A/HRC/4/110 page 16 (a) It is important to understand the intersection of HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence. Gender-based violence is rooted in gender inequality and has a lethal dynamic by itself and in combination with HIV/AIDS; (b) Differences in race, ethnicity, language, sexuality, age, and many other social factors have a significant and differential impact on the effect of both gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS on the lives of women and girls in various communities; (c) There is a need to recognize a number of the key obstacles and challenges to comprehensively addressing the intersection of gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS, and the barrier this presents to effective prevention, services and advocacy; (d) There is a need to emphasize the importance of a comprehensive gender and human rights-sensitive response to both HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence. The contribution provides some of the key elements of such an approach. The potentially heightened risk of violence against women and girls engendered by strategies such as “provider initiated” testing practices that are not fully gender-sensitive and human rights-based underscores the urgency of globalizing such a comprehensive approach; (e) A number of promising practices exist in several countries in addressing HIV and gender-based violence. 43. Among the proposals made by the Center were that the Human Rights Council, in its universal periodic reviews of the human rights records of Member States, should: (a) Ascertain whether Governments have eliminated discriminatory laws and policies that restrict women’s rights and the rights of people affected by HIV/AIDS and passed and implemented laws promoting the human rights of all; (b) Track whether Governments have passed and implemented laws and policies that promote and protect the human rights of women, HIV-positive people in general and women specifically, those affected by HIV/AIDS, and activists; (c) Pay particular attention to Governments’ efforts to address and reduce stigma and discrimination against survivors of gender-based violence and people living with HIV. 44. The contribution of Plan International centred on the rights of children in the face of the epidemic, and focused on the child’s right to express views and be heard, as provided for in article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The organization stressed that, while preventing HIV infection is in everybody’s interest, children will ultimately be those most affected by the epidemic in their communities. Furthermore, their attitudes and behaviour in relation to sex, gender, and drugs will shape the future of these local epidemics. Children are therefore the key actors and primary interest group for HIV prevention, just as people living with HIV are the key actors and primary interest group for HIV treatment and care. Attention is drawn to paragraph 117 of the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, which state that “the rights of children to be actors in their own development and to express opinions and have them taken into account in making decisions about their lives should empower children to be involved in the design and implementation of HIV-related programmes for children”. The