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UN
declaration on HIV causes outrage
ActionAid
International
June 02, 2006
http://www.actionaid.org/index.asp?page_id=1071
Civil society
today expressed outraged at the outcome of the UN High Level review
on HIV and AIDS, stating the declaration lacks any global targets
or timelines on treatment, resources and prevention.
"We are
furious. Vulnerable groups such as intravenous drug users, sex workers
and men who have sex with men have been made invisible in this document",
said Aditi Sharma, HIV/AIDS Campaign and Policy Coordinator, ActionAid
International.
"In addition,
commitment to women’s rights have become a subject of controversy,
rather than being recognized as a critical component of a pandemic
that is increasingly becoming a women’s issue."
ActionAid International
is concerned that the declaration does not commit governments to
urgently fill the $10 billion funding gap needed every year to finance
the scaling up towards the goal of universal access.
"Today,
40 million HIV positive people have been let down by our governments
and the international community," said Sharma. "It is
incomprehensible how negotiators could come up with such a weak
declaration when we needed urgent action to stop 8,500 people dying
and 13,500 people from becoming infected every day."
ActionAid will
step up its campaign to hold governments accountable to delivering
on their 2001 commitments as well as the goal of universal access.
"We are determined to fight this pandemic and will mobilise
huge coalitions at national level," Sharma added.
ActionAid and
other organisations had been calling on negotiators to create a
viable action plan to back up the goal of providing universal access
to all HIV affected people by 2010. Such a plan should have addressed
structural barriers such as lack of investment in healthcare, unaffordable
treatment, as well as the denial of human rights of HIV positive
women, men and children.
"Having
been at Abuja just a few weeks ago where we mobilised from the grassroots
right up to parliament, we are outraged that the Africa group led
by Gabon have blocked a clear endorsement of the Abuja Commitment,"
said Leonard Okello, International Head of HIV /AIDS at ActionAid
International. "For a continent that bears the brunt of the
crisis, this is close to criminal."
"We are
dying, but we are not dead," said Beatrice Were, an HIV positive
activist from ActionAid Uganda. "At this crucial time it seems
the world is giving up on us. How long do we have to wait? Do we
all have to die before we see justice."
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