Global Action Plan

In 1988, Rights and Humanity was commissioned by the World Health Organization’s Global Programme on AIDS (GPA) to develop an action plan for combating discrimination and to assist in articulating the public health and human rights rationale for avoiding discrimination.


Our report entitled “Combating Discrimination Against People with HIV Infection or AIDS” advocated the need to protect human rights and dignity at every level of the public health and social response to HIV/AIDS. This was to become a key strategy of the WHO/Global Programme on AIDS and of global AIDS policies.

Multi-Sectoral Approach
For too long the AIDS pandemic had been seen solely as a medical problem. Rights and Humanity focused on the need for an holistic response to HIV/AIDS, highlighting the social consequences of the pandemic, and the need for a multi-sectoral response.

We argued that many ministries needed to be involved in – for example, education, justice, defence, tourism and trade as well as health – to tackle the various dimensions of the pandemic, including discrimination. This recommendation was taken up by the World Health Organization (WHO) in prompting establishment of multi-sectoral National AIDS Commissions.

Involving Other UN Agencies
Rights and Humanity also recommended that other UN agencies should be involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS. WHO commissioned Rights and Humanity to meet with a number of UN agencies in order to help them understand how each could play a role in preventing HIV transmission and protecting human rights within their specific mandates.

As a result, a number of agencies introduced AIDS and human rights programmes:

  • UNESCO prompted education in AIDS and non-discrimination
  • the UN office in Vienna added a concern for AIDS prevention into its drug programme, together with a focus on non-discrimination
  • the International Labour Organisation (ILO) took up the issue of the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS in the context of the workplace.


In 1996, a number of UN agencies came together to form UNAIDS, which took over from WHO/GPA to spearhead global AIDS policy and practice.

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