Case studies in litigating the human rights of people living with HIV  

Protecting, promoting and fulfilling the human rights of people living with and vulnerable to HIV remain central challenges in the global response to AIDS. Yet a “human rights based approach” to addressing HIV has too often been an empty phrase; there are few well-conceived or funded programmes designed explicitly to address the human rights abuses faced by people living with and affected by HIV. This is so even though it is clear from more than two decades of experience that inattention to the rights of those affected by HIV undermines the effectiveness of HIV policies and programmes; and the marginalization and discrimination experienced by various groups continue to fuel the pandemic. Among others, these groups include people living with HIV, women and girls, orphaned children, men who have sex with men, sex workers, prisoners and injecting drug users. In light of this, it is urgent that there be developed tools which countries and those affected by HIV can use to make “rights-based approaches” more than just words.