[women-rights] South Asia Court of Women on the Violence of Trafficking and HIV/AIDS

UNITED NATIONS
PRESS RELEASE
Geneva, 13 August 2003

South Asia Court of Women on the
Violence of Trafficking and HIV/AIDS Dhaka, Bangladesh, August 11-13, 2003

The following statement was issued today by Bertrand Ramcharan, Acting High 
Commissioner for Human Rights:


The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) 
salutes the Asian Women's Human Rights Council (AWHRC) and the United 
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for organizing the South Asia Court of 
Women on the Violence of Trafficking and HIV/AIDS.

The issues before the gathering are two of the gravest human rights 
challenges facing the international community today. They affect women and 
girls disproportionately, leading to the denial of their rights to liberty 
and security, the right to freedom from torture, violence, cruelty of 
degrading treatment, the right to freedom of movement, the right to home 
and family, the right to health and education – everything that makes for a 
life of dignity. And yet, despite the undeniable human rights dimensions of 
trafficking and HIV/AIDS, these problems are too often addressed 
exclusively as "law and order" or moral problems. Victims of trafficking 
and people living with HIV/AIDS are stigmatized and criminalized as illegal 
aliens, undocumented migrants, vectors of disease and socially undesirable.

Protection and promotion of the rights of women affected by trafficking and 
HIV/AIDS is a critical responsibility of all States and civil society 
organizations. In the recent past, several important standards have been 
set to address these problems. The Convention Against Transnational 
Organized Crime, which will come into force in September this year, and the 
two Protocols Supplementing it (on trafficking and migrant smuggling) are 
viewed as key instruments to protect the rights of trafficked women and 
girls. OHCHR has also issued the Recommended Principles and Guidelines on 
Human Rights and Human Trafficking as well as the International Guidelines 
on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights. The South Asian states need to be commended 
for taking the lead in formulating the first regional instrument, the SAARC 
Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children 
for Prostitution, to address this serious problem.

The critical challenge before human rights practitioners today is to 
implement and enforce the standards that have been set such that the human 
rights of those affected by trafficking and HIV/AIDS remain at the centre 
of all initiatives, policies and programmes. The Office of the High 
Commissioner for Human Rights extends respect, support and solidarity to 
all the women who have shown immense courage to come forward and present 
their testimonies at this South Asia Court.

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