ICASO calls for governments to report
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December 1st, World AIDS Day, Toronto
The International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO) today
calls upon all governments to report on steps taken to promote and
implement the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has written to
each government requesting them to report. However, very few govern-
ments have reported to date.
The International Guidelines are intended to be used and enacted by
states to promote and protect human rights in the context of HIV/
AIDS. They attempt to take existing human rights norms and mould them
into a series of practical, concrete measures to adopt to fight the
epidemic.
There are 12 guidelines in all, each containing action-oriented meas-
ures. For example, they call upon states to:
* provide political and financial support to ensure that community
organizations are able to carry out their activities effectively;
* review and reform public health laws to ensure that they are con-
sistent with international human rights obligations;
* enact or strengthen anti-discrimination and other protective laws
to protect vulnerable groups, people living with HIV/AIDS, and to
provide for speedy and effective remedies when the laws are broken;
* enact laws and regulations to ensure safe, effective and affordable
medications, and adequate prevention and care information.
"It is extremely important that governments meet their obligations",
said ICASO Director Richard Burzynski. He added, "the issue of get-
ting life-saving treatments to all people living with HIV/AIDS, re-
gardless of where they live, needs to be made a priority by all gov-
ernments and the private sector, particularly pharmaceutical compa-
nies."
"Many promises have been made over the past few years. It is impor-
tant to ensure that they are kept."
Country reports are to be tabled at the April 2000 session of the UN
Commission on Human Rights. To get more information on the guide-
lines, please check out the NGO Summary of the Guidelines, in Eng-
lish, French and Spanish, on the ICASO web site:
http://www.icaso.org
For further information, contact:
Richard Burzynski
ICASO Central Secretariat
399 Church Street
4th Floor
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5B 2J6
Direct Tel: +1-416-340-8484 ext 243
Main Tel: +1-340-2437 (reception)
Fax: +1-1-416-340-8224
mailto:richardb@icaso.org
AfriCASO - Africa
mailto:africaso@enda.sn
APCASO - Asia/Pacific
mailto:apcaso@pd.jaring.my
EuroCASO - Europe
mailto:eurocaso@hivnet.ch
LACCASO - Latin America and the Caribbean
mailto:laccaso@internet.ve
NACASO - North America
mailto:SharonB@cdnaids.ca
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