A UN-sponsored conference on HIV/AIDS being held in Auckland will today present draft reviews of current legislation dealing with the disease in 15 Pacific countries.
Attorney generals, heath ministers and government officials from Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Nauru, Niue, Tokelau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Kiribati, Fiji, Tonga, Tuvalu and Cook Islands are attending the three-day meeting.
The human rights specialist with the UNDP Pacific Centre, Suki Beavers, says the conference is advocating a human rights approach to tackling HIV.
She says the Regional High Level Consultation on HIV and the Law will today look at human-rights based drafts for legislative reform:
"Looking at all laws that have anything to do with HIV from a human rights perspective. And more importantly, we have prepared legislative drafting instructions for Pacific island countries to use and adapt for their national context to carry out law reform related to HIV."
