The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and IOM are
today signing a new cooperation agreement to overcome HIV-related
challenges faced by many migrants.

The agreement seeks to integrate human rights and the needs of
migrants and mobile populations into national and regional HIV
responses and ensure universal access to HIV prevention, treatment,
care and support.

"Healthy migrants contribute significantly to achieving healthy
economies," said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of
UNAIDS. "States and other actors in the AIDS response have a
fundamental duty to ensure the safety and well-being of migrants
– this must include access to HIV services."

Under the new agreement, IOM and UNAIDS will also focus on
enhancing social protection for migrants affected by HIV; stopping
violence against migrant women and girls and removing punitive
laws, policies, practices, stigma and discrimination related to HIV
and population mobility that block effective responses to AIDS.

"Government and civil society are becoming increasingly
concerned about the potential vulnerability of migrants to HIV
infection. By strengthening our partnership and pooling our
respective expertise on HIV and migrants, our two organizations can
address this critical issue more effectively," said IOM Director
General William Lacy Swing.

In addition, UNAIDS and IOM will work on strengthening technical
support to help governments, regional institutions and civil
society reduce vulnerability to HIV among mobile and migrant
populations. The two organizations will also continue cooperation
on research to deepen the understanding of HIV and population
mobility.

IOM and UNAIDS have a long-standing partnership, formalized in a
1999 Cooperation Framework which was updated in 2002. This is now
replaced by today's agreement. IOM's HIV and population mobility
programme not only complements the work of UNAIDS globally, but the
Organization is also part of the UN Joint Team on HIV/AIDS at the
country level.

UNAIDS is committed to improving access to HIV services for
migrants and has included mobility in its Strategy 2011-2015 which
states that HIV responses must create space to involve marginalized
and disempowered people, such as migrants.

HIV projects are a significant part of IOM's work, comprising
the second largest area of migrant health projects implemented
after health assessments. They are part of IOM's broader efforts to
ensure migrant access to health services regardless of migration
status, throughout the migration process.

UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, is an
innovative United Nations partnership that leads and inspires the
world in achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment,
care and support. Learn more at "paragraph-link-no-underline" href="http://www.unaids.org" target=
"_blank" title="">www.unaids.org.

For further information, please contact:

Rosilyne Borland

IOM

Tel: +41 22 717 92 34

E-mail: "mailto:rborland@iom.int">rborland@iom.int 

or

Sophie Barton-Knott

UNAIDS

Tel: +41 79 217 3369

E-mail: "mailto:barton-knott@unaids.org">barton-knott@unaids.org