A/HRC/41/27 for steps to address stigma and discrimination in health settings, make information on HIV available to all, recognize and promote the right to health, invest in the training of healthcare workers, and work with communities to raise awareness of HIV prevention. Ms. Assouma also called for an end to traditional practices. 37. Ms. Kismodi stressed that a human rights-based approach to the response to HIV should be recognized in all constitutions. All States had an obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the right to health for all. HIV was an epidemic that thrived in a context of violations of human rights. Strengthening the response to HIV would therefore require addressing structural factors. Sexual education was an important element of the right to health, and the goal of ending HIV could not be achieved without fulfilling it. Ms. Kismodi called upon States to stop obstructing a comprehensive health agenda that included the promotion of sexual and reproductive health and rights. She also called for non-discrimination and decriminalization actions across the world, for consent laws to be revised with immediate effect, and for the abolition of laws or policies on mandatory HIV testing, starting with a moratorium on their enforcement and a short time frame for their repeal. 38. Ruth Morgan Thomas stressed that the impact of HIV on adult sex workers was clear, as they were 13 times more at risk of HIV infection and had clearly been left behind. She described the sex worker community as a diverse and often neglected one, which had and continued to suffer significantly from the HIV epidemic. Sex workers had been particularly affected by criminal law. Sex workers were the most vulnerable to sexuallybased violence. They were dehumanized and denied the right to effectively fight for their rights in countries that criminalized any aspect of sex work. Discriminatory laws denied sex workers their rights to have equal access to health, to migrate and to have access to employment in the labour market. Sex workers were also treated differently and stigmatized every day, including in the response to HIV. Ms. Thomas called upon States to decriminalize sex work, and to end the impunity of perpetrators of abuse and violence, including State actors, such as the police. The decriminalization of sex work would lower the rate of new HIV infections among sex workers and their clients by between 33 and 46 per cent over the next 10 years. Following the conclusions of the Lancet in 2014 with regard to sex work, she also called for sex work to be recognized as work. Ms. Thomas concluded that sex workers were not expendable and that they should be able to organize themselves. 39. During the interactive dialogue, statements were made by representatives of the Gambia, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Netherlands, Colombia, Switzerland, the Dominican Republic, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), UNDP, the International Commission of Jurists, Choice for Youth and Sexuality, INPUD, the Global Network of People Living with HIV and RedLacTrans. 40. The representative of the Gambia called for further advocacy efforts to eliminate stigma and discrimination. The representative of India noted with concern the discrimination against persons living with HIV, and called for laws that ensured respect for and protection of the human rights of all persons living with or affected by HIV. The representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran emphasized the need to address the issue of HIV/AIDS from a health perspective, and through cooperation and financial support, which would be more helpful than forcing human rights obligations on States. The representative also asked how the universality of the right to health could be reconciled with the fact that the mandate of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity did not enjoy universal support within the Human Rights Council. The representative of the Netherlands called for an end to stigma and discrimination against key populations, and stressed that the science to prevent new infections existed, even though political will was still required to deliver on a more just and inclusive response to HIV. The representative of Colombia referred to the national law of 1997 that prohibited discrimination against persons living with HIV, and highlighted the fact that women and children were particularly affected by HIV. The representative of Switzerland stressed that leaving no one behind was at the core of the 2030 Agenda, and that the UNAIDS strategy for 2016–2021 and the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS had affirmed the importance of human rights in the response to HIV. The representative 11