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Africa: Backsliding on AIDS Commitments
AfricaFocus Bulletin
Jun 3, 2006 (060603)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
"U.N. Strengthens Call for a Global Battle against AIDS," reads the
headline in the New York Times. But AIDS activist groups that
demonstrated and lobbied for specific commitments and strong
language at the UN meeting on AIDS disagreed. Instead, they accused
governments of backsliding and failing to adopt specific targets
against which they could be held accountable.
Although the final declaration recognises that US$20 billion to $23
billion a year will be needed by 2010 to support "rapidly
scaled-up AIDS responses" in developing countries, it aims to
only "come as close as possible" to universal access to
prevention, treatment and care.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin continues statements released by
international and African civil society groups after and during the
meeting. Another AfricaFocus Bulletin sent out today contains
excerpts from the Africa section of the latest update on the AIDS
epidemic by UNAIDS.
For additional background on the UN meetings and civil society
actions, visit http://www.ungassaction.org
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on health issues, visit
http://www.africafocus.org
++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++++++++
International civil society denounce UN meeting on AIDS as a
failure
Press release
June 2, 2006
For more information contact: Asia Russell +1 (267) 475 2645
asia@healthgap.org or Kieran Daly +1 (416) 275 8413
Civil society groups from around the world denounced the final UN
Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, released after marathon
negotiations during the UN High Level meeting on AIDS this week.
"Once more we are disappointed at the failure to demonstrate real
political leadership in the fight against the pandemic" said The
Most Revd Njongonkulu Ndungane, the Anglican Archbishop of
Capetown. "Even at this late stage, we call on the world's
political leaders to rise up and meet the challenges that the
pandemic presents and to set ambitious targets at a national level
to guarantee universal access to treatment, care, support and
prevention."
UN Member States refused to commit to hard targets on funding,
prevention, care and treatment. They rejected frank acknowledgement
that some of the today's fastest growing HIV epidemics are
happening among injecting and other drug users, sex workers and men
who have sex with men. "The final outcome document is pathetically
weak. It is remarkable at this stage in the global epidemic that
governments can not set the much needed targets nor can they can
name in the document the very people that are most vulnerable" said
Sisonke Msimang of the African Civil Society Coalition.
"African governments have displayed a stunning degree of apathy,
irresponsibility, and complete disrespect for any of the agreements
they made in the last few months" said Leonard Okello, Head of
HIV/AIDS for Action Aid International. "The negotiation processes
was guided by trading political, economic and other interests of
the big and powerful countries rather than the glaring facts and
statistics of the global AIDS crisis, seventy percent of which is
in Sub-Saharan Africa."
African government delegations reneged on their promises in the
2006 Abuja Common position agreed to by African Heads of State.
South Africa and Egypt, in particular, took a deliberate decision
to oppose the setting of targets on prevention and treatment,
despite the fact that both participated in the Abuja Summit that
endorsed ambitious targets to be reached by 2010. "The continent
that is most ravaged by AIDS has demonstrated a complete lack of
leadership. It is a sad, sad day as an African to be represented
by such poor leadership" said Omololu Faloubi of the African Civil
Society Coalition.
But the African governments were not alone. The United States was
particularly damaging to the prospects for a strong declaration.
Throughout the negotiations they moved time and again to weaken
language on HIV prevention, low-cost drugs and trade agreements and
to eliminate commitments on targets for funding and treatment.
"It's death by diplomacy," said Eric Sawyer, veteran activist and
25-year survivor of HIV/AIDS. "Hour after hour, my government
fought for its own selfish interests rather than for the lives of
millions dying needlessly around the globe"
There has however been a strong recognition in the declaration of
the alarming feminization of the pandemic. Commitments were made to
ensure that women can exercise their right to have control over
their sexuality and to the goal of achieving universal access to
reproductive health by 2015.
This progress was undermined however by regressive governments.
"Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan and Gabon blocked efforts to
recognize and act to empower girls to protect themselves from HIV
infection" said Pinar Ilkkaracan, President of Women for Women's
Human Rights. "Their failure to commit to ensuring access to
comprehensive sexuality education for young people, and promote and
protect sexual rights will undermine the response to the HIV
pandemic."
This was compounded by the declaration failing to acknowledge that
some of the today's fastest growing HIV epidemics are happening
among injecting and other drug users, sex workers and men who have
sex with men, despite strong support from the Rio Group of
countries. For example, governments have ignored the needs of
injecting drug users by not stating the need for substitution drug
treatment, putting them at further risk. "Failing to fully address
the needs of these groups, and particularly to counter stigma and
discrimination by decriminalizing drug use and sexual behaviors,
will render them more invisible and ultimately lead to even higher
rates of HIV/AIDS" said Raminta Stuikyte of the Central and Eastern
European Harm Reduction Network.
Again the US, along with other governments, ensured that the final
declaration text contains a substantially weaker reference to the
AIDS funding need. It now only acknowledges that more money is
needed, rather than committing to raising the needed funds. An
estimated $23 billion is needed per annum by 2010 in order to fund
AIDS treatment, care, prevention and health infrastructure. "At
this stage in the pandemic, we expected government commitment to
close the global funding gap," said Kieran Daly of the
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations. "Instead they
have tried to let themselves off the hook."
While there has been a failure of governments to face the realities
of HIV/AIDS, civil society will be holding them to account. Civil
society will hold governments to account to deliver on universal
access. Civil society will make sure governments recognize and
support vulnerable populations. The failure of governments to
commit will not be accepted.
Editors Note:
"Vulnerable populations" includes women and girls, youth, older
people, men who have sex with men, injecting and other drug users,
sex workers, transgenders, people living in poverty, prisoners,
migrant laborers, orphans, people in conflict and post-conflict
situations, indigenous peoples, refugees and internally displaced
persons, as well as HIV/AIDS outreach workers and people living
with HIV/AIDS.
Supporting organizations:
AAHUNG; ACT UP NY; Action Aid International; Advocates for Youth;
AfriCASO; African Committee Services; AIDS Access Foundation;
Aids Fonds; AIDS Foundation East-West; AIDS Law Project; AIDS
Task Force, Africa Japan Forum; Asia Pacific Council of AIDS
Service Organizations (APCASO); Australian Federation of AIDS
Organisations (AFAO); Blue Diamond Society; CALCSICOVA
(Cordinadora de Asociacia Ves de Lucha Contra el SIDA de la
Cournida Valenciana); Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir
(Brasil); Center for AIDS Rights,; Thailand Center for Health and
Gender Equity; Central and Eastern European Harm Reduction
Network (CEEHRN); CESIDA - Coodinadora Espanalu en Sida Colectivo
Juvenil Decide/ Bolivia; European AIDS Treatment Group; GAT-Grupo
Portugues de Activistas Sobre Tratamentos de VIH/SIDA; Gender
AIDS Forum; Global AIDS Alliance; Global Youth Coalition on
HIV/AIDS Eastern Africa Region; Global Network of People Living
with HIV/AIDS (GNP+); Health & Development Networks; Health GAP
(Global Access Project); HelpAge International; HIV Association
Netherlands; Housing Works, Inc; ICW; Latina International
Council of AIDS Service Organisations; International HIV/AIDS
Alliance; International Women's AIDS Caucus & FEIM International
Working Group in Social Policies and Sexuality; International
Parenthood Planning Federation (IPPF); Journalists Against AIDS
(JAAIDS/Nigeria); Namibia Network of AIDS Service Organizsations
(NANASO); National AIDS Trust (UK); National Association of PLWHA
in Namibia (Lironga Eparu); National Empowerment Network of PLWHA
in Kenya; Nepal HIV/AIDS Alliance; New Ways; NNIWA; OSISA;
Positive Action Movement, Nigeria Positive Women's Network; Red
Latinoamericana y Caribena de Jevenes pro la Derecliora Sexuales
y Reproduction (REDLAC); Red Tra Sex; RED2002 (Spain); RSMALC;
Rutgers Nisso Group, The Netherlands; Sensoa V2W; SEICUS; Share -
Net; Stop Aids Liberia; Student Global AIDS Campaign; Tenemos
Sida (Spain); Treatment Action Group (TAG); Treatment Action
Movement, Nigeria; UK Coalition of People Living with HIV and
Aids; Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office; United
Nations Association in Canada; VSO Women for Women's Human Rights
(WWHR); World AIDS Campaign; World Population Foundation,
Netherlands;
UNGASS Draft Declaration Far Short of Civil Society Expectations
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
http://www.irinnews.org
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations]
June 2, 2006 New York
The UN declaration reviewing global progress on HIV/AIDS released
on Friday has failed to win the endorsement of civil society
groups, disappointed by the lack of ambition in the text.
Late on Thursday, AIDS activists were still trying to enlist the
help of sympathetic country delegations to strengthen language in
the draft document on targets, affirmation of the rights of women
and girls, "harm reduction" measures for injecting drug users,
and recognition of the needs of other vulnerable groups such as
sex workers, prisoners and migrants.
In a statement, a coalition of AIDS activists representing more
than 100 organisations said a draft of the political declaration
"fell far short of expectations at a time when 8,000 people a day
die of AIDS globally".
The declaration negotiated at the UN High-Level Meeting on
HIV/AIDS was always going to be a compromise between conservative
governments and those demanding a bolder response to halt the
epidemic, including reaching out to marginalised groups.
During three days of meetings in New York, NGOs urged governments
to make a commitment that would mark a real and measurable step
forward from the agreement reached at the 2001 UN General
Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on HIV/AIDS.
The UNGASS document was anchored to a list of goals, which most
governments failed woefully to achieve. But no clearly defined
targets or timeframes have been included in the high-level
report, negotiated between regional delegations and two UN
General Assembly co-chairs, who, activists pointed out, had no
specific experience in HIV/AIDS.
Although the declaration recognises that US$20 billion to $23
billion a year will be needed by 2010 to support "rapidly
scaled-up AIDS responses" in developing countries, it aims to
only "come as close as possible" to universal access to
prevention, treatment and care.
"That is an escape clause to achieving universal access by 2010,"
said Sisonke Msimang, HIV/AIDS programme manager for the Open
Society Initiative for Southern Africa.
But Michel Sidibe, director of the Department of Country and
Regional Support at UNAIDS, was more upbeat over the opportunity
presented by the conference. "The world wants by 2010 to be as
close as possible to universal access. It's a huge task, but not
a dream - it requires better coordination of funding, provision
of services and a well-costed, evidence-based planning system."
Five years on from UNGASS 2001, he regarded the "strong voice of
civil society" at the conference as a "breakthrough" in achieving
critical partnerships at national level, while universal access
marked an opportunity to "move from crisis management to a more
strategic response", which countries now owned and could be held
accountable for.
Particularly galling to African NGOs was that their governments,
negotiating in New York under the leadership of Gabon, chose to
ignore a pre-agreed common position that included targets. In
preparation for the UN meeting, The African Union (AU) had drawn
up a comprehensive programme with a number of goals in Abuja,
Nigeria, including a commitment to reach 80 percent of people
needing treatment by 2010.
Apart from Nigeria, no other African country challenged Gabon's
interpretation of the common position.
"I think the [draft] declaration is very weak, and the most
disappointing thing is the lack of targets. Our African
governments have let us down, and [the irony is that] it is our
continent which is the worst affected," said Emma Tuahepa,
coordinator of Namibia's National Association of People Living
with AIDS.
Msimang agreed: "It undermines the AU and the work that has been
done [in achieving a common position], and countries might see
this as an opportunity to backtrack [on the commitments made at
Abuja]."
Outraged AIDS Protesters Evicted From UN Headquarters, New York
June 1st, 2006
For more information contact Sisonke Msimang on +27 83 450 7382
media@ungasshiv.org Or Asia Russell +1 267 475 2645
In the final hours of negotiations of the UN High-Level meeting
on HIV/AIDS in New York this week, more than 100 civil society
organizations worldwide staged an unprecedented protest shouting
"The Declaration must include: treatment, targets, women and
girls, harm reduction vulnerable groups". As they were herded out
from the hall by security guards they chanted "Silence is Death".
They were rejecting a draft political declaration that fell far
short of expectations at a time when 8000 people a day die of
AIDS globally.
Governments failed to make commitments in five areas critical to
ending the global AIDS epidemic.
According to the civil society coalition monitoring the UN
drafting process the following concrete pledges are missing from
the draft Declaration:
- targets for universal access to prevention, treatment, and
care, such as ensuring access to treatment for 80% of all people
living with HIV worldwide by 2010;
- comprehensive prevention strategies for all vulnerable
populations;
- substitution therapy for intravenous drug users, and
- women's reproductive and sexual health and rights.
The document further fails to identify highly vulnerable and
marginalized groups, such as sex workers, injecting drug users,
prisoners, migrants, and people in conflict situations.
"We came here because in the last five years many new issues have
emerged that were not anticipated when the 2001 Declaration of
Commitment was signed. This new draft declaration is simply not
bold enough. It does not address the changing realities of the
AIDS epidemic," said one of the protesters. "Today, for example,
we can afford to treat people with antiretroviral therapy - which
we couldn't do five years ago because drug prices were still so
high. But in the room right now, governments have refused to set
a target for treatment because they are afraid that this will be
used to hold them accountable."
Since 2001 the AIDS epidemic has shifted. In Eastern Europe, for
example, there is an explosion of new infections among
intravenous drug users, who need immediate access to clean
needles and substitution therapy to avoid infection. In
sub-Saharan Africa, there has been a feminization of the
epidemic. Women now make up the majority of those infected.
Yet commitments to providing substitution therapy and to
promoting women's rights were rejected by conservative
governments.
Many of the goals left out of today's draft declaration would
have represented a significant advancement to the 2001
Declaration of Commitment. According to another protester, "We
demand a political commitment from governments that moves our
struggle against AIDS forward rather than back."
African Negotiators lobby in bad faith at UN meeting
Press Release
June 1, 2006
Omololu Falobi (omololu@nigeria-aids.org)
Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria
Three weeks after the African Union - the highest decision-making
regional authority in Africa - endorsed a Common Position on HIV
and AIDS, African delegates in New York are reneging on the
strong commitments they made to providing access to services for
HIV prevention, care and treatment to all those who need them in
Africa. At the Abuja Heads of States Summit held from May 2 - 4,
African states committed to:
- Reaching at least 80% of pregnant women with access to
prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT);
- Ensuring that 80% of orphans and vulnerable children have
access to basic services by 2010;
- Ensuring that at least 80% of those in need, especially women
and children, have access to HIV/AIDS treatment, including
antiretroviral therapy as well as care and support;
- Ensuring that at least 80% of target populations have access to
voluntary testing and counselling services
- Reaching at least 80% of target populations with access to
condoms and the skills to use them for HIV prevention.
Although African Heads of States endorsed a strong declaration
with clear targets and timeframes for fighting AIDS in Africa,
bureaucrats and officials at a UN review are refusing to
acknowledge these commitments.
In a surprising turn of events, and a remarkable display of bad
faith, negotiators from Gabon, Egypt and South Africa have
refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the African Common
Position, and have aligned themselves with the United States, the
EU and Japan in rejecting the inclusion of targets in the UNGASS
Political Declaration.
African negotiators have resisted the inclusion of specific
measures to protect and promote the human rights of vulnerable
groups, including sex workers, men who have sex with men,
injecting drug users, adolescents and women. This refusal to
acknowledge the people most affected by the global epidemic again
flies in the face of the Common Position, which clearly specifies
the need to support these and other groups in programmes designed
to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS. The positions of the
countries listed above are particularly puzzling in light of the
evidence regarding the impact of HIV and AIDS: 77% of young
people living with HIV and AIDS are young women.
Nigeria is the only African country that has openly spoken out
against the undermining of the African Common Position. Not a
single other African state has followed suit, despite repeated
information notes from the African Union secretariat, informing
New York-based African negotiators about the existence and
importance of the Common Position.
Instead, silence and apathy have mired the African bloc, and
rendered the bloc of over fifty AU member states virtually silent
for the duration of the negotiations.
We call on countries such as Namibia and Kenya, which have
indicated to civil society that they do not agree with the
position articulated by the African negotiators to do so openly.
We call on all African countries to honour the commitments made
at Abuja three weeks ago and to stop the bad faith negotiations
being undertaken in their name.
Issued by the African Civil Society Coalition on AIDS
For more information contact:
Omolulu Falobi
omololu@nigeria-aids.org
+1 646 578 6757
Sisonke Msimang
sisonkem@osisa.org
+27 83 450 7382
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
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AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
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