E/2006/27 E/CN.6/2006/15 Millennium Development Goals, in particular the aim of Member States to have halted, by 2015, and begun to reverse, the spread of HIV/AIDS, Recalling the commitment from the 2005 World Summit of developing and implementing a package for HIV prevention, treatment and care, with the aim of coming as close as possible to the goal of universal access to treatment by 2010 for all those who need it, Recalling also all previous resolutions on this subject, Acknowledging that prevention, care, support and treatment for those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS are mutually reinforcing elements of an effective response that must be integrated into a comprehensive approach to combat the epidemic, Taking note of the Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, as adopted by the Second International Consultation on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, annexed to the report of the Secretary-General,22 Recognizing the need to ensure the respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights in the context of HIV/AIDS, Recognizing also that populations destabilized by armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters, including refugees, internally displaced persons and, in particular, women and children, are at an increased risk of exposure to HIV infection, Deeply concerned that the global HIV/AIDS pandemic affects disproportionately women and girls and that the majority of new HIV infections occur among young people, Concerned that the vulnerability of women, girls and adolescents to HIV/AIDS is increased by their unequal legal, economic and social status, including poverty as well as other cultural and physiological factors, violence against women and girls and adolescents, early marriage, forced marriage, premature and early sexual relations, commercial sexual exploitation and female genital mutilation, Concerned also that HIV infection rates are at least twice as high among young people, especially young and married women, who do not finish primary school as among those who do, Concerned further that women and girls have different and unequal access to the use of health resources for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, 1. Stresses with deep concern that the HIV/AIDS pandemic, with its devastating scale and impact on women and girls, requires urgent action in all fields and at all levels; 2. Also stresses that gender equality and the political, social and economic empowerment of women and girls are fundamental elements in the reduction of their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and are essential to reversing the pandemic; 3. Expresses its concern that the HIV/AIDS pandemic reinforces gender inequalities, that women and girls bear a disproportionate share of the burden imposed by the HIV/AIDS crisis, that they are more easily infected, that they bear __________________ 22 E/CN.4/1997/37. 15