Reporte Entrega Carta Ban Ki Moon Eng

Report on The World AIDS Campaign meeting with the United Nations Secretary General, UNAIDS and the World AIDS Day theme launch The meeting in New York on 16 June 2009 with the United Nations SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon was facilitated thanks to Michele Sidibé and UNAIDS, in follow up to the Global Steering Committee’s (GSC) discussion with him in Geneva in April. This first face-to-face session with Mr. Ban Ki-moon coincided with the 63rd session of the General Assembly held in New York at which the Secretary-General presented a report on the progress made in the implementation of the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS. During his remarks the Secretary General mentioned several causes for optimism but he also noted: There are still nearly five new infections for every two people put on treatment. He said the economic crisis should not be an excuse to abandon commitments, adding that a vigorous and effective response to the AIDS epidemic is integrally linked to meeting global commitments to reduce poverty, prevent hunger, lower childhood mortality, and protect the health and well being of women. But to achieve the goal of universal access, he said, barriers to progress need to be overcome. Not just in battling the disease, but also in confronting obstacles that society puts in the way. “The fight against AIDS also requires us to attack diseases of the human spirit – prejudice, discrimination, stigma.” His report emphasized that achieving national universal access targets by 2010 will require an estimated annual outlay of $25 billion within two years, necessitating renewed commitment from all providers of HIV-related funding. Sustaining an effective AIDS response will require unprecedented leadership at all levels, including from Governments, civil society and affected communities. The meeting also coincided with the launch of the World AIDS Day theme of “Universal Access and Human Rights”. It was enormously encouraging for AIDS campaigners and others to hear Mr. Ban Ki-moon address some of our key concerns, saying: “In recent years, a growing number of countries have taken steps to criminalize HIV transmission. World Aids Campaign - van Diemenstraat 192, 1013CP Amsterdam - The Netherlands- [email protected]

In theory, this has been done to prevent the spread of infection. In practice, it has done the opposite – reducing the effectiveness of HIV prevention efforts by reinforcing the stigma. Such measures send the message that people living with HIV are a danger to society. We must instead encourage tolerance, compassion and inclusion. I call on all governments to review their legal frameworks to ensure compliance with the human rights principles on which a sound AIDS response is based. This is not solely a medical or scientific challenge. It is a moral challenge, too.” UNAIDS Executive Director Michele Sidibé also highlighted the human rights perspective in a joint news release with the World AIDS Campaign. “Achieving universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support is a human rights imperative. It is essential that the global response to the AIDS epidemic is grounded in human rights and that discrimination and punitive laws against those most affected by HIV are removed.” The theme has been chosen to address the critical need to protect human rights and attain access for all to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. It also acts as a call to countries to remove laws that discriminate against people living with HIV, women and marginalized groups. Countries are also urged to realise the many commitments they made to protect human rights in the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS (2001) and the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS (2006). Mr. Sidibé and his team were hugely supportive during the theme launch and the lead up to the meeting with the Secretary-General helping to ensure that a photo shoot was arranged where the campaign theme shirts were held up to cameras. http://www.worldaidscampaign.org The World AIDS Campaign delivered a sign on letter from more than two hundred and fifty civil society groups to the Secretary-General which applauded his past efforts and asked him to commit to holding an open, inclusive, high level review of what we have or have not accomplished in achieving universal access by the 2010 target. A secondary request in the letter was that, in light of the current financial crisis, the Secretary-General use the General Assembly in September to create an opportunity for additional emergency donations to the Global Fund. http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/en/Letter-presented-to-the-Secretary-Generalon-June-16 World Aids Campaign - van Diemenstraat 192, 1013CP Amsterdam - The Netherlands- [email protected]

The Secretary-General agreed to be a champion for the response to HIV and sees his role as an advocate. The first face-to-face meeting of the World AIDS Campaign with the SecretaryGeneral consisted of the following representation of the Global Steering Committee of the World AIDS Campaign: Allyson Leacock, Chair GSC, Global Media AIDS Initiative Mabel Bianco, International AIDS Women’s Caucus, IAWC Linda Hartke. Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, EAA Kevin Moody, Global Network of People living with HIV/AIDS, GNP+ Reshma Pattni, Global Youth Coalition on AIDS, GYCA Marcel van Soest. Executive Director World AIDS Campaign The Secretary-General’s office will be replying in writing to the points raised in the letter in due course. One of the many highlights of this period was a personal testimony given by Tembeni Fazo at the United Nations on June 16th after the General Assembly session and during a lunch briefing on human rights and HIV in light of the World AIDS Day theme launch. She said, “According to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, nearly two thirds of countries report having laws and policies that impede the access of vulnerable populations to HIV services. These populations – men who have sex with men, drug users and sex workers – are often criminalized, instead of being provided with prevention services.” This powerful statement given by a person living with HIV speaks most eloquently to the links with human rights. For more please go to. http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/en/Statement-by-Tembeni-Fazo During the interactive part of the briefing on HIV and human rights, the representatives of the Global Steering Committee participated actively with several interventions: For example, Mabel Bianco, as a person from Latin America and representative of the InternationalAIDS Women's Caucus, pointed out the importance of human rights and especially women's and girls' human rights in the evolution of the epidemic. Useful Links You can see the launch on the theme and the pdf file of the sign on letter at: http://www.worldaidscampaign.org You can see the statement of a Zimbabwean woman living with HIV at: http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/en/Statement-by-Tembeni-Fazo

World Aids Campaign - van Diemenstraat 192, 1013CP Amsterdam - The Netherlands- [email protected]

The Secretary-General’s speech to the General Assembly is found at: http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=3929 A report on the review session at the UN, key documents, video and photos are found at: http://www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/Resources/FeatureStories/archive/2009 /20090612_UN_SG_AIDS_progress.asp You can see the brief video clip of the day at: http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/unifeed/d/13073.html

World Aids Campaign - van Diemenstraat 192, 1013CP Amsterdam - The Netherlands- [email protected]