Human rights and stigmatisation

A resolution by the UN Commission on Human Rights prohibits discrimination of a person because of his/her health status, including HIV/AIDS. The Commission has also defined the right to adequate therapy for AIDS as part of the individual's right to health (UN Commission on Human Rights, 2001).

Human rights and HIV are interlinked in many ways. Violations of human rights increase the individual's vulnerability to HIV infection if they prevent people from having open access to information, preventive treatment, service organisations and self-help groups.

People with HIV/AIDS often meet with rejection; this increases their personal suffering and creates a barrier in the fight against AIDS because it makes the necessary public confrontation of the HIV problem impossible. Stigmatization can lead to discrimination, unfair treatment and disadvantages because of the individual's HIV status. One important strategy in the fight against AIDS is to break the silence and overcome the stigma. People living with HIV/AIDS must not be excluded from society. People infected with or ill as a result of HIV/AIDS have rights like any other sick people: the right to information, treatment, care, empathy and sympathetic support.