Derechos humanos en el contexto de VIH/SIDA – Aporte a la ACNUDH

HRI, IDPC, CDPE y el Instituto RIA trazan los vínculos entre la reforma de políticas referidas a drogas, participación de la comunidad y la protección de los derechos humanos. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

HRI, IDPC, CDPE and Instituto RIA welcome the opportunity to contribute on “actions taken and to be intensified or initiated to meet the innovative targets on societal enablers (hereinafter: societal enablers targets) […] and to address the remaining gaps”; ahead of the High Commissioner’s report on human rights in the context of HIV/AIDS to be presented at the Human Rights Council in its 50th session.

This submission focuses on drug control policies and people who use drugs. In 2018, around 269 million people used drugs and 11 million injected drugs, of whom 1.4 million living with HIV. The risk of acquiring HIV for people who inject drugs is 35 times higher than for people who do not. While incidence of HIV infection globally declined by 23% between 2010 and 2019, HIV infections among people who inject drugs increased in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Asia, Middle East and North Africa. In 2019, only 62% of people who inject drugs were aware of their HIV status; well below the 95-95-95 target.

People who use drugs are criminalised and among the most marginalised, stigmatised, underserved groups in many countries, and experience a wide range of human rights violations and abuses, often as result of punitive laws and policies; which put them at heightened risk of HIV transmission. It will thus be impossible to achieve the societal enablers target without comprehensive drug policy reform and meaningful participation of people who use drugs. The following paragraphs provide information on key drug policy-related barriers to achieving the societal enablers targets.