Perspective—Human Rights in the Fourth Decade of the HIV/AIDS Response: An Inspiring Legacy and Urgent Imperative

Jamie Enoch and Peter Piot Abstract More than 35 years since the HIV/AIDS pandemic began, HIV continues to cause almost two million new infections each year, and the “end of AIDS” by 2030 remains elusive.1 Violations of human rights continue to fuel high rates of new infections among key populations and a generalized epidemic in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Meanwhile, as political shifts worldwide threaten not only HIV funding but…

Human Rights and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria: How Does a Large Funder of Basic Health Services Meet the Challenge of Rights-Based Programs? 

Ralf Jürgens, Joanne Csete, Hyeyoung Lim, Susan Timberlake, and Matthew Smith Abstract The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was created to greatly expand access to basic services to address the three diseases in its name. From its beginnings, its governance embodied some human rights principles: civil society is represented on its board, and the country coordination mechanisms that oversee funding requests to the Global Fund include representatives…

In Women’s Eyes: Key Barriers to Women’s Access to HIV Treatment and a Rights-Based Approach to their Sustained Well-Being

Luisa Orza, Emily Bass, Emma Bell, E. Tyler Crone, Nazneen Damji, Sophie Dilmitis, Liz Tremlett, Nasra Aidarus, Jacqui Stevenson, Souhaila Bensaid, Calorine Kenkem, Gracia Violeta Ross, Elena Kudravtseva, and Alice Welbourn Abstract There is rightly a huge global effort to enable women living with HIV to have long productive lives, through treatment access. However, many women living with HIV experience violence against women (VAW), in both domestic and health care…

Neglected Population, Neglected Right: Children Living with HIV and the Right to Science

Michael L. Scanlon, Gillian MacNaughton, and Courtenay Sprague Abstract The laws, language, and tools of human rights have been instrumental in expanding access to lifesaving treatment for people living with HIV. Children, however, remain a neglected population, as evidenced by inadequate child-specific and child-friendly HIV treatment options. In this article, we explore the right to science, a potentially powerful but underdeveloped right in international law, and its application to research…

HIV, Sex Work, and Law Enforcement in China

Tingting Shen and Joanne Csete Abstract HIV prevalence in China is low in the general population but higher among certain key affected populations, including sex workers. Providing and purchasing sexual services are criminal offenses. Police engage in humiliating and repressive practices against sex workers. A study reported here based on the experience of over 500 sex workers highlights that the human rights abuses that sex workers face at the hands…

At the Nexus: How HIV-Related Immigration Policies Affect Foreign Nationals and Citizens in South Korea

Jessica M. Keralis Abstract Effective HIV prevention requires the protection and empowerment of marginalized groups at high risk of infection. However, many policies persist that stigmatize these groups and hinder HIV prevention efforts, including HIV-related travel restrictions. In the Republic of Korea, which requires HIV tests for certain visa categories, these restrictions negatively affect the national HIV response and access to accurate information on effective HIV prevention. In addition, they…

Medical Students’ Attitudes Toward Torture, Revisited

Krista Dubin, Andrew R. Milewski, Joseph Shin, and Thomas P. Kalman Abstract This paper reports the findings of a survey of medical students’ attitudes toward torture and discusses variables that may correlate with those attitudes. In late 2016, 483 enrolled medical and MD–PhD students at the Weill Cornell Medical College received an anonymous, institutional review board-approved survey that included questions about torture and its effectiveness, demographic questions, inquiries about personal…

Neglected Population, Neglected Right: Children Living with HIV and the Right to Science

Michael L. Scanlon, Gillian Macnaughton, and Courtenay Sprague   Abstract The laws, language, and tools of human rights have been instrumental in expanding access to lifesaving treatment for people living with HIV. Children, however, remain a neglected population, as evidenced by inadequate child-specific and child-friendly HIV treatment options. In this article, we explore the right to science, a potentially powerful but underdeveloped right in international law, and its application to…

Inconvenient Human Rights: Water and Sanitation in Sweden’s Informal Roma Settlements

Martha F. Davis and Natasha Ryan Abstract Following an increase in Roma migration under the European “freedom of movement” laws, Swedish municipalities initiated more than 80 evictions of informal Roma settlements on the grounds of poor sanitation between 2013 and 2016. These evictions echo policies from earlier in the 20th century, when Roma living in Sweden were often marginalized through the denial of access to water and sanitation facilities. The…

Justice Delayed: The Right to Effective Remedy for Victims of Coercive Sterilization in the Czech Republic

Claude Cahn Abstract Tens of thousands of women were coercively sterilized in Czechoslovakia and its successor states. Romani women were particularly targeted for these measures. These practices stopped only in 2004, as a result of international pressure. Although some measures have been taken to ensure that these practices are not repeated, to date neither the Czech Republic nor Slovakia have completed the work of providing effective remedy to victims, as…