Handouts & Guides
The Compendium of key documents relating to human rights and HIV in Eastern and Southern Africa is a collection, in five parts, of global, regional, subregional and national human rights instruments, policies, legislation and case law that are relevant to HIV and AIDS. In most instances, only excerpts pertinent to HIV and AIDS are provided. When applicable, reference is made to a source where the full text may be accessed.
Part A: The global documents include UN conventions, declarations, concluding observations and other relevant documents as well as instruments adopted by the World Trade Organisation.
Part B: The regional documents include those adopted within various organs and institutions of the African Union including concluding observations and resolutions from the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, and relevant documents form the New Partnership for Africa's Development
(NEPAD) and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). Abstracts of country review reports of the APRM are also provided.
Part C: The Compendium also contains HIV-related documents adopted at the sub-regional level. The sub-regional documents provided in this Compendium emanate from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Part D: Full text versions and pertinent excerpts of national constitutions, legislation, policies and case law from Eastern and Southern African countries are included in the Compen-dium. Part E: For purposes of comparison and experience sharing, the Compendium also contains relevant documents (legislation, case law and policies) from other regions. These regions include other parts of Africa.
In spite of their efforts to provide a comprehensive overview of HIV-related legislation, policies and case law from Eastern and Southern African countries, the compilers and editors of the Compendium acknowledge the difficulties inherent in such an endeavor. Paramount among these difficulties is the lack of
accessibility of some relevant documents. This Compendium therefore does not cover all documents related to HIV and all interested institutions and individuals as a reference book that provides a comparative overview of the legal policy frameworks on HIV in Eastern and Southern African countries.
Efforts have been made to ensure accuracy in the translation of legislation and policies of francophone and lusophone countries. It should be noted that these translations remain unofficial. In addition, some of the original texts and case law in this Compendium have been edited for consistency. Footnotes have also been omitted from excerpted case law. However, the editing and omissions do not alter the substance of the reprinted documents.
Dates provided after treaties (such as '1958/1960') indicate the date of the treaty's adoption (first date '1958') and subsequent entry into force (second date '1960').
The Compendium is one of a series of tools developed by the AIDS and Human Rights Research Unit for the UNDP's HIV and AIDS Team at the Regional Service Centre in Johannesburg. These tools are aimed to reinforce the response to HIV of countries in Eastern and Southern Africa.
The other tools are: Guide to an effective human rights response to the HIV epidemic, Checklist of human rights obligations to effectively address HIV and AIDS in Eastern and Southern Africa, powerpoint cum Flip Chart presentation, and CD-Rom of key documents relating to human rights and HIV in Eastern
and Southern Africa. The complete version of the tools may be accessed on the following websites: http://www.chr.up.ac.za/undp and http://www/undp.org/hiv/pa_africa.htm
As far as possible, the documents and information in this Compendium reflect the position as at 31 December 2007.
To read the full document, please click here
Also see:
Guide to an Effective Human Rights Response to the HIV Epidemic
Checklist of Human Rights Obligations to effectively address HIV and AIDS in Eastern and Southern Africa