A/HRC/4/110 page 13 class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, gender, geography or social characteristics). ESCAP recognized that discrimination prevents equitable access to HIV-related goods and services for prevention and care, including the drugs necessary for HIV/AIDS care, and the development of vaccines to respond to the specific needs of all populations everywhere. 35. ESCAP’s work in promoting HIV-related human rights of affected and vulnerable groups is threefold: (a) regional cooperation for a more effective response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic; (b) prevention programmes for vulnerable or at-risk groups; and (c) policy advocacy. Vulnerable groups around which specific activities have been undertaken include young people (especially girls), truck drivers and their families, women, and youth. Thematic focuses include drug use, sexual and reproductive health, and HIV-prevention awareness. One example is the project launched in May 2005 entitled Strengthening Life Skills for Positive Youth Behaviour. This project builds on the experiences of earlier projects addressing HIV/AIDS and substance abuse issues in Cambodia, China, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. The target group of this project is primarily hard to reach out-of-school youth. The projects seek to provide increased access to information, skills, services and treatment on sexual health and HIV/AIDS care issues, enabling them to make informed decisions on sexual health and HIV/AIDS. There are very few existing programmes that can be accessed by these population groups, especially young people, without fear, stigma and shame. Even fewer are designed as in-depth efforts to change behaviour, challenging gender imbalances, which are the root cause of women’s vulnerability. 36. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) reported that social inequities in the Western Asian region contribute strongly to HIV vulnerability. In particular, poverty, limited access to prevention information and services, sex discrimination, illiteracy, rising population mobility and conflict are increasingly fuelling the spread of the disease. ESCWA advocates social equity with and through its programmes and policies designed to help Member States respond to HIV and AIDS. This includes promoting equal access to information, health care and education. To this end, the Commission is currently formulating a rights-based regional framework for social policy intervention. 37. A contribution received from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) underlined the Organization’s commitment, set out in its strategy for responding to HIV and AIDS, to addressing the challenge of HIV/AIDS from a human rights perspective. The contribution outlined UNESCO’s work in relation to HIV and women, youth, injecting drug users (IDU), men who have sex with men (MSM) and migrants, as well as the issue of racism. UNESCO is of the opinion that working with key populations, including IDU, MSM, sex workers, women and other vulnerable populations, is essential in order to have an effective response to HIV and AIDS. It encourages United Nations bodies and agencies to give specific attention to these and other groups and individuals, such as displaced people, communities in conflict, and post-conflict countries. 38. In respect of women, UNESCO provided the example of its Moscow office which, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Community of People Living with HIV/AIDS, completed a survey to analyse public opinion towards the reproductive