(iii) Purpose of this Handbook

The objective of this Handbook is to assist legislators to take action and make decisions on HIV-related law and policy reform, by providing information on the critical role of human rights in the overall response to the epidemic. Detailed and practical guidance on HIV-related law and policy reform is provided. The Handbook gives practical exam-ples of implementation of the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights from around the world. There has been a tendency on the part of some govern-ments to make simple or ad hoc legislative reform without community consultation or proper consideration of human rights issues. Although the focus of the Handbook is on legal issues, other complementary methods of administrative implementation of human rights norms are encouraged, such as policy development and intergovernmental cooperation. Legal guarantees of rights may not be appropriate where rights cannot easily be tested in a court of law. Legislation would not be an effective means of prac-tical implementation of human rights in some circumstances and countries, because of the lack of social or economic structures and resources that are a precondition to their fulfilment. Law is only one of a range of tools, including education, whereby social change conducive to containing the epidemic can be fostered.

Laws that prohibit private consensual behaviour that may transmit HIV can hasten the spread of the epidemic by acting as impediments to education, prevention and care programmes. The WHO Directory of Legal Instruments Dealing with HIV/AIDS⁶ contains many examples of such laws enacted hastily by politicians keen to be seen to be taking tough action against AIDS. This Handbook is intended to help legislators and other policy-makers develop laws that are consistent with public health and human rights principles. It does not provide model laws at this time owing to the wide vari-ety of legal systems in different countries. Diverse and innovative responses to the epidemic are encouraged where they comply with international human rights norms. The Handbook identifies best practice⁷ examples from this rich resource of varying economic, social, and cultural values, traditions and practices around the world. Mainly positive case studies are described and analysed to show how compliance can be achieved. Occasionally, negative examples are used to show why and how some ineffective measures did not work, and what stimulated change or their abandonment.