Rights abuses fuel AIDS: Since the early 1980s, HIV/AIDS has claimed 22 million lives and infected over 60 million persons, and it will kill millions more before it is controlled. Its destruction is fueled by a wide range of human rights violations, including sexual violence and coercion faced by women and girls, stigmatization of men who have sex with men, abuses against sex workers and injecting drug users, and violations of right of young persons to information on HIV transmission. In prisons, HIV spreads with frightening efficiency due to sexual violence, lack of access to condoms, lack of harm reduction measures for drug users, and lack of information. Human rights violations only add to the stigmatization of persons at highest risk of infection and thus marginalize and drive underground those who need information, preventive services, and treatment most desperately.

Abuses follow infection: Persons living with the disease are subject to stigmatization and discrimination in society, including in the workplace and in access to government services. Women whose husbands have died of AIDS are regularly rejected by their and their husband's families, and their property is frequently taken from them. Thousands of children who have lost parents to AIDS or whose parents are living with the disease have lost their inheritance rights, have had to take on hazardous labor including prostitution, and have been forced to live on the streets where they are subject to police violence and other abuses.

Research: Documenting human rights abuses related to HIV/AIDS and raising awareness about them is essential to combating the epidemic. This work builds naturally on Human Rights Watch's large body of research on discrimination, women's and children's rights, rights of prisoners, and persecution of marginalized groups. Human Rights Watch's program on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights has documented, for example, rights violations against children affected by AIDS in Kenya, the fueling of the epidemic through sexual violence on the part of the military in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and police violence against HIV/AIDS outreach workers in India. Other research to be completed by end 2002 includes documentation of human rights abuses against drug users in the former Soviet Union, further documentation of the impact of HIV/AIDS on girls in southern Africa, and limitations on young people's access to HIV/AIDS information in the United States.

Ensuring protection: Human Rights Watch continues to advocate for legal and policy protections for persons affected by or at high risk of HIV/AIDS. In India, for example, this means repeal of an antiquated sodomy law that contributes to police abuse of HIV/AIDS educators who work with men who have sex with men. For AIDS-affected children, protection of girls against sexual abuse and ensuring avenues of legal recourse for children without relatives to turn to are urgently needed. Protection of the rights of women in prostitution and empowering them to demand safe sex of clients are crucial. Without a focus on human rights, many investments in HIV/AIDS programs and policies are doomed to fail.

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