Youth

These materials focus on issues of youth's access and consent to HIV testing and care, reproductive and sexual health care rights, and HIV prevention, particularly as concerns youth of color, poor youth, young men who have sex with men, and youth in state custody.

Research/Journal Articles

W.W.Ho, et al., "Complexities in HIV Consent in Adolescents"

2005-July-01

There is no uniform policy on minors rights to consent to HIV testing and treatment. The process of obtaining consent is complex and depends on several factors, including individual state laws related to HIV testing and to a minors capacity to consent to general, and to sexual-health related, medical care. This article reviews the laws of informed consent and confidentiality related to HIV disease in adolescents, of particular important for pediatric and adolescent clinicians.

Filed Under:

  • Health Care and Insurance Issues
  • Testing
  • Youth

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV/STD Risks in Young Men Who Have Sex with Men Who Do Not Disclose Their Sexual Orientation

2003-February-13

Another study that shows that homophobia is a real health hazard and directly undermines important public health initiatives. One impact of homophobia is that many men who have sex with men, particularly young and minority men, dont disclose their sexual orientation in order to avoid social isolation, discrimination or abuse and violence. These young gay and bisexual men may be at higher risk for HIV infection as a consequence of low self-esteem, depression, and lack of peer support and related services available to those who are more open about their sexual orientation and identity. The data summarized in this report found, among other things, that non-disclosing MSM are less likely than their disclosing counterparts to access HIV testing services and related health care.

Filed Under:

  • Homophobia
  • Youth
  • Stigma

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Research for Sex Work: Issue 10; Investigación para el Trabajo Sexual: Número 10

2008-July

This issue, published in English and Spanish, focuses on the rights of sex workers. It addresses: 1) police raids and “rescue” services that are often counterproductive to securing sex workers’ rights and ensuring no underage involvement in sex work; 2) how criminalization of sex work further stigmatizes the people it is meant to help and encourages violence against them; 3) participation of sex-workers in approaches to HIV treatment and prevention; 4) targeting trafficking and the entry into sex work as separate from targeting those living as sex workers; 5) a case study in how the United States PEPFAR “anti-prostitution pledge” has influenced the response to female sex workers’ HIV/AIDS needs in Nigeria; 6) sex worker organizing in Madagascar; unfriendly encounters with police among Manhattan sex workers; 7) an analysis of the rhetoric used in newspaper articles about sex work and how that influences attitudes and responses; and 8) peer-led HIV/AIDS responses in New South Wales, Australia.  Additional issues of Research for Sex Work are available here.

 Esta edición, publicado en ingles y español, enfoca en los derechos de trabajadores sexuales. Se dirigió 1) las ataques de incursiones por la policía y los grupos reformadores que son contraproducentes a las metas de asegurar los derechos de los trabajadores y de asegurar que los minores no entrañan en el trabajo sexual; 2) la manera en que la criminalización del trabajo sexual estigmatiza más los persones que se trata de ayudar y se promota la violencia contra ellos; 3) la participación de los trabajadores sexuales en las maneras de prevención y tratamiento de VIH; 4) distinguir el tráfico humano y la entrada al trabajo sexual como diferente que los trabajadores sexuales en sí mismas; 5) un estudio de caso en como el “Compromiso Anti-Prostitución” del E.E.U.U. ha influido la reacción a los necesidades de VIH/SIDA de las trabajadores sexuales en Nigeria; 6) organizando a los trabajores sexuales en Madagascar; encuentros no amistosos con la policía entre los trabajadores sexuales en Manhattan; 7) un análisis de la rétorica usada en los artículos de diarios que discuten el trabajo sexual y como este influye los actitudes y las repuestas; 8) las repuestas de un grupo de persons que viven con VIH/SIDA sobre este sujeto en New South Wales, Australia. Ediciónes adicionales de Investigación para el Trabajo Sexual son disponible aquí.

Filed Under:

  • Criminal Law
  • Gender Issues
  • Homophobia
  • Prevention and Sexual Health
  • Youth
  • Human Rights
  • International
  • Women/Women's Advocacy Resource Connection
  • Stigma
  • Sex Work

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White Papers & Reports

THE CENTER FOR HIV LAW AND POLICY, Sexual Health Advocacy for Youth in Foster Care and Detention Facilities

2007-June-07

The Center for HIV Law and Policys (CHLP) legal and policy outline for advocating for sexual health and HIV prevention programming for youth in state custody. Youth in the state welfare and juvenile justice systems, especially lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning youth, are at alarmingly high risk of becoming HIV-infected. There is a critical need to address discriminatory treatment and the lack of policies, staff training and services that endanger and stigmatize these youth. Targeting advocacy in this direction has a potentially significant impact for the health of at-risk youth and the communities to which they return. The outline highlights various strategies for addressing the states failures; for example, policy and regulations reforms and using existing state laws governing adolescents autonomy and sexual orientation discrimination, as well as state and federal privacy, equal protection, substantive de process and first amendment guarantees to gain legal inroads to securing statesponsored sexual health care services for detained youth.

Filed Under:

  • Family Law Issues
  • Foster Care Facilities and Policies
  • Homophobia
  • Juvenile Detention
  • Prevention and Sexual Health
  • Prisons and Jails
  • Youth

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New York Civil Liberties Union, Reproductive Freedom Project, Financing Ignorance: A Report on Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Funding in New York (September, 2007)

2007-September-20

New York Civil Liberties Union, Reproductive Freedom Project, Financing Ignorance: A Report on Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Funding in New York (September, 2007), assesses the result of an extensive study of the abstinence-only-until-marriage programs In New York that received federal funding through 2006. Since1998, New York has received $3.5 million a year for abstinence-only education, and the state had spent an additional $2.6 million annually on it over the past decade. After reviewing more than 33,000 pages of state and federal documents from 39 funded programs, the NYCLU concluded that ab-only programs across the state contain serious medical inaccuracies and fear-based approaches to health issues; demonstrate bias against LGBT persons and engage in negative gender stereotyping; in many cases redirected money to other after-school activities not directly related to sex education; relied on instructors with no training or expertise as educators; were neither required to, nor on their own, and engaged in evaluation of program effectiveness. In addition, 53 % of abstinence program funding goes to religious groups without real safeguards against the incorporation of religious content in ab-only programming; religious content was in fact included in the programming of some of these groups . On September 20, 2007, New York State Department of Health Commissioner Richard Daines announced that New York would no longer accept federal abstinence-until-marriage-or-death funding. Since 1998, New York has received $3.5 million a year for abstinence-only programming, and the state had spent an additional $2.6 million annually on it over the past decade. That money will now be used for actual sex education programming, according to Commissioner Daines, whose statement can be found in this section of the Resource Bank.

Filed Under:

  • Homophobia
  • Prevention and Sexual Health
  • Youth
  • Reproductive Health and Rights

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Center for Children's Law and Policy, Potential for Change:Public Attitudes and Policy Preferences for Juvenile Justice Systems Reform

2008-January-21

As part of a Models for Change program funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Center for Childrens Law and Policy issued a report on a poll it commissioned to determine public attitudes about the value of juvenile justice reforms, and public preferences for investment of funds dealing with juvenile offenders. CCLP reported, in part, that a significant majority of those polled believe that funds would be better spent on counseling, education and job training for youth in trouble; that treatment and services are more effective ways to deal with youth than incarceration; and that the juvenile justice system treats low-income youth, African American youth, and Hispanic youth unfairly, and far worse than middle-class youth who get in trouble for similar offenses.

Filed Under:

  • Juvenile Detention
  • Youth

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Sexual and Reproductive Health of HIV Positive Women and Adolescent Girls: A Dialogue on Rights, Policies and Services (EngenderHealth, Harvard University, ICW, Ipas, UNFPA)

2006-March-01

This report summarizes discussion from two international electronic fora in which advocates, service providers, and HIV-positive women discussed services and policies related to the sexual and reproductive health of HIV-positive women. While the discussions spanned numerous countries and cultures, common threads appeared regardless of the geographical or cultural context. These threads provide lessons for all advocates seeking to promote the well-being of HIV-positive women. Issues such as confidentiality, domestic abuse, and reproductive rights were discussed, with the overarching issue being the high degree of stigma and discrimination experienced by HIV-positive women. Most strikingly, the discussions revealed widespread violations of the human rights of HIV-positive women as a result of the stigma and discrimination that they faced. These violations provided a backdrop to virtually all other topics discussed, creating major obstacles to the attainment of appropriate care and services by HIV-positive women. Another major theme was the lack of the most basic services responsive to the needs of HIV-positive women. Women described significant barriers at the domestic, community, regional and national level in realizing their rights and sexual and reproductive health. Among those mentioned included: inaccessibility of health centers; lack of respect for female patients' rights and judgmental attitudes among health care workers. The report is published by EngenderHealth, Harvard University, International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS, Ipas, and the United Nations Population Fund.

Filed Under:

  • Confidentiality
  • Employment
  • Gender Issues
  • Immigration
  • Prevention and Sexual Health
  • Youth
  • Pregnancy and Newborns
  • Human Rights
  • Treatment
  • International
  • Reproductive Health and Rights
  • Women/Women's Advocacy Resource Connection
  • Stigma
  • Sex Work

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Integrating Voluntary HIV Counselling and Testing Into Reproductive Care, UN Population Fund and the International Planned Parenthood Foundation

2004-February-17

This guide aims to provide sexual and reproductive health program planners, managers, and providers with the information necessary to integrate voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) for HIV within their services. VCT is not merely the simple assent to testing, but rather "the process by which an individual undergoes confidential counselling to enable the individual to make an informed choice about learning his or her HIV status and to take appropriate action." Counseling for VCT consists of pre-test, post-test, and follow-up counseling. VCT is a human-rights based approach to HIV testing and treatment that enables patients to make informed decisions; it has been shown to be an effective strategy to facilitate behavior change for HIV prevention, as well as to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV. The guide discusses the benefits of VCT and the barriers to implementation, and provides specific steps for each stage of implementing VCT, including the initial assessment of community need, planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. The guide was produced by the United Nations Population Fund and the International Planned Parenthood Foundation.

Filed Under:

  • Confidentiality
  • Gender Issues
  • Testing
  • Prevention and Sexual Health
  • Transmission
  • Youth
  • Pregnancy and Newborns
  • Human Rights
  • Treatment
  • International
  • Reproductive Health and Rights
  • Women/Women's Advocacy Resource Connection
  • Stigma
  • Sex Work

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International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS Vision Paper #2: Access to Care, Treatment, and Support

2004

HIV-positive women need access not only to appropriate health care and antiretroviral medications, but also to HIV treatment support. This paper discusses the unique barriers women face to Access to Care, Treatment, and Support (ACTS). Issues include the limitations of health centers as points of access, the lack of research on the effects of antiretrovirals that is specific to women, and the stigma and discrimination that keep women from obtaining the care and support they need. The paper argues that HIV-positive women are in the best position to understand these issues, and that they therefore should be involved in attempts to identify and address these barriers. The paper could be useful for HIV-positive women and their advocates, as well as health-care providers, who seek to understand and reduce gender inequalities and obstacles to HIV treatment. Produced by the International Community of Women Living With HIV/AIDS.

Filed Under:

  • Gender Issues
  • Prevention and Sexual Health
  • Public Benefits Access
  • Public Accommodations
  • Transmission
  • Youth
  • Pregnancy and Newborns
  • Human Rights
  • Treatment
  • International
  • Reproductive Health and Rights
  • Women/Women's Advocacy Resource Connection
  • Stigma
  • Sex Work

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International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS Vision Paper #1, HIV Positive Young Women

2004

This policy vision paper outlines the key priorities for women with HIV as identified by a group of young HIV positive women from across Eastern and Southern Africa who met in Durban in April 2004. The meeting was a dialogue organized by the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) in partnership with Youth Against AIDS Network (YAAN) and Gender AIDS Forum (GAF). Three primary priorities are identified: 1) Access to sexual and reproductive rights, 2) Access to screening, treatment, and prevention, and 3) meaningful participation and action of women with HIV in decision-making at the community, national, and regional levels. Within these three priorities, several specific issues and examples are identified, citing experiences of real women with HIV. The vision paper then provides a call to action, identifying specific steps that must be taken to remedy these shortcomings. The paper provides a useful starting-point for HIV-positive women and advocates seeking to identify, address, and mobilize around HIV issues specific to women, or anyone seeking to understand the unique obstacles facing HIV-positive women. While many of the issues are identified by women around the world, the themes of disenfranchisement, marginalization, and stigma are universal. Produced by the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS.

Filed Under:

  • Education/Schools
  • Gender Issues
  • Testing
  • Prevention and Sexual Health
  • Public Benefits Access
  • Public Accommodations
  • Transmission
  • Youth
  • Pregnancy and Newborns
  • Human Rights
  • Treatment
  • International
  • Reproductive Health and Rights
  • Women/Women's Advocacy Resource Connection
  • Stigma

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Charts, Memos and Other Resources

Guttmacher Institute, Minors Access to STD Services: State Polices in Brief.

2007-June-01

The Guttmacher Institute authored this state-by-state reference sheet regarding a minors authority to consent to STD services, HIV testing and treatment and confidentiality protections afforded to the minor. According to the report, all fifty states and the District of Colombia allow, with some minimum age exceptions, minors to consent to testing and treatment for STDs. Thirty-one states explicitly include testing and treatment for HIV and eighteen states allow but do not require physicians to inform parents that their minor child is seeking or receiving STD/HIV services. One state requires parental notification in the case of a positive HIV test. This reference sheet is quick and handy but it does not necessarily contain the legal nuances of this tough legal question. For example, looking at the sheet, one might think that in New Jersey a person must be thirteen years old to consent to an HIV test, but the reality is more complicated. According to the New Jersey statute, N.J.S.A. 9:17A-4, a minor may consent to an HIV test when the minor is or believes that he may be afflicted with a venereal disease, or who is at least 13 years of age and is or believes that he may be infected with the human immunodeficiency virus or have acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or by a minor who, in the judgment of a treating physician, appears to have been sexually assaulted . . . . Thus, the reference sheet is a good starting point, but people who need more specific answers should refer to the individual state statutes themselves.

Filed Under:

  • Testing
  • Youth

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International Commitments and United Nations Documents

Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1577 U.N.T.S. 3

1989-November-20

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (“CRC”) is an international treaty that discusses many of the rights children, some of which are in addition to those also enjoyed by adults. Particularly relevant to HIV/AIDS issues are: the right to life and corresponding obligation of the state to ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child (Article 6); the right to seek, receive, and impart information (Articles 13, 17); the right to education (Article 28); the right to the highest attainable standard of health, including preventative health care, guidance for parents, and family planning education and services (Article 24); rights of disabled children to special care and to conditions that ensure dignity and facilitate active participation in the community (Article 23);the right to a standard of living adequate for physical, mental, spiritual, moral, and social development (Article 27); and the right to be actors in their own development and to express their opinions in all matters affecting the child (Article 12). States are also obligated to respect and ensure the rights in the CRC without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child’s or his or her parent’s disability (Article 2). The best interests of the child must be a primary consideration in all actions concerning children (Article 3). Moreover, states are obligated to ensure that the child as such protection and care as is necessary for his or her well-being, and to ensure that institutions, services, and facilities responsible for the care or protection of the child conform with the standards established by competent authorities, particularly in the area of safety and health (Article 3).

 
As a treaty, the CRC is binding on all parties that ratify it; those who sign but do not ratify it are obligated not to act contrary to the purpose of the convention under Article 18 of the Vienna Convention. State parties must submit periodic reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child detailing their progress on upholding the treaty’s provisions.
 
General Comment No. 3 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, available separately in the Resource Bank, analyzes the obligations of the CRC in the context of HIV/AIDS.
 
The United States has signed, but not ratified, the CRC. 

Filed Under:

  • Education/Schools
  • Family Law Issues
  • Foster Care Facilities and Policies
  • Health Care and Insurance Issues
  • Juvenile Detention
  • Prevention and Sexual Health
  • Youth
  • Pregnancy and Newborns
  • Treatment
  • International
  • Reproductive Health and Rights

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International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, 2006 Consolidated Version, UNHCHR & UNAIDS, HR/PUB/06/9

2006

A revised and consolidated version of the original guidelines published in 1996, the purpose of the Guidelines is “to assist States in creating a positive, rights-based response to HIV that is effective in reducing the transmission and impact of HIV and AIDS and is consistent with human rights and fundamental freedoms.” The Guidelines are a joint project of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNAIDS. The consolidated guidelines include the revised Guideline 6, which reflects the human rights dimensions of access to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support. The document consists of three parts: 1) twelve guidelines for state action; 2) recommendations for dissemination and implementation of the Guidelines; and 3) a description of the human rights principles underlying a positive response to HIV. The primary users are intended to be states, but it is also meant to inform intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, networks of people living with HIV, community-based organizations, networks on ethics, law, human rights, and HIV, and AIDS service organizations. It is also useful for any person looking for interested in a rights-based approach to HIV/AIDS and specific steps needed to implement such an approach.

Filed Under:

  • Criminal Law
  • Confidentiality
  • Education/Schools
  • Employment
  • Family Law Issues
  • Gender Issues
  • Health Care and Insurance Issues
  • Testing
  • Prevention and Sexual Health
  • Prisons and Jails
  • Transmission
  • Youth
  • Human Rights
  • Treatment
  • International
  • Reproductive Health and Rights
  • Women/Women's Advocacy Resource Connection
  • Stigma
  • Sex Work

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Handbook on HIV and Human Rights for National Human Rights Institutions, UNHCHR & UNAIDS, HR/PUB/07/3

2007

 This Handbook is intended to guide a human-rights based response to HIV for national human rights institutions, civil society organizations, networks of people living with HIV, and national AIDS programs. Government institutions and other partners of national institutions may also find it useful. It provides a useful outline of international legal principles that underlie a rights-based approach to HIV/AIDS, as well as specific steps institutions can take to further these principles. Such steps are outlined in the context of: outreach and in-reach for assessing national institutions and their partnerships, workplans, and priorities; integrating HIV into existing activities and programs; education and raising awareness on HIV and human rights; working with national AIDS programs; and achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support. The Handbook is intended to be read alongside the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights. The annex includes the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS.

Filed Under:

  • Prevention and Sexual Health
  • Youth
  • Human Rights
  • International
  • Women/Women's Advocacy Resource Connection
  • Sex Work

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Letters/Other Advocacy Documents

Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 3, HIV/AIDS and the rights of the child, U.N. Doc. CRC/GC/2003/1

2003-January

General Comment No. 3 was issued by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child to promote the realization of the human rights of children in the context of HIV/AIDS as guaranteed under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (“CRC”). General Comment No. 3 identifies and elaborates on several rights of children and corresponding obligations of state parties with regard to HIV/AIDS issues such as discrimination, HIV-prevention information, health services, counseling and testing, mother-to-child transmission, and children affected and orphaned by HIV/AIDS. For example, General Comment No. 3 explains that under Articles 24, 13, and 17 of the CRC, children should have the right to access adequate information related to HIV/AIDS prevention and care through both formal and informal channels. It also states that “accessibility of voluntary, confidential HIV-counseling and testing services, with due attention to the evolving capacities of the child, is fundamental to the rights and health of children.”

 
General Comment No. 3 is especially useful for those seeking to understand how HIV/AIDS impacts children and families and what states’ obligations are to respond; it is best read alongside the CRC, available separately in the Resource Bank.

Filed Under:

  • Education/Schools
  • Juvenile Detention
  • Prevention and Sexual Health
  • Youth
  • Pregnancy and Newborns
  • Human Rights
  • Treatment
  • International
  • Reproductive Health and Rights
  • Stigma

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Training Materials, Slides, Pamphlets

Empowering Young Women to Lead Change: A Training Manual, World YWCA & United Nations Population Fund

2006

This is a guide for young women, or those working with them, to create workshops that develop their leadership skills on the issues that concern them. It offers activities to motivate and enable young women to advocate for change and to mobilize others to do the same. The chapter on HIV/AIDS encourages discussion of  the specific challenges facing women when it comes to HIV prevention, access to treatment and other services, and discrimination. It also provides guidance and activities to help young women become leaders in addressing these problems in their communities. Other chapters encourage them to take on leadership roles in addressing violence against women and promoting human rights, reproductive health, and economic justice.  The manual has been field-tested by young women in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, and Latin America, and its themes are equally applicable in the United States. Produced by World YWCA and supported by the United Nations Population Fund.

 

Filed Under:

  • Gender Issues
  • Prevention and Sexual Health
  • Youth
  • Human Rights
  • Reproductive Health and Rights
  • Women/Women's Advocacy Resource Connection
  • Stigma

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file size: 1254.55 kB
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Capacitación de Mujeres Jóvenes para Liderar el Cambio, El YWCA Mundial & El Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas

2006

Capacitación de Mujeres Jóvenes para Liderar el Cambio es una guía que ha sido diseñado para dar apoyo al desarrollo de las habilidades y destrezas de las mujeres jóvenes, y los que trabajan con ellas, para capacitarlas para que asuman el liderazgo en los temas que les conciernen. Ofrece participar activa y plenamente en la motivación y potenciación de las mujeres jóvenes para afirmarlas en sus habilidades catalizadoras del cambio y así movilizar a otras para que hagan lo mismo. El capitulo sobre VIH/SIDA promueve la discusión de los desafíos que enfrentan a las mujeres jovenes en los ámbitos del aceso de tratamiento y otros servicios, y la discriminación. Es una herramienta flexible para aprender y explorar los derechos humanos y la violencia dirigida contra las mujeres así como temas de imagen corporal, autoestima y desarrollo de cualidades para el liderazgo. Mujeres jóvenes de África, Asia, el Caribe, Europa y América Latina ya han realizado en cinco talleres pruebas de campo con este manual, y sus temas son aplicables igualmente en los E.E.U.U. Producido por el YWCA Mundial, con el apoyo del Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas.

Filed Under:

  • Gender Issues
  • Prevention and Sexual Health
  • Youth
  • Human Rights
  • International
  • Reproductive Health and Rights
  • Women/Women's Advocacy Resource Connection
  • Stigma

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