UN Statement 'Commitments on HIV/AIDS must be matched by actions'

Is it just me or is the final statement coming out of the last few days of meetings more than a little bland? It feels just a little like the world is treading water and marking time rather than really having any sense of urgency about tackling AIDS.

Nevertheless, a message to all delegates from the President of General Assembly on June 12 did emphasise the following five priorities for the next two years:

1. Focus on developing all health systems to respond to the pandemic as a public health issue - that is tackling brain drain of health workers, strengthening supply chains and public health systems (including monitoring and evaluation), etc, etc.
2. Human rights and gender equality must be central to any National HIV Strategy
3. Access to treatment, prevention and support services must improve considerably
4. Civil Society (including faith based groups, community organisations and networks of people living with HIV & AIDS) must be included in the process of planning, implementing and monitoring any effective National HIV Strategy.
5. Political leadership and accountability are vital - if there is not a commitment from the top of government, and at every other level of society (right down to local community leadership), no National HIV Strategy can be truly effective
   

These are welcome comments, but mainly echo what we have all been saying at one time or another. However, if the UN will commit itself to getting national governments to address these five priorities, one role we can have as FBOs is holding our governments to account for delivering the targets set in 2001 and 2006. But for that, we must be more engaged not only with our governments, but also with wider Civil Society.

Meanwhile, the Civil Society statement issued on June 11 reminds the world that the commitments are not being met and much needs to be done still

Civil Society Declaration on the UN High Level Meeting on AIDS
As civil society participants to the 2008 High Level Meeting on AIDS, we came here to review progress in implementing the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/ AIDS. We were disappointed that few heads of state chose to attend this meeting and many governments, from both resource-rich and resource-poor countries, failed to report the reality on the ground.

None of the UNGASS goals were achieved in 2003 or 2005, despite the efforts of some governments and key stakeholders. We are deeply concerned that given the current rate of progress, due to a lack of commitment and the ever-increasing funding gap, universal access will not be achieved by 2010, perpetuating the cycle of underdevelopment and poverty.

We urge governments to fulfil their commitment, human rights obligations and ensure the implementation of universal access to the treatment, prevention, and care for all by 2010. We raise the attention of governments, the UN system and all stakeholders to the following issues:

Universal access by 2010 requires comprehensive, non-discriminatory access to prevention, treatment, care and support for all people affected by HIV in high and low prevalence countries, including women, girls, children, young people, transgender, men who have sex with men, sex workers, migrants, prisoners and those who are institutionalized, older people, lesbians, bisexuals, disabled people, care givers, people who use drugs, indigenous people and other groups marginalized because of their ethnicity, religion, legal and economic status, or gender identity, regardless of their geographic location (rural/ urban). Universal access includes comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services and treatment for all co-infections, including TB.

Human rights must be at the centre of all responses to HIV.

The criminalization of HIV transmission and population behaviours marginalizes the vulnerable and affected groups (mentioned above). It is a violation of human rights and is a barrier to accessing prevention, treatment, care and support. All laws criminalizing transmission and behaviours must be abolished. We urge all governments to abandon travel restrictions that block people living with HIV/AIDS to move freely across the world, as well as all coercive measures such as mandatory testing and deportation.

It is critical that women’s, especially young women and girls’, human rights are central to the goals of halting this pandemic.

The parallel 2009 High Level Meeting on Drugs must reflect commitment to public health and human rights as championed by the High Level Meeting on AIDS.

Resourcing the response to HIV/AIDS. We are concerned about the shift of financial priorities from AIDS to other issues, and the lack of transparency and meaningful participation of civil society in decisions about funding allocation and priorities. Therefore we urge the governments of high-income countries, especially the G8, to fulfil their commitment of contributing 0.7 percent of their gross national product to official development assistance. In order to achieve universal access by 2010, 42 billion USD is needed. There should be sufficient support for the development of long-term solutions including research, vaccines and microbicides.

Access to treatment: Countries should be enabled to use the full safeguards enshrined in the TRIPS agreement and confirmed in the Doha declaration of 2004, such as compulsory licensing. The impact of international trade agreements needs to be evaluated further, as set out in the 2001 UNGASS Declaration of Commitment (para 26).

Involvement of Civil Society: Greater involvement of civil society has been identified by the UN as a critical strategy to combat AIDS. In a resolution tabled late in 2007, civil society was specifically encouraged to be involved in this year's high-level meeting. The involvement of civil society in official national delegations must be effective, not just tokenistic.

We join the three excluded organizations; Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays, and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights; from this year’s meeting in appealing to the UN General Assembly to ensure that the rhetoric of "universal access" is matched with participation and inclusion of all voices. It is necessary to develop a mechanism to monitor accountability that ensures meaningful participation of civil society, especially people living with HIV and marginalized groups (as listed above), in country level and international processes.

Accountability: Many countries have failed to report the realities on the ground to this assembly, almost forty countries did not report at all. There is a need to address the discrepancies between the official country reports and the civil society reports, by strengthening accountability mechanisms at all levels. Indicators against which reports are prepared must include qualitative dimensions, and governments should report data disaggregated by age, gender and sub- population (as a minimum requirement).

We call on UNAIDS to adequately and effectively monitor and evaluate the national response with full participation of all civil society, particularly people living with HIV.


We have come to this high level meeting to demand your partnership and renewed commitment to achieving the goals set at the UNGASS 2001 and the high level meeting in 2006. Real partnership between donors, governments, civil society, UN agencies and affected populations requires a balance of power in making decision. Only through genuine partnership can we overcome the challenges to and achieve universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support for all people by 2010.

This statement supports further recommendations from the women’s caucus statement “Women Demand Action and Accountability Now!” and the Youth caucus statement. It draws on the positions developed by each regional caucus for the High Level Meeting on AIDS.

NB - although ninety nine Civil Society Groups signed this, only two that I could identify were faith based; World Vision International and the Pastoral Ecumenical Alliance for HIV – Argentina (there may be others that I did not recognise as faith based). I think that to some extent this reflects on the level of engagement of many FBOs around the world not just at the High Level Meeting, but also in our engagement with government and the rest of Civil Society.