What is being done to address HIV/AIDS in United Nations peacekeeping?
The United Nations bases its current HIV/AIDS policy on non-discrimination and respect for international human rights law. Preventing the transmission of HIV among peacekeepers and host communities is a key priority of DPKO. DPKO strongly encourages voluntary confidential counselling and testing of peacekeepers before deployment and in the mission area, while a standardized training programme has been developed for troop-contributing countries to ensure that all uniformed peacekeepers get complete HIV/AIDS information before deployment. DPKO has deployed four policy advisors to the larger missions (UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) and UN Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET)) and designated an HIV/AIDS focal point to all other missions. Peacekeepers also carry UNAIDS awareness cards that contain basic facts about the transmission and nature of the disease. In ad
