About Us
Overview
Now More Than Ever represents the hope of AIDS activists everywhere to place human rights at the center of the global AIDS response.
Our campaign presents 10 simple reasons why protecting human rights is essential to public health, particularly for a disease such as HIV that affects the most marginalized in society, including:
- Women and girls;
- Children
- People who use drugs
- Sex workers
- Men who have sex with men (MSM);
- Transgender persons;
- Prisoners;
- People needing palliative care; and
- People whose voices are rarely heard in the debate over how to allocate resources for health.
History
At the United Nations High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS in 2006, world leaders reaffirmed that “the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all is an essential element in the global response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.”
The Human Rights and HIV/AIDS: Now More Than Ever joint statement was drafted for the XVI International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2006) by 25 leading HIV/AIDS and human rights organizations, under the leadership of the Open Society Foundations.
It has since been endorsed by hundreds of HIV/AIDS and human rights organizations worldwide, and supported by:
- The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR);
- The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); and
- The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
The Now More Than Ever joint statement has been translated into nearly a dozen languages, including French, German, Russian and Spanish.
In 2008, it received a gold award in the Council on Foundations’ Wilmer Shields Rich Awards Program for Excellence in Communications.
Activities at International AIDS Conferences
Since AIDS 2006, the Now More Than Ever campaign has undertaken a large number of activities at each successive International AIDS Conference:
- AIDS 2006 (Toronto): The joint statement is first published.
- AIDS 2008 (Mexico City): The first-ever Human Rights Networking Zone is set-up in the Global Village, and the first-ever march and rally for human rights at an International AIDS Conference is held.
- AIDS 2010 (Vienna): The march and rally for human rights attracts tens of thousands of participants and culminates in a concert featuring celebrated recording artist and UNAIDS goodwill ambassador Annie Lennox.
- AIDS 2012 (Washington, D.C.): Visit us in the Human Rights / Social, Economic and Prevention Justice Zone, where we have a full slate of programming throughout the entire conference. Click here to find out more.
