UN officials urge end to discrimination as they mark World AIDS Day

United Nations, New York, 30 November 2009 - Today is World Aids Day. In a message, the Secretary-General says that more must be done, on an urgent basis, to uphold the commitment to reach universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010.
He adds that this can only be achieved by upholding the human rights of all people living with HIV, people at risk of infection, and children and families affected by the epidemic.
The Secretary-General urges all countries to remove punitive laws, policies and practices that hamper the response to AIDS, including travel restrictions against people living with HIV.
Echoing this message, Michel Sidibé, the Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), adds that World AIDS Day is also an opportunity to act on HIV prevention. Gains made today are fragile and must be sustained, he says. He adds that the economic crisis should not be a reason for reducing investments in health.

And tonight the Secretary-General will be participating in the Light for Rights World AIDS Day event in Washington Square Park. Lights in the park and on top of the Empire State building will be dimmed simultaneously to symbolize how human rights infringements cast a dark shadow on the response to AIDS.
In his remarks, the Secretary-General is expected to stress that discrimination against people living with HIV, sex workers, drug users, and men who have sex with men only fuels the epidemic. He will add that successful AIDS responses don't punish people, they protect them.

News story:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33096&Cr=hiv&Cr1=aids

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• United Nations
• UN
• Secretary-General
• Ban Ki-moon
• AIDS
• HIV
• World Aids Day
• Prevention
• Treatment
• Michel Sidibé
• Washington Square Park
• Sex workers
• Drug users
• Sex
• Sexual relation