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Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2001 11:31:15 -0500
From: APIC <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Africa: AIDS Assembly Summary, 2
Africa: AIDS Assembly Summary, 2
Date distributed (ymd): 010703
Document reposted by APIC
Africa Policy Electronic Distribution List: an information
service provided by AFRICA ACTION (incorporating the Africa
Policy Information Center, The Africa Fund, and the American
Committee on Africa). Find more information for action for
Africa at http://www.africapolicy.org
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +political/rights+ +gender/women+ +health+
SUMMARY CONTENTS:
This series of three postings contains brief topical excerpts from
the official United Nations Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS,
June 27, 2001, paired with related excerpts from parallel
statements released by youth, African civil society groups, and
international civil society groups at the UN General Assembly
Special Session. Because of the exceptional importance of
evaluating the outcome of this unprecedented global gathering, we
are making an exception of sending out three postings for your
reference.
This posting contains excerpts on rights and discrimination.
Related postings focus on prevention and treatement and on
resources.
The full UN Declaration is available at:
http://www.un.org/ga/aids/coverage/FinalDeclarationHIVAIDS.html
The full Youth Position Paper is available at:
http://www.africapolicy.org/adna/ung0106c.htm
"HIV/AIDS and Civil Society: Africa's Concerns and Perspectives" is
available at:
http://www.africapolicy.org/adna/ung0106d.htm
"A Civil Society Perspective on the UNGASS Declaration of
Commitment" is available at:
http://www.africapolicy.org/adna/ung0106.htm
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
RIGHTS AND DISCRIMINATION
*UN Declaration, June 27, 2001*
[58] By 2003, enact, strengthen or enforce as appropriate
legislation, regulations and other measures to eliminate all forms
of discrimination against and to ensure the full enjoyment of all
human rights and fundamental freedoms by people living with
H.I.V./AIDS and members of vulnerable groups; in particular to
ensure their access to, inter alia education, inheritance,
employment, health care, social and health services, prevention,
support, treatment, information and legal protection while
respecting their privacy and confidentiality; and develop
strategies to combat stigma and social exclusion connected with the
epidemic.
[59] By 2005, bearing in mind the context and character of the
epidemic and that globally women and girls are disproportionately
affected by H.I.V./AIDS, develop and accelerate the implementation
of national strategies that promote the advancement of women and
women's full enjoyment of all human rights; promote shared
responsibility of men and women to ensure safe sex; empower women
to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters
related to their sexuality to increase their ability to protect
themselves from H.I.V. infection.
[60] By 2005, implement measures to increase capacities of women
and adolescent girls to protect themselves from the risk of H.I.V.
infection, principally through the provision of health care and
health services, including sexual and reproductive health, and
through prevention education that promotes gender equality within
a culturally and gender-sensitive framework. . . .
[64] By 2003, develop and/or strengthen national strategies,
policies and programs supported by regional and international
initiatives, as appropriate, through a participatory approach, to
promote and protect the health of those identifiable groups which
currently have high or increasing rates of H.I.V. infection or
which public health information indicates are at greatest risk of
and most vulnerable to new infection, as indicated by such factors
as the local history of the epidemic, poverty, sexual practices,
drug-using behavior, livelihood, institutional location, disrupted
social structures and population movements forced or otherwise. .
. .
*Youth Caucus Position Paper, June 27, 2001*
1. Recognizing that young women and men must occupy positions of
leadership in the global fight against AIDS.
2. Adopting a rights-based approach to HIV prevention, that affirms
young people's rights to sexual and reproductive health information
and care and services, as an indispensable way to stop the spread
of AIDS.
3. Acknowledging that the rights of children and young people
orphaned by AIDS to education, shelter and a life free from
discrimination must be respected.
4. Affirming that care, support and treatment are a fundamental
right for all people living with HIV/AIDS.
5. Ensuring that the following groups of vulnerable young people
are directly targeted for prevention, care and support, and
treatment services: young women, people confined to prisons and
institutions, young people in refugee settings, homeless youth,
unemployed youth, out of school youth, young people from ethnic
minorities and/or stigmatized social groups, young people living
with AIDS, rural youth, young injecting drug users, young
commercial sex workers, young men who have sex with men and young
people living in extreme poverty.
*African Civil Society Statement, June 26, 2001*
We applaud the regional and global efforts leading up to a renewed
commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS around the world. We further
applaud the commitments in the draft Declaration on HIV/AIDS
endorsed in this UNGASS and in previous such fora.
However, we wish to express our deep concern about minimal civil
society involvement particularly from Africa, in these important
initiatives by our leaders, which is evidenced among others by
exclusion for the most part of civil society representatives in our
national delegations to this UNGASS.
In addition, we protest in the strongest possible terms the further
exclusion of duly accredited civil society partners in this process
through the discriminatory practice of visa denials by the
government of the USA.
We note further with concern, that while Africa is the region most
affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, it is the least prioritized in
terms of resource allocation and the global commitment.
We are concerned that through this process the voices of Africans,
especially the poor and marginalized, have not been heard. As a
result, we are deeply concerned that the grassroots experiences in
Africa have not strategically informed the global process that has
led to this UNGASS on HIV/AIDS, and yet, processes such as this
affect the lives of millions of Africans, who are either living
with HIV/AIDS or are affected, or are vulnerable to being infected
with HIV.
Civil society is known to contribute significantly to the
prevention of further transmission of HIV infection and improvement
of care for persons living with HIV/AIDS, as well as alleviation of
the HIV/AIDS impact in their respective communities. However,
there is no sustained support for their work, few efforts to
involve them in decision making, and insufficient resource
allocation to enhance their effectiveness. Further, civil society
views are not represented accurately nor articulated or integrated
sufficiently into global policy making processes.
We need to recognize that everybody has a role and a responsibility
in prevention, care and support with regard to the HIV/AIDS
epidemic, and that special attention should be paid to vulnerable
groups and communities that bear a heavier burden or are more
highly impacted by the diseases, due to factors related to
violation of human rights including gender. These include those
infected and affected, especially people living with HIV/AIDS,
women, children, youth, orphans, the poor, refugees, migrant
populations, and internally displaced persons.
9. Much has been said about GIPA - Greater Involvement of People
living with HIV/AIDS - in all HIV/AIDS programs. Yet it is only on
paper. We demand that the GIPA principle must be put into practice
in all HIV/AIDS programs for an effective impact on the target
populations, communities, countries, and the globe in general.
*Civil Society Statement, June 27, 2001*
The Declaration provides a useful tool for focusing on the HIV/AIDS
pandemic and addressing this urgent crisis through joint
governmental and civil society leadership as well as all
governments' political commitment to implement the Declaration. We
particularly support the references to the role of poverty,
underdevelopment and illiteracy as principal contributing factors
in the spread of HIV/AIDS. We welcome and support the emphasis
given to the empowerment of women and girls and the essential
contribution of people living with HIV/AIDS and civil society. We
also welcome and support the acknowledgement of the unique
vulnerability of young people and indigenous populations.
However, it is essential that we continue to speak about vulnerable
groups in relation to the epidemic; this is not simply a question
of semantics but of ensuring the avoidance of inappropriate
policies and programmes. We insist on specific references to
vulnerable groups regarding decision-making and implementation of
prevention, care and treatment strategies, especially those groups
not mentioned in the Declaration. These are men who have sex with
men, sex workers and their partners/clients, injecting drug users
and their sexual partners, prison populations, mentally and
physically disabled people, ethnic minorities and racial groupings,
and transgendered persons.
Twenty years of experience with this pandemic has clearly shown
that openness about HIV/AIDS, in all its aspects, is crucial to
curb further spread of HIV and guarantee access to care, support
and treatment. Real leadership is needed to address denial, stigma,
intolerance and all forms of discrimination based on race, socio-
economic status, ethnicity, HIV status, class and religion, which
to this date remain major obstacles to an effective response.
Human Rights
We reiterate that the response to HIV/AIDS should be framed within
a strong and meaningful human rights-based approach avoiding the
use of discriminatory language, with an emphasis on all those
rights that are related to HIV/AIDS -- in particular international
agreements and conventions adopted by the UN, such as the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Special attention must be paid
to ensuring all human rights, including freedom from poverty,
racism, gender bias and (threats of) violence against those
affected by the epidemic and working in the field, as well as
promoting the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS to education,
work, shelter and medication.
We emphasize the importance of meaningful participation by, and
support of, people living with HIV/AIDS at all levels of decision-
making, planning, implementation and evaluation.
We note the crucial importance of developing a culture-specific
approach. We do not support a rationale in which culture is used to
weaken the Declaration and limit the universal necessity to curb
the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Gender
The gender-based and gender-biased social norms and beliefs
prevalent in most societies form a major contributory factor to the
spread of HIV and people's inability to confront the consequences
of the epidemic in an adequate and effective manner. All prevention
and care programmes must be gender-sensitive, challenging and
addressing gender-based stereotypes in socialization processes
that prevent men from sharing decision-making and responsibility
with their partners. These programmes must also ensure that all
adult and adolescent men and women -- irrespective of their sexual
orientation -- can enjoy their human rights to appropriate
prevention and care services.
Within this context, special attention is needed for empowering
women and girls, particularly those that are affected by poverty,
so that they can have control over, and make decisions about their
sexuality and reproduction in a voluntary, responsible and informed
manner, free from any coercion whatsoever.
Within the health sector, it is vital that HIV/AIDS programmes be
carried out as part of a broader sexual and reproductive health
policy and programming framework to ensure that the multiple needs
of those affected by HIV/AIDS, both HIV-negative and HIV-positive,
are addressed in an integrated manner that is meaningful to their
daily lives. It is often the same factors and situations that place
people at risk of suffering gender-based violence, HIV/STI
infection, lack of access to harm-reduction measures, pre- and
post-natal care, unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortions.
Race and Ethnicity
Discriminatory practices based on race and ethnicity limit basic
human rights, especially for women, to education, employment,
housing and access to services. This makes members of specific
racial and ethnic groups and indigenous populations particularly
vulnerable to HIV infection. Recognition of the intersection of
race, gender and HIV/AIDS is crucial for taking urgent action.
Youth
Young people have and will continue to serve on the frontlines in
the fight against AIDS. Given that youth make up a significant part
of the world's population, and that half of all new HIV infections
globally occur among them, governments and civil society must
recognise the value of investing in young people.
Young people must be included in key decision-making positions at
every level, from community-based grassroots organisations to
those with a global scope. It is vital that young people actively
participate in the design and implementation of, and have
guaranteed access to youth-friendly comprehensive information,
education, treatment, services and care related to sexual and
reproductive health, including HIV/AIDS. It is important to note
that young people are also members of other social groups that are
most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.
Young people, especially marginalized and out-of-school youth,
have the least access to full enjoyment of their rights. In order
to effectively combat the AIDS pandemic, the political, civil,
economic, social, cultural and development rights of young people
must be guaranteed and protected regardless of their HIV status. We
stress that community participation is needed to protect and
promote the rights of adolescents to address their sexuality
positively. These community-based efforts should include strategies
to promote changes in the social norms that act as barriers to
adopting safer sex.
We support the acknowledgement in the Declaration that children
orphaned and affected by HIV/AIDS require special assistance.
Orphans are frequently subjected to situations that significantly
increase their vulnerability to many abuses. Therefore, all
vulnerable children should have guaranteed protection from all
forms of abuse, violence, exploitation, discrimination, trafficking
and loss of inheritance.
************************************************************
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