Joseph J. Amon Unlike many scientific conferences, the AIDS conferences have a long history of community activism and engagement. At this year’s conference, I have seen protests against pharma, marches in support of sex worker rights, a declaration that “there is no problem communities cannot solve”, the (brief) disruption of a plenary session to highlight the targeting of civilians and aid workers in Gaza, and more. These, and formal sessions…
AIDS 2024: Politics and Human Rights
Joseph J. Amon The plenary on day 3 of AIDS 2024 had a strong emphasis on HIV, human rights, and politics. Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), gave a rousing talk entitled “Global Health is a Matter of Global Politics”. This linked well with Micheala Clayton’s presentation on criminalization, which referred to the need to focus on political determinants…
AIDS 2024: Support for Community-led Human Rights Initiatives Needed Urgently
Megan McLemore Front-line activists have described the alarming rise in repressive laws and policies targeting marginalized communities around the world at the 25th International AIDS Conference. Since 2023, the rights of LGBTQI and gender non-conforming people, women, and girls—and rights to free speech and free association—have come under increasing attack in Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Indonesia, Iraq, the United States, and other settings. In Ukraine, HIV advocates and service providers have…
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AIDS 2024: Hitting Targets
Joseph J. Amon Greetings again from AIDS 2024. One underlying theme at the conference is attention to global targets and if the “global HIV strategy” (if there is such a singular thing) is on track or off. First, on targets. If you don’t pay close attention, it’s easy to think that HIV target setting is about swapping one set of jargon for another, every five years or so. UNAIDS introduced…
Human Rights at AIDS 2024
Joseph J. Amon The AIDS 2024 Conference officially opens today (Monday 22 July) in Munich, Germany, and virtually, with about 15,000 people registered to attend. For those not attending in person or virtually, the conference website has a searchable online program with 2,557 abstracts. In looking through the titles of posters and oral sessions, a number of themes around HIV and human rights will be addressed at the conference. For…
Health and Human Rights at Stake in the US Election
Patty Skuster and Elisha Dunn-Georgiou Since this blog was originally published on 16 July, President Joe Biden stepped down from the presidential race and Vice President Kamala Harris has become the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. We expect that Harris would remain just as committed to multilateralism as President Biden has been. Importantly, as a US Senator and Vice President, Harris has demonstrated her full-throated commitment to abortion access and…
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Right to Self-determined Death, European Court, and European Convention on Human Rights
Sarthak Gupta On June 13th, 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the case of Daniel Karsai v. Hungary, held that there is no right to self-determined death (physician-assisted death) under the European Convention of Human Rights (Convention). Karsai, the applicant, is suffering from advanced Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a motor neurone disease that causes loss of muscle control affecting movement, speech, and breathing, and for which there…
Can Health Care Personnel Speak Out on Health and Human Rights Issues in Gaza?
Alice Rothchild In the United States, the right of medical personnel to speak out about the ongoing assault on Gaza and the urgent need for a ceasefire is under threat. Similarly, an article in The Lancet calls out the reluctance of medical professional organizations, journals, and lobbies to take any meaningful stand against the systematic obliteration of health systems in Gaza, identifying this controversy as “The Palestine challenge to US…
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Environmental Destruction is a Human Rights Violation: The Health Crisis in Gaza
Meena Hasan and Meena Aladdin In April the United States and the world celebrated Earth Day, promoting sustainability and raising awareness about preserving natural resources. Just two days later, President Biden signed a bill securing billions in US funding for Ukraine and Israel for their security efforts. The US support will bolster Israel’s war efforts and lead to the continued displacement and suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, as well as severe…
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Three Recommendations on Digital Technologies and Data Privacy for the WHO Pandemic Agreement
Tomaso Falchetta, Molly Pugh-Jones and Tinashe Rufurwadzo In December 2021, the World Health Assembly established an intergovernmental negotiating body to draft and negotiate a convention to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. The negotiations of this WHO Pandemic Agreement are now entering the final stages and a text may be agreed upon at the World Health Assembly by the end of May. Regretfully with each round of negotiations the language…