Fall 2004 - Human Rights and HIV/AIDS

Civil Rights & Constitution

Using Human Rights to Combat the HIV/AIDS Pandemic

The human rights strategy—to improve medical information, healthcare, sexual autonomy, and economic viability—can reduce the spread of HIV and protect those already infected with the virus.

Government Benefits

Human Rights and the President's AIDS Initiative

The Bush administration promises to fight HIV/AIDS on the international level, but withholds crucial funds and exports ill-conceived programs.

Virtual Pathways in Africa's Fight Against HIV/AIDS

Carmen Urdaneta

A Kenyan group consisting of religious leaders with AIDS uses online networks to develop its leaders and decrease stigma and discrimination.

Adapting to the Reality of HIV: Difficult Policy Choices in Russia, China and India

The spread of HIV/AIDS in populous “second wave” countries threatens political, economic, and national security, but innovative prevention programs give some hope.

Civil Rights & Constitution

America's Epidemic: HIV/AIDS and People of Color

by Gloria J. Browne-Marshall

The virus affects minority groups in the United States at disproportionately high levels, worsening the epidemic in already-vulnerable populations.

Human Rights

Confronting HIV Discrimination in the Workplace: A Case Study

by Hayley Gorenberg

The case of gymnast Matthew Cusick, fired due to his HIV status, highlights the reality of workplace discrimination and gives strategies to fight it.

Ethical and Legal Issues in AIDS Vaccine Trials

An HIV vaccine might control or eradicate the virus, but research trials raise ethical and legal questions.

Civil Rights & Constitution

Abstinence and Ignorance: Dismissing Science in the Fight Against AIDS

by Joanne Csete

It seems to be a little known fact that HIV/AIDS is little understood, even in places where it has claimed many lives. In most countries, large percentages of people still believe that HIV is transmitted by casual contact: sharing utensils, shaking hands, or sitting in the same classroom with an HIV-positive person. This lack of awareness, which reflects underfunded or misinformed government educational campaigns on HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, leaves people vulnerable to the virus and fuels the discrimination, stigma, and exclusion faced by people with AIDS.

Civil Rights & Constitution

The Changing Role of Business in the HIV/AIDS Crisis

by Priya Bery

Corporations do not operate in isolation. In fact, like nations and their populations, they have been deeply affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic as have nations and their populations. Some industries, such as the oil and extractives field, have reported that as much as 25 percent of their workforces have been infected with HIV. Recognition of these facts is now motivating multinational corporations and small- and medium-sized enterprises to become deeply involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS, not merely for reasons of good corporate citizenship but increasingly out of a more comprehensive understanding of corporate self-interest.

Civil Rights & Constitution

Making a Difference with HIV Legal Checkups

by David I. Schulman

HIV legal checkups are a prime example of a new public health law field that has emerged from the AIDS epidemic—health and human rights. In the mid-1980s, public health and AIDS civil rights seemed on a collision course. But when the Los Angeles City Attorney established the nation’s first AIDS discrimination unit in 1986, we were committed to demonstrating that this need not be the case.

Immigration

HIV-Based Persecution in Asylum and Immigration Decisions

by Victoria Neilson

Since 1987, the United States has sent a clear message to foreign nationals: if you are HIV-positive, keep out. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) labels HIV “a communicable disease of public health significance,” rendering those living with HIV/AIDS “inadmissible.” Applicants for temporary visas who self-disclose their sero-positive status or applicants for permanent residence who test positive for HIV during a required medical examination therefore will be prevented from entering the United States or obtaining legal permanent residence unless they meet the stringent requirements for an HIV waiver.

Civil Rights & Constitution

Human Rights Heroes: Whitman-Walker Clinic and Whitman-Walker Clinic Legal Services

by Michael L. Pates

A Washington, D.C., clinic provides health and legal services to people affected by HIV/AIDS.