HIV, disability and discrimination: making the links in international and domestic human rights law

Stigma and discrimination constitute one of the greatest barriers to dealing effectively with the HIV epidemic, underlying a range of human rights violations and hindering access to prevention, care, treatment and support. There is some existing protection against HIV-based discrimination under international law, but the extent of states' obligations to address such discrimination has not been comprehensively addressed in an international instrument. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities entered into force in May 2008. As countries ratify the convention, they are required to amend national laws and policies to give greater protection to the human rights of people with disabilities, including abolishing disability-based discrimination by the state and protecting persons against such discrimination by others. The Disability Convention addresses many of the issues faced by people living with HIV (PLHIV) but does not explicitly include HIV or AIDS within its open-ended definition of "disability". Therefore, the advent of the Disability Convention prompts us to consider the links between HIV and disability and, specifically, to consider the opportunities it and other legal mechanisms, international or domestic, may afford for advancing the human rights of PLHIV facing human rights infringements. We do so in the belief that the movement for human rights is stronger when constituencies with so many common and overlapping interests are united, and that respectful and strategic collaboration ultimately strengthens both the disability rights and the AIDS movements. In this article, we first examine the links between HIV and disability. We then provide a brief overview of how international human rights law has treated both disability and HIV/AIDS. We note some of the different ways in which national anti-discrimination laws have reflected the links between HIV and disability, illustrated with representative examples from a number of countries. Finally, we offer some conclusions and recommendations about ways forward for collaboration between HIV and disability rights advocates in advancing human rights at the international level, including the use of the new tool that is the Disability Convention. We hope these reflections will promote further discussion across movements, ultimately to the benefit of all persons with disabilities and/or HIV.