To strengthen the rights-based national response to HIV, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), with the technical support of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance (the Alliance), initiated a project in 2011 to help national stakeholders integrate human rights programmes into National Strategic Plans (NSPs). This brief report outlines some short-term outcomes and lessons learnt from this initiative. The three regional workshops, held in South Africa, Thailand and Saudi Arabia, have led to concrete outcomes, namely the integration of HIV-related human rights into NSPs in a number of countries. Participants have also initiated (or are planning) innovative human rights projects as a direct result of the workshops. The workshops have given governments, civil society representatives, affected communities and UNAIDS an opportunity to share good practice, exchange views and learn from each other. The challenge remains to continue to apply this learning to the protection and promotion of a rights-based approach in the national response to HIV, and to make the commitments of the 2011 Political Declaration a reality.
Values, Policies and Rights
Making voluntary family planning available to everyone in developing countries would reduce costs for maternal and newborn health care by $11.3 billion annually, according to this report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). UNFPA argues that increased access to family planning has proven to be more than just a sound economic investment, with knock-on gains in reducing poverty, exclusion, poor health and gender inequality. Nevertheless, the report finds that financial resources for family planning have declined and contraceptive use has remained mostly steady. The report also calls on governments and leaders to: take or reinforce a rights-based approach to family planning; secure an emphasis on family planning in the global sustainable development agenda that will follow the Millennium Development Goals in 2015; ensure equality by focusing on specific excluded groups; and raise the funds to invest fully in family planning.
Uganda's parliament will, before Christmas, pass a highly controversial bill which seeks more stringent punishments for people engaging in homosexual acts and those perceived to be "promoting" homosexuality, says the speaker of the house. Rebecca Kadaga told hundreds of petitioners in Kampala on 9 November that she would ensure the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which has been before parliament since 2009, would be passed before the end of 2012. The punishment for “aggravated homosexuality” is life imprisonment. Activists have decried the bill, saying it is a violation of human rights that would make men who have sex with men (MSM) even less willing to access health services. Gay people in Uganda say they face discrimination and are stigmatised by health workers when they seek care in the public and private health system. MSM are considered by the Uganda AIDS Commission to be a "most at-risk population", but because homosexual acts are illegal, there are no policies or services targeting HIV interventions towards them. Legal experts in Uganda have challenged the constitutionality of the bill, arguing it infringes on the right to privacy and freedom of expression and choice.
A landmark ruling on 12 October 2012 by Gaborone's High Court found that gender discrimination based on Botswana's customary law is unconstitutional. The court ruled on a case brought by three sisters, all over 65 years old, challenging a Ngwaketse customary law that holds the right of inheritance to the family home belongs to the youngest son. Critically, the judge made it clear that discrimination cannot be justified on cultural grounds before rejecting out of hand the argument put forward by the Attorney General that Botswana society was not ready for gender equality, said the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC), which supported the sisters' case.
In the 2010/2011 period, South Africa’s Compensation Fund in the Department of Labour paid over US$307 million in compensation for injuries and diseases sustained in the workplace, according to this press release. A department spokesperson said South Africa continued to be plagued by lack of adherence to occupational health and safety, arguing that loss of work-time because of occupational hazards means a loss of income for workers and a decline in gross domestic product (GDP). According to the Department, high-risk sectors accounted for huge compensation fund claims, including iron and steel for $49.5-million, air road transport for $41 million, building and construction for $33 million, agriculture $21 and the chemical sector for $12 million. In the light of these high costs, the Department has announced plans to start working on amendments in the country’s Occupational Health and Safety Act to be completed by the end of the 2012/13. This would include a review of amendment to regulations. The International Labour Organisation welcomed the move, calling for greater emphasis on the importance of prevention in the workplace.
These new guidelines from South Africa’s Department of Labour cover various aspects related to HIV and AIDS in the workplace, especially concerning the elimination of unfair discrimination and promotion of equal opportunity and fair treatment. The Department argues for a multilateral approach to deal with HIV, AIDS and tuberculosis (TB), and the guidelines show how to promote a safe working environment and manage the diseases in the workplace, as well monitoring and evaluation of intervention programmmes. They were developed in partnership with the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The guidelines call for prevention programmes to be sensitive to culture, gender and language with relevant information that is accessible. Employees with HIV or AIDS may not be dismissed on the basis of their status.
Hundreds of Kenyan girls, including some as young as three years old, filed a petition in the High Court on 11 October 2012 to try to force the police to investigate and prosecute rape cases they say have been ignored. The group of more than 240 girls accuse police of demanding bribes to investigate rape, refusing to record rapes unless the victims produced witnesses, and claiming victims had consented. One in five women and girls are victims of sexual violence in Kenya, according to a 2008/9 government survey. Rape is rarely reported due to stigma and a lack of faith in the police and the criminal justice system, although Kenya has strong legislation to protect children from sexual assault. Activists point out it is the first time in Kenya that action has been taken to hold police accountable for failing to protect girls from rape.
The International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) seeks to coordinate the efforts of a regional security community while simultaneously addressing the difficult and deep-rooted problems of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in its eleven member states. However, according to the author of this brief, the ICGLR’s 2011 Kampala Declaration on SGBV puts forward the right decisions, but with too many unrealistic timeframes. If the ICGLR tries to implement all 19 decisions from the summit simultaneously, it runs the risk of trying to implement too much, in too short a timeframe. The author argues that the ICGLR and its member states should rather focus on strengthening justice mechanisms at the national and local levels, as well as increase and enhance national and local competencies to investigate, police, prosecute and punish perpetrators of SGBV. Such efforts must be aligned with a second overall ambition of reducing stigma and assisting survivors. Justice and ending stigma are vital to future prevention and punishment efforts.
Almost eighteen years after the South African government signed the ICESCR, Cabinet has approved that South Africa will ratify the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The ICESCR, together with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, constitutes the International Bill of Rights. The ICESCR has been ratifed by over 160 states since it was adopted in 1966, 48 of which are African states and 11 of which are member states of the Southern African Development Community. South Africa’s ratification of the ICESCR will unambiguously signal its commitment to be legally bound by the full range of human rights recognised under international law. The ICESCR Ratification Campaign Driver Group also encourages South Africa to also ratify the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR (OP-CESCR). The Optional Protocol is an extra treaty that promotes a culture of accountability around the ICESCR, empowering vulnerable and marginalised groups to lodge individual complaints at the international level regarding violations of their socio-economic rights. The Optional Protocol is yet to come into force, as it requires 10 states to ratify it and, at present, only eight states have done so.
This Guidance Note has been developed to provide a coordinated human-rights-based approach to promoting universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support in the context of adult sex work. It provides clarification and direction regarding approaches to reduce HIV risk and vulnerability in the context of sex work. Its policy and programmatic emphasis rests on three interdependent pillars: access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support for all sex workers and their clients; supportive environments and partnerships that facilitate universal access to needed services, including life choices and occupational alternatives to sex work for those who want to leave it; and action to address structural issues related to HIV and sex work. Comprehensive rights-based programmes on HIV and sex work are argued to be critical to the success of the HIV response, and policies and programmes to address the links between HIV and sex work must recognise the social and geographic diversity of sex work, as well as the rapid changes that may occur in patterns of sex work.