ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a blueprint for what could be scaled up to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic nationally. Sexual minorities and female sex-workers reported that NGOs were the source of information regarding HIV, and that they also provided a space for safe access to healthcare, including testing and condoms. Writing about the rights of female sex-workers, Maryam Shahmanesh and Sonali Wayal assert that protecting the rights of Commercial Sex-Workers (CSWs) and successful HIV/AIDS-related interventions are mutually 180complementary goals. These goals can only be successful if countries are forced to accord internationally agreed upon political and legal standards to CSWs. Advocacy by institutions of civil society has played major role in forcing national and state governments in India to meet their obligations as signatories to various national laws and international treaties, conventions and protocols to enhance the rights of HIV positive people. Non-Governmental Organizations from across nations forged HIV/AIDS Code of Practice in December 2004, providing guiding principles for successful advocacy.
