WHEREAS, the governmental and private responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and to persons living with HIV/AIDS have often been based upon a lack of information and misinformation, and have often been grounded in unwarranted fear and prejudice;

WHEREAS, the magnitude and dimensions of the HIV/AIDS pandemic have strained economic and human resources, and have caused great suffering and frustration in persons with HIV/AIDS, their loved ones, and their caregivers;

WHEREAS, the central theme of the 1995 World AIDS Day ("Shared rights, Shared responsibilities") is of fundamental importance in dealing effectively with the HIV/AIDS pandemic;

WHEREAS, the Jerusalem AIDS Project (JAIP) continues to lead and support efforts to prevent HIV infection, and to advance the HIV/AIDS biomedical and scientific agendas; and

WHEREAS, the Jerusalem AIDS Project continues to advocate for the human rights of all people, including persons living with HIV infection, and persons perceived to have HIV/AIDS;

THAT, persons everywhere have the right to fully accurate, group sensitive, and culturally appropriate HIV/AIDS education and prevention services;

THAT, persons everywhere have the right to anonymous and confidential HIV antibody testing, accompanied by thorough and compassionate counseling services;

THAT, persons living with HIV infection everywhere have the right to confidential handling of information about their HIV/AIDS status;

THAT, persons with HIV/AIDS and persons perceived to have HIV/AIDS everywhere have the right to fair treatment and balanced reporting by the media and to observance of the right of privacy;

THAT, persons with HIV/AIDS everywhere have the right to reasonable accommodation in employment, in the provision of public services, and in accessing public facilities;

THAT, persons living with HIV infection everywhere have the right to human dignity and to conduct their daily lives without unfounded limitations imposed solely on the basis of their HIV/AIDS conditions;

THAT, persons with HIV/AIDS and persons perceived to have HIV/AIDS everywhere have the right to freedom from segregation, isolation or quarantion in schools, hospitals, prisons, places of employment, and elsewhere solely on the basis of infection or perceived infection with HIV;

THAT, persons living with HIV infection everywhere have the right to travel internationally without restrictions based solely on their HIV/AIDS conditions;

THAT, persons living with HIV infection everywhere have the right to competent, compassionate, quality health care and social services; and

THAT, HIV/AIDS education, prevention, testing and counseling, health care and social service providers everywhere must take into account the diversity of populations affected by the HIV/AIDS global pandemic by providing consumer driven, group sensi tive and culturally competent services;

THAT, as a corollary to these enumerated rights persons with HIV/AIDS everywhere possess the duty to respect the autonomy and health of other people and to take measures to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS to others;

THEREFORE, these rights enumerated above must be accorded full recognition and afforded full exercise by governments, institutions, organizations, and people everywhere;

THEREFORE, strategies for containing the pandemic and caring for those with HIV/AIDS must regularly be re-evaluated n order to avoid wasteful duplication of efforts and programs, and to promote skills development (such as community organization and decision making);

THEREFORE, empowerment must be granted to communities and persons with HIV/AIDS in both the planning of HIV/AIDS programs and the intervention for dealing with HIV/AIDS;

THEREFORE, a genuine sense of hope for persons with HIV/AIDS, for their loved ones, and for their caregivers must be encouraged in light of the substantial advances in knowledge and understanding about HIV/AIDS, in scientific and medical technologi es for addressing HIV/AIDS, and in legal and policy developments for coping with HIV/AIDS and its consequences; and

THEREFORE, the participants in the Ninth International Conference on AIDS Education and the 1995 World AIDS Day Celebrations and the undersigned urge international organizations and all national provincial, state and local governments and all non- governmental organizations to work in partnership with people and communities to fully achieve these goals and thereby effect the social changes necessary to end the HIV/AIDS global pandemic at the earliest possible time.

Ehud Olmert, MK Mayor of Jerusalem

Inon Schenker, M.P.H. Executive Director, JAIP