65 Organizations Endorse Letter to President Obama on HIV and Human Rights (2012)

On Friday, a group of 65 organizations from around the country sent a letter to President Obama to declare that human rights be included in all HIV interventions, including access to integrated health, social, and support services and policies to end HIV-based discrimination. The letter urges the President to use the occasion of the 2012 International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) to demonstrate the administration's commitment to human rights by underscoring HIV discrimination as a fundamental human rights issue.

Its call against HIV-related stigma rightly prioritizes the administration's need to take concrete action against HIV criminalization and to reaffirm the sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls. To this end, the letter encourages President Obama to deliver a speech at AIDS 2012 that commits to the promises set out in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy to attack HIV-related stigma and discrimination, particularly as they fuel racial disparities in access to care. The 2012 International AIDS Conference will take place in Washington, D.C. in July and is being held in the United States for the first time in over twenty years.

To read the letter, click here.