The United
Nations intend to expand their engagement in order to end AIDS by 2030. That
was the consensus of the declaration the member states adopted in the opening
of the UN High Level Meeting in New York on ending AIDS. Before, there had been
a political controversy because some countries, among them Russia, refused to
support certain statements regarding sexuality and drug use.
For the first
time, the UN declared that in particular key populations, namely, men who have
sex with men, trans* persons, intravenous drug users, sex workers and
prisoners, need support. The declaration states that the human rights of these
groups must be respected. Key populations need to be protected against
discrimination and in regards to their right for suitable prevention measures
and access to treatment. People in all countries can now invoke this
declaration. Human rights are the basis for prevention.
However, the
declaration, as in the case of all UN documents, applies only where national
legislation is not infringed. That means that useful and needed harm reduction
measures such as opiate substitution therapy and needle syringe exchange will
still not be implemented in countries that criminalize drug users and it
remains impossible to speak openly about homosexuality where LGBTI people are
prosecuted.
AIDS will not
be ended unless key populations are meaningfully involved on all levels of
interventions, prevention, testing, and treatment and care. The declaration is
far from what communities and civil society would expect from a strong,
visionary declaration. The leading role of communities and NGOs in the HIV response
is not meaningfully recognized in the document. While even more harmful
restrictions in the declaration by countries could be prevented, the exclusion
of certain key population representing organisations and networks could not be
reversed. This is unacceptable.
Lilianne
Ploumen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the
Netherlands who spoke on behalf of the European Union, reaffirmed in her
statement that the EU would have appreciated a much stronger language in the
declaration and regretted that Civil Society Organisations were excluded. She
ensured the commitment of the European Union, in its neighbouring countries and
worldwide.
Sini Pasanen,
co-Chair of the EU HIV/AIDS Civil Society Forum for AIDS Action Europe is
optimistic regarding the commitments of the European Union: “Now it is the time
for the European Commission and the Member States to show leadership in meeting
the 90-90-90 targets. Civil Society Organisations will remain a reliable
partner as we have been in the past 35 years in order to end the epidemic by
2030.”
To end AIDS
by 2030, the UN intend to reduce the number of infections with their commitment
to the 90-90-90 targets. To meet this goal, the budget for interventions in the
developing countries must rise from 19 to 26 billion dollars. From 2017 to
2019, the GFATM will need to receive 13 billion Dollars. And 25 % of the
globally applied funds in the response to HIV/AIDS are to be used for
prevention. Bryan Teixeira, Chair of the EATG Policy Working Group comments: “The
two fundamental aspects for me are human rights and funding. On the human
rights front, the HLM’s political declaration has been mediocre. As far as
funding is concerned, what we urgently need is a kind of early-warning system
that monitors the delivery of the needed funding by domestic as well as
international sources. Without a significant frontloading of funding in the
coming 5 years, we will not make our 2030 targets.”
The EU HIV/AIDS Civil Society Forum (CSF) is an
informal advisory body established in 2005 by the European Commission to
facilitate the participation of NGOs and networks, including those representing
People Living with HIV/AIDS, in European policy development and implementation
as well as to exchange information.
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