The International AIDS Society (IAS) hosted the Heart of Stigma Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, from 4 to 6 February 2025. The event brought together 60 representatives of communities, organizations and experts from around the world to discuss ways to overcome HIV-related stigma and discrimination.
The forum became an important platform for experience exchange, strategic planning and the development of joint solutions aimed at protecting the rights of people living with HIV and key populations. The main goals set by the forum participants included:
- analyzing existing problems and successful practices in combating stigma;
- discussing resources and opportunities to support work at the national level;
- developing international cooperation;
- collecting information for the development of the UNAIDS Global AIDS Strategy.
On LGBT rights in the EECA region
At the forum, Executive Director of ECOM Vitaly Djuma presented the situation regarding the rights of LGBT people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA). As in the rest of the world, in the EECA region, LGBT people face targeted attacks from conservative forces, which leads to increased stigma and discrimination.
Vitaly shared with the participants ECOM’s experience in protecting the rights of LGBT communities, which includes:
- monitoring human rights violations,
- legal training for community activists,
- providing legal assistance to victims,
- strategic litigation,
- submitting reports to the UN and other international bodies,
- emergency evacuation of activists under threat.
Collective statement of the participants
The forum participants stressed the importance of international solidarity in the fight for human rights and access to vital medical and social services. In their collective statement, they noted:
“We recognize the deep anxiety and pain at this moment of crisis, as the future of life-saving medicines, services and HIV programs, including harm reduction, care and community-level support, is under threat. Many of us wonder whether we will maintain access to prevention and treatment, whether our organizations will survive and whether the progress we have worked so hard to achieve will be reversed. We see you. We hear you. We will not turn away. Our collective survival depends on it.”
ECOM continues its work aimed at protecting the rights of LGBT people and people living with HIV in the EECA region, as well as combating stigma and discrimination at all levels.
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