Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-07-07-Speech-3-490"
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"en.20100707.32.3-490"2
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"Madam President, honourable Members, I welcome the opportunity to participate in this session on human rights and HIV/AIDS. It is a timely debate, as we are only 11 days from the opening of the 18th World AIDS Conference, which will take place in Vienna.
The spread of HIV continues to cause considerable suffering. The impact of HIV is worse in situations where human rights are not respected, and we know that conflict situations can lead to an increase in HIV infections, especially when sexual abuse against women and children is common. In the absence of proper anti-discrimination laws, people living with HIV are often too frightened to come forward for help because of fear of stigma.
In countries where homosexuality is criminalised, some face the additional fear of imprisonment and, in extreme cases, even the death penalty. Human rights should empower individuals, including people affected with HIV. The right of everyone to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health implies that those who are affected by HIV must have access to information as well as to effective prevention and treatment options. Affected people should not be discriminated against because of that status.
Honourable Members, we know that HIV infection is used in some countries as a reason to exclude asylum seekers from their right to seek protection. Infected persons may lose their right to work; infected children are sometimes excluded from school. The European Union has been at the forefront of the defence of the rights of HIV-affected and infected people. The European Council adopted conclusions in November 2009, with an EU programme for action to confront HIV/AIDS through external action, including the need to address the human rights aspect.
The European Union has been very active in promoting freedom of travel for people living with HIV. Our stance is that HIV-specific restrictions on entry, stay and residence based on that status are discriminatory and do not protect public health. We therefore welcome the recent modifications of the regulations in the US and in China as positive signs. In the last months, EU representatives, both in Brussels and in partner countries, have made several démarches on this issue, including voicing EU concerns about the criminalisation of sexual behaviour among consenting adults – Uganda, Burundi, Malawi – or harassment of AIDS activists by police and judicial authorities in Senegal.
The recent adoption of an EU tool kit to help promote and protect the respect of human rights by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people will further consolidate EU action in this area."@en1
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