Human rights defenders play a key role in the HIV response
UNAIDS - "While running a legal clinic for refugees 10 years ago, Kene Esom, former Director of African Men for Sexual Health and Rights (AMSHeR), saw how difficult it was for marginalized or vulnerable people to access health-care services.
“That is where I realized that as a lawyer and a human rights defender, I could play a role in increasing access to health-care services and defending human rights.” In his more recent role as Strategic Initiatives Adviser to the AMSHeR Board, he is still at the forefront against discrimination, especially discrimination against gay men and other men who have sex with men in Africa.
Mr Esom makes it clear that when he is talking about human rights in the context of HIV, it is not just the right to health that matters. “There is a pattern of human rights violations towards gay men in many countries, owing particularly to the criminalization of consensual same-sex conduct,” said Mr Esom." (Photo: United Nations Photo/ flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)