Sophia submission to the Conservative Human Rights Commission
On Friday 29th January, Sophia submitted jointly with the APPG on AIDS a report on Women Human Rights defenders in the context of HIV to the Conservative Human Rights Commission (CHRC). The report was presented at the House of Commons in front of a panel of the Conservative Human Rights Commission on Monday 1st February.
The report describes the work of Jenni in Namibia, Kousalya in India and Olimbi in Albania. These three incredible women are important because they are the ones who have the strength to get up and speak out for the rights of hundreds or thousands of women in their societies who otherwise have no voice.
There are an estimated 33.4 million people living with HIV in the world. Out of them 15.7 million are women. More and more women are at risk of acquiring HIV, which is why Kofi Annan said in 2002 that "AIDS has now the face of a woman".
Being HIV-positive and being a woman regularly means that a number of one's human rights are violated as a matter of course. The most common right to be violated is that of non-discrimination. Furthermore, skin colour, nationality or socio-economic status can often lead to additional prejudice.
For more information please read:
the ICW report on coerced sterilisation in Namibia which can be downloaded here
see a Guardian article of June 2009 on Jenni's work in Namibia, here
the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”).
the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
the UN General Assembly Declaration of Commitment on HIV and AIDS of June 2001 which places human rights at the heart of the international response to the epidemic
