky News use it for wedding commentary, but what if the police use it in countries where homosexuality is outlawed?” Cynthia asked.

For Cynthia, AI and sexual orientation are not necessarily mutually beneficial. Cynthia understands that AI influences imagination and drives innovation, but believes that categorization of people usually introduces more harms than benefits.

Cynthia concluded by saying, “People have to make sure that artificial intelligence is ethically driven, not just technologically driven.”

The event was organized with the Swiss LGBTI Pride@Work association and UN Globe, a United Nations-wide LGBTI organization, and was held on 16 May.

Papua New Guinea has published the results of its first comprehensive survey on key populations in the country. The report is the conclusion of a study that collected estimates of the sizes of key population and biobehavioural data, which will be used to inform prevention and treatment services and policies for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

“Only when we ensure that Papua New Guinea’s HIV programming reaches the right people in the right way and place, and at the right time, will the increasing HIV infection rates amongst key populations be slowed,” said David Bridger, the UNAIDS Country Director for Papua New Guinea, at the report’s launch.

The study, Kauntim mi Tu (count us), was carried out in the three largest urban areas of the country—Port Moresby, Lae and Mount Hagen. It revealed that female sex workers, gay men and other men who have sex with men and transgender people often do not seek health care, get tested for HIV or other sexually transmitted infections or use condoms.

Members of key populations in the country face real and perceived stigma, discrimination and violence from police, clients and others in their communities on a daily basis, according to the report. High rates of stigma, discrimination and violence are deterring them from seeking or accessing health-care services.

A member of Friends Frangipani, an organization of sex workers, said, “Many of us live very difficult lives. We don’t all have access to clean water, healthy food or a safe space. We are struggling. Yet we are told to look after ourselves, protect ourselves from HIV and, if HIV-positive, stay healthy. That is very hard for many of us. People need to understand our lives better, and Kauntim mi Tu has done that.”

While adult female HIV prevalence is estimated at 1.1% nationally, the study found that prevalence was nearly 20% among female sex workers in Mount Hagen and almost 15% in the capital, Port Moresby. More than half of gay men and other men who have sex with men and transgender people were found to have never been tested for HIV. Three out of four men in the second largest city, Lae, reported having experienced violence related to their sexuality or sexual identity.

The study included biological testing, with participants offered point-of-care tests and, if needed, same-day treatment for syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhoea. The research team included members of key populations.

The study’s principle investigator, Angela Kelly-Hanku, noted that much work remains to be done. “This work must be done in the context of safe, respectful and enabling environments that support adequate public health responses and invest in new and dynamic ways to increase HIV testing and ensure that treatment is continuously available, that viral load testing is standard HIV care and that prevention is paramount to everything. We cannot be complacent,” she said.

The report is available at http://www.aidsdatahub.org/sites/default/files/publication/PNG_Kauntim_mi_tu_Multi-Site_Summary_Report_from_the_Key_Population_IBBS_2018.pdf.