A/HRC/41/27 B. Improving human rights in the response to HIV through regional and subregional strategies 19. The panel was composed of Ralf Jürgens, Senior Coordinator for Human Rights at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Adeolu Ogunrombi, Project Coordinator of YouthRISE Nigeria and West African Countries; Boemo Sekgoma, Acting Secretary-General for the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum; and Marcela Romero, Regional Coordinator for RedLacTrans. Panellists agreed on the centrality of human rights in the response to HIV, including in access to antiretroviral treatment. They also highlighted the importance of addressing human rights for all, including key populations, to ensure that the most marginalized and criminalized populations were not left behind. 20. Mr. Jürgens presented the efforts made by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in integrating human rights into its grant cycle, having moved from ad hoc and small-scale investment in programmes to comprehensive programming in reducing the barriers facing human rights. The Global Fund now provided intensive support to 20 countries, with baseline assessments and multi-stakeholder meetings leading to country-owned plans, accompanied by a rigorous monitoring and evaluation framework. Mr. Jürgens also identified persisting challenges, such as limited capacity and ownership of the human rights agenda. Lastly, he referred to the Global Fund programmes operated at the regional level as regional or multi-country grants. 21. Mr. Ogunrombi reaffirmed the centrality of human rights in the response to HIV, including for persons who used drugs, who should have access to core reduction services, which were still lacking in many African countries. Mr. Ogunrombi called for the meaningful involvement and participation of key populations in HIV response initiatives. He also called for the repeal of punitive laws and policies that criminalized key populations, in particular for drug users, which hindered their access to health care. He emphasized the importance of regional efforts in the response to HIV, which made high-level advocacy more effective, especially where States were reluctant to promote a human rights-based approach to the epidemic. 22. Ms. Sekgoma discussed the role of parliaments in advancing human rights in the response to HIV. The Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum had developed normative content, such as a model law on HIV, to serve as a yardstick for national parliaments. The model law featured essential human rights principles relevant to the response to HIV, such as preserving patient confidentiality, a legal requirement for voluntary HIV testing, and also referred to comprehensive sexuality education within a life skills framework. She explained how the Southern African Development Community regional strategy was designed to build the capacity of parliamentarians and to strengthen interparliamentary cooperation, and referred to the work of its oversight committee, which had the task of monitoring the domestication of model laws. She concluded her presentation by calling for interparliamentary collaboration in facilitating the sharing of knowledge and experiences. 23. Ms. Romero presented the situation of human rights of key populations, particularly transgender persons, calling for the recognition and protection of their rights. She was concerned that transgender persons carried a disproportionate burden of HIV, faced violence and genocide, and lacked access to adequate and comprehensive health-care services. She pointed out that HIV, violence and hate crimes were the main causes of mortality among transgender persons who, every day, were criminalized and prosecuted around the world. She therefore called upon the Global Fund to invest in political advocacy for the protection and promotion of the rights of transgender persons. Poverty, migration and social exclusion were the main causes of HIV prevalence among transgender persons in Latin America. The States members of the Organization of American States had signed treaties on gender diversity but were not implementing them. 24. During the interactive dialogue, the representatives of Thailand, the Bahamas, Angola and the Gambia, and of the International Network of People Who Use Drugs, WHO and Aidsfonds took the floor. Thailand, on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian 7