A/HRC/10/47 page 17 also called for greater attention to be paid by the Human Rights Council and the special procedures to the situation of coerced and forced sterilization of HIV-positive women, the impact of criminalization of HIV transmission, exposure of marginalized groups and the risk of selective prosecution. 44. The International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) raised concerns related to forced and coerced sterilization of HIV-positive women without consent and the fact that sterilization is often a prerequisite for women to access other services, including prenatal care. The growing trend to criminalize the transmission of HIV was also highlighted, drawing attention to the adverse effect that such laws may have on women as they are more likely to be tested for HIV through routine testing for antenatal care or as part of gynaecological procedures and the fact that criminalization incorrectly places the blame for HIV on people living with HIV, impedes the desire to get tested, and increases stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV. Provisions on the criminalization of HIV transmission are often overly broad and could therefore potentially include criminal penalties for mother-to-child transmission, or the selective prosecution of women who are sex workers and injecting drug users. 45. ICW also highlighted the fact that HIV-positive women are often denied reproductive rights, including the freedom to decide whether to bear children, the number of children and the spacing of children. They are also provided with insufficient information about reducing mother-to-child transmission and often lack access to treatment. In light of the above, a number of proposals were made with regard to the human rights of HIV-positive women as follows: decrease stigma and discrimination against HIV-positive women at health-care facilities; involve HIV-positive women in all planning, programming and decision-making initiatives that impact their lives; create accessible, available, high-quality and acceptable services for HIV-positive women; examine the situation of forced sterilization of HIV-positive women; end the criminalization of HIV transmission; develop legal protection for people living with HIV including protection from discrimination; develop mechanisms for redress when the human rights of HIV-positive people are violated; abolish laws that discriminate against women and girls; and abolish laws that criminalize behaviours which further stigmatize and marginalize groups of women, including laws which criminalize drug use and sexual orientation. 46. The International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA) indicated that although an estimated 15.9 million people inject drugs in 158 countries and territories, the global state of harm reduction is poor, especially in countries where such services are needed most. Detailed information was provided on human rights abuses against people who use drugs, and which impede HIV prevention, treatment and care efforts, which include denial of harm reduction services, discrimination in accessing antiretroviral therapy, abusive law enforcement practices, disproportionate criminal penalties, and coercive and abusive drug dependence treatment. The submission also drew attention to the fact that drug control entities rarely discuss human rights and the human rights bodies and mechanisms, in turn, rarely focus on drug policy. IHRA was concerned that this has resulted in an international system and policy environment where significant human rights violations, many impeding HIV-prevention efforts, fall between these two separate regimes, unaddressed and largely ignored. A number of recommendations were, therefore, made to the human rights entities within the United Nations system to address these systemic gaps.