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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published
by the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC) from 1995 to 2001 and by Africa Action
from 2001 to 2003. APIC was merged into Africa Action in 2001. Please note that many outdated links in this archived
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Africa: AIDS Assembly Summary, 3
Africa: AIDS Assembly Summary, 3
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: +economy/development+ +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 unprecented global gathering, we are
making an exception of sending out three postings for your
reference.
This posting contains excerpts on resources. Related postings focus
on prevention and treatment and on rights and discrimination.
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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
RESOURCES
*UN Declaration, June 27, 2001*
[80] By 2005, through a series of incremental steps, reach an
overall target of annual expenditures on the epidemic of between
U.S. $7 billion and U.S. $10 billion in low- and middle-income
countries and those countries experiencing or at risk of
experiencing rapid expansion for prevention, care, treatment,
support and mitigation of the impact of H.I.V./AIDS, and take
measures to ensure that needed resources are made available,
particularly from donor countries and also from national budgets,
bearing in mind that resources of the most affected countries are
seriously limited. .
. .
[81] Call on the international community, where possible, to
provide assistance for HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment in
developing countries on a grant basis;
[83] Urge the developed countries that have not done so to strive
to meet the targets of 0.7 percent of their gross national product
for overall official development assistance and the targets of
earmarking of 0.15 percent to 0.20 percent of gross national
product as official development assistance for least developed
countries, as agreed, as soon as possible, taking into account the
urgency and gravity of the H.I.V./AIDS epidemic. . . .
[87] Without further delay, implement the enhanced Heavily Indebted
Poor Country initiative (H.I.P.C.) and agree to cancel all
bilateral official debts of H.I.P.C. countries as soon as possible,
especially those most affected by H.I.V./AIDS, in return for their
making demonstrable commitments to poverty eradication and urge the
use of debt-service savings to finance poverty-eradication
programs, particularly for H.I.V./AIDS prevention, treatment, care
and support and other infections.
*Youth Caucus Position Paper, June 27, 2001*
We call upon youth structures, governments and international
partners to join us in the following:
6. Establishing a Youth Advisory Board to be put in place by the
General Assembly, to monitor funds and programs of the Global AIDS
Health Fund, and integrate youth into all other decision-making
structures established by the Fund at national, regional, and
global levels.
+ We recognize that AIDS is a development crisis, and therefore
necessitates a response that addresses the underlying poverty and
inequality that fuels the epidemic.
+ We call on governments and civil society to prioritize poverty
eradication programs that place young people at the center.
+ We call for complete debt cancellation for all countries with
high HIV prevalence rates, in order to free resources which must be
effectively spent on social services such as health and education.
*African Civil Society Statement, June 26, 2001*
3. Alleviating the social and economic impact of HIV/AIDS
The mutually reinforcing relationship of poverty and HIV/AIDS
stands in sharp relief in Africa. Conflict, corruption, issues of
rights denial, gender inequality, the lack of an enabling
environment, and globalization need to be concretely addressed in
the Declaration.
The Declaration is weak on its links to agreed international
development targets, and it is questionable how these targets will
be achieved without explicit commitments and actions to control
HIV/AIDS.
4. Resources
Most countries struggling with the impact of HIV/AIDS do so under
a heavy burden of mounting debt due to restructuring imposed by
loan mechanism by international financial institutions.
In relation to the much-discussed Global Fund, civil society
demands its full participation in the process of developing,
managing and monitoring the fund. There is need for a committee to
be set up outside the existing UN structure and not linked to
international financial institutions to manage the funds. This
committee should be made up of representatives of countries
commensurate with the burden of the disease borne by the countries,
and involve civil society.
HIV/AIDS is a human emergency and rules governing the global
fund should be shaped by the views and aspirations of the people
most affected by the disease.
Recommendations and follow-up
7. We recommend a scaled up response for HIV/AIDS affected
children, including orphans. We call for increased commitment and
funding to achieve the international development targets related to
education, as a means to reduce the vulnerability of children and
adolescents to HIV/AIDS.
10. We demand that, in light of debt in developing countries, new
money is made available as grants and not as loans. This is in
addition to ongoing negotiations around debt relief/cancellation.
11. Additionally, civil society calls for the establishment of
strong national mechanisms to channel funds directly to community
groups, and for long term cash funding commitments.
*Civil Society Statement, June 27, 2001*
Civil Society Access to Resources
Governments of both industrialized and resource-poor countries
should be held accountable for providing adequate funding for
HIV/AIDS-related policies and programmes. We not only urge, but
demand that all governments of industrialised countries uphold
their commitment to 0.7% of their GNP for overall official
development assistance. These funds should be allocated to
countries according to challenges and needs. New, additional
resources should also be drawn from an accelerated strategy of debt
cancellation, consistent with existing Poverty Reduction Strategy
Papers (PRSP) especially for the poorest countries that have been
most affected by HIV/AIDS.
We reiterate that all governments should not only commit themselves
to a substantial increase in their national budgets made available
for HIV/AIDS, but that they immediately implement a precise, timeframed
and publicly transparent plan for these funds, in particular
describing how they will be made accessible to NGOs, including
community-based and grassroots organisations and organisations of
people living with HIV/AIDS.
It is critical to ensure that new global funding mechanisms, like
the Global Health Fund, recognise, complement and strengthen
existing efforts with additional resources and reinforcing
strategies. Community-based action is critical to the response to
HIV/AIDS, particularly in resource-poor countries: civil society
must have access to these additional funds. Their involvement in
the management of the Fund is essential for transparency of funding
decisions, and to guarantee access. Governments, particularly in
poor countries, should collect and disseminate data and information
on the impact of the epidemic on various sectors of the community
and on policies, programmes and funding allocated to reduce the
impact.
Follow-up to UNGASS
In conclusion, we acknowledge that the Declaration expresses many
commitments on the part of member states of the UN General
Assembly. However, unfulfilled commitments are not enough: all
governments must be held accountable. Follow-up should not only
include periodic national reviews and an annual General Assembly,
one-day review. We propose the establishment of an international
Declaration Monitoring body, similar to the Treaty Monitoring
Committees for international conventions, to which governments
must submit biannual or triennial reports on their compliance with
the provisions of the Declaration. This monitoring body should also
review shadow reports generated by civil society and present
recommendations to Governments regarding their compliance with
the commitments made in the Declaration. Furthermore, the
monitoring body must include the active involvement of civil
society and people living with HIV/AIDS as a key criterion in
assessing compliance.
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by
Africa Action (incorporating the Africa Policy Information
Center, The Africa Fund, and the American Committee on Africa).
Africa Action's information services provide accessible
information and analysis in order to promote U.S. and
international policies toward Africa that advance economic,
political and social justice and the full spectrum of human rights.
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