The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network’s 2016 are pleased to announce the release of their 2015–2016 Annual Report. Titled Turning Point, the document provides a glimpse into some of their accomplishments over the past year, names the many people and organizations that helped along the way, and looks forward to the work ahead.
Turning Point acknowledges that the HIV response is at a pivotal moment, both in Canada and around the world. The international community’s goals to eliminate AIDS as a public health threat (by 2030) can only be achieved if we meet a range of short-term HIV prevention and treatment targets and dramatically scale up efforts to protect and fulfil human rights, particularly of the “key populations” most affected by the epidemic. Meanwhile, here in Canada, after years of ill-informed federal policy-making, we are witnessing a new openness to policies based on scientific evidence and principles of human rights, and a serious consideration of the approaches we have been advocating since our inception.
The Legal Network, too, is at a turning point — on the brink of their 25th year and in the process of drafting a new strategic plan. Through their four strategic modes of working — research and analysis, litigation and other advocacy, public education, and community mobilization — applied across domestic and international spheres, our interlocking efforts are building towards an exciting new momentum while producing tangible, everyday benefits in the lives of people living with and affected by HIV.
Read Turning Point and our previous Annual Reports at www.aidslaw.ca/annualreport.