Human Rights Support Associate

UNAIDS is leading the global effort to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Since the first cases of HIV were reported more than 35 years ago, 78 million people have become infected with HIV and 35 million have died from AIDS-related illnesses. Since it started operations in 1996, UNAIDS has led and inspired global, regional, national and local leadership, innovation and partnership to ultimately consign HIV to history.

UNAIDS is a problem-solver. It places people living with HIV and people affected by the virus at the decision-making table and at the centre of designing, delivering and monitoring the AIDS response. It charts paths for countries and communities to get on the Fast-Track to ending AIDS and is a bold advocate for addressing the legal and policy barriers to the AIDS response.

UNAIDS provides the strategic direction, advocacy, coordination and technical support needed to catalyse and connect leadership from governments, the private sector and communities to deliver life-saving HIV services. Without UNAIDS, there would be no strategic vision for the AIDS response.

UNAIDS generates strategic information and analysis that increases the understanding of the state of the AIDS epidemic and progress made at the local, national, regional and global levels. It leads the world’s most extensive data collection on HIV epidemiology, programme coverage and finance and publishes the most authoritative and up-to-date information on the HIV epidemic—vital for an effective AIDS response. UNAIDS produces data for impact—no major report, speech or policy initiative on HIV has been launched or made without referring to data collected and released by UNAIDS.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has long supported the CSO and community-based organizations (CBO) and networks that are engaged in advocating for an enabling environment in India, where people living with HIV and members of the key populations (KP) at risk can access HIV prevention, testing, treatment and continuum of care services. There has been progress on many fronts however more work still needs to be done.

India passed the HIV Bill in the Parliament in 2017 which as soon as enacted provided a range of anti-discrimination and supportive policies and laws required to protect and ensure services for people living with HIV and KPs. The HIV Bill addresses many issues, however implementation and operationalization of the HIV Bill is not uniform across the country.

On 6th September 2018, the Hon. Supreme Court of India read down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, decriminalising ‘unnatural sex’ between consenting adults, leading to celebrations across the country.

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha on July 19, 2019 by the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment. The Bill defines a transgender person as one whose gender does not match the gender assigned at birth. It includes trans-men and trans-women, persons with intersex variations, gender-queers, and persons with socio-cultural identities, such as kinnar and hijra. Intersex variations is defined to mean a person who at birth shows variation in his or her primary sexual characteristics, external genitalia, chromosomes, or hormones from the normative standard of male or female body.

The laws related to sex work and people who inject drugs are still a barrier from to access or enhance coverage of HIV prevention, testing, treatment and continuum of care services – even when the latter are available through the national and state AIDS programs.

It should be noted that enabling and legislative changes involve an ongoing process whereas results are only achieved over a period of months to years depending on the legal and political procedures in place in India.

The UN Volunteer under the overall supervision of the UNAIDS Country Director (UCD) and in coordination with the UCO team, and guidance of the Adviser Policy and Strategy will deliver the expected results in keeping with the overall country-specific and global UNAIDS goals, principles and priorities.

The UN Volunteer under the overall supervision of the UNAIDS Country Director (UCD) and in coordination with the UCO team, and guidance of the Adviser Policy and Strategy will deliver the expected results in keeping with the overall country-specific and global UNAIDS goals, principles and priorities.
• Support documentation of the process of implementation of HIV Bill, and the Transgender Bill.
• Support the documentation of the impact on the community after the repeal of Section 377 and specific state examples.
• Support compilation and documentation 3 case studies on successful implementation of the HIV Bill, Transgender Bill and repeal of section 377, including the challenges faced.
• Prepare presentations/documentation and information sharing and overall project report covering the above issues for civil society and community interactions led by the UCO.
• Any other areas as identified by the UCD to respond to policy and legislative priorities and needs.