Page 45 - Human Rights

Faculty of Nursing
Adult care Nursing Department

UN and NGO publications have reflected a concern for human rights, and protecting basic rights

is widely seen as an essential component of an effective global HIV response.

Amnesty International believes that human rights violations fuel the HIV/AIDS pandemic, abuses

result from the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, and government responses to HIV can
themselves violate human rights.

Amnesty International regards respect for human rights as central to successfully addressing the

HIV pandemic and has outlined a program of action needed to strengthen a rights-based approach

to tackling HIV/AIDS.

Health professionals are not immune from prejudice and people seeking care for HIV related

problems are known to have experienced stigma and discrimination.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) noted in 2003 that “there has been a reduction in
the extent of HIV/AIDS-related discrimination in some countries” but that some forms of stigma

that preceded the epidemic – such as homophobia – remain strong.

Libya: Bulgarian nurses accused of infecting patients with HIV are sentenced to death

Five Bulgarian nurses, and a Palestinian doctor, were sentenced to death by firing squad by a
Libyan court in May 2004, convicted of deliberately infecting 426 children with HIV in the al-Fateh

Children’s Hospital, Benghazi.

A sixth Bulgarian defendant was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and nine Libyan

defendants were acquitted.

Health professionals around the world protested at the convictions and sentences including the
ICN which “condemned in the strongest possible terms” the imposition of the death sentence on

the health personnel.

42 Academic Year 2025/2026