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United Kingdom: House of Lords debates held on the impact of discriminatory laws on HIV responses in developing countries & the Commonwealth (December 2012 & March 2013), following the UK Launch of the Commission Report

Published on Wednesday, 13 March 2013 14:38
On 6 December 2012, UNDP in partnership with the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and the United Kingdom All Party Parliamentary Group on AIDS  launched  the Report of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, ‘HIV and the Law: Risks, Rights & Health’,  at the House of Commons in London.

A panel discussion entitled ‘Law & Human Rights in the Post-2015 Development Agenda: Lessons from HIV’ was held on 7 December 2012. The panel discussion brought together 70 participants from government, civil society and academia for a morning of vibrant dialogue.

Speakers at the panel discussion included Dr. Mandeep Dhaliwal, Director a.i HIV, Health and Development Practice, UNDP, Dr. Shereen El Feki, Vice-Chair of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, Hon. Michael Kirby, Commissioner of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law and Dr. Alvaro Bermejo, Executive Director of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance.

The Report of the Commission was repeatedly cited during a parliamentary debate on HIV in developing countries in the UK Parliament on 19 December 2012.

Member of Parliament, Pauline Latham, began the debate by quoting Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former President of Brazil and Chair of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, “The end of the global AIDS epidemic is within our reach” and stressed the need to address punitive and discriminatory laws and to promote laws which place human rights at the front and centre of the AIDS response. On 13 March 2013, a debate was held in the UK House of Lords to assess the impact of discrimination against gay men and women in Commonwealth countries on global efforts to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS.

In a rich and insightful l debate, Members of the house of Lords across the political spectrumreferred several times to the findings and recommendations of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law’s report, and expressed their unequivocal support for reform across the Commonwealth to decriminalize homosexuality and protect Commonwealth citizens from discrimination on the grounds of their sexual orientation and identity.  As mentioned by Lord Black of Brentwood, “The UN Development Programme’s Global Commission on HIV concluded that criminalization of homosexuality “both causes and boosts” the rate of HIV among men who have sex with men, or MSM. Evidence is incontrovertible.”   For additional information, please visit: