(New York, June 20, 2001)
"Moral squeamishness shouldn't stand in the way of finding solutions to
this terrible crisis," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human
Rights Watch. "At a conference devoted to fighting AIDS, governments
must not replicate the silence and denial that have driven the spread of
the disease."

In language agreed to by Canada, Australia, and several Latin American
and European countries, the draft declaration makes explicit the goal of
reducing incidence among "men who have sex with men, sex workers,
[and] injecting drug users and their sexual partners," as well
as prisoners and refugees. The United States proposes striking this list
and replacing it with the vague and anodyne phrase, "vulnerable
individuals," including those engaging in "risky sexual behavior." The
Vatican prefers a similarly euphemistic reference to "people who
have multiple sex partners." Egypt suggests substituting the
judgmental phrase, "homosexuality among men, prostitution, and other
forms of irresponsible sexual behavior."

"HIV/AIDS is born in large part of discrimination against women, gay
men, drug users, sex workers, and others whose status has impeded their
access to services, information, and social support," said Joanne Csete,
a public health expert on AIDS at Human Rights Watch. "Pretending that
these groups don't exist, or reinforcing discrimination
against them, will only accelerate the spread of the epidemic by pushing
them further underground and out of reach of the services they
desperately need to contain the disease."

Csete is the author of a report on violations of the rights of AIDS
orphans in Kenya, to be released next week.

Violation of civil and political rights is the engine that spreads
HIV/AIDS in many parts of the world. Where women are unable to negotiate
the terms of their sexual relations, where gay men and sex workers are
marginalized and excluded from services, and where sexual violence is
prevalent, HIV/AIDS flourishes. In negotiations earlier this month, the
United States nonetheless rejected a proposal by the European Union and
the Rio Group that the declaration adopt a "rights-based approach" to
combating HIV/AIDS.

"If governments attempt to fight HIV/AIDS without addressing the rights
violations that fuel the epidemic and result from it, they will be doing
only half the job - or less," said Csete.

The draft declaration of the AIDS conference was meant to be completed
in preparatory meetings ending May 25 at which civil society
organizations were present. However, since then, discussions have
continued over contentious points in closed-door sessions attended only
by governments.

"The independent voices most likely to highlight the role of human
rights abuse in the spread of HIV/AIDS have been excluded from these
deliberations," said Roth. "Sadly, governments seem determined to shut
out uncomfortable messages, even at the risk of a less effective
strategy for fighting this deadly disease."

For more information on human rights and the AIDS pandemic, please see:

Human Rights and the AIDS Crisis: The Debate Over Resources by Kenneth
Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW Commentary, July
2000) at http://www.hrw.org/editorials/2000/aids-p1.htm