19 June 2001

Article: International Declaration on HIV/AIDS Action Nears Completion

Final preparations underway for U.N. General Assembly AIDS session

By Charlene Porter
Washington File Staff Writer

The power of women to protect themselves against sexually transmitted
diseases and the identification of groups vulnerable to exposure to
HIV/AIDS are among the final pending controversial issues being
discussed during preparation of a Declaration of Commitment to be
adopted by the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on
HIV/AIDS (UNGASS).

The session will be held June 25-27 at U.N. headquarters in New York
City. This will be the first UNGA session ever devoted solely to a
public health issue. Over the last few months international
negotiators have been drafting the declaration, which asserts the
world community's "commitment to enhancing coordination and
intensification of national, regional and international efforts to
combat (HIV/AIDS) in a comprehensive manner."

"Ninety to 95 percent of (the declaration language) is agreed upon,"
said UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Kathleen Cravero at a Washington
briefing June 18 sponsored by the Global Health Council.

Deputy Assistant Secretary Michael Southwick, a senior member of the
U.S. delegation to UNGASS said, "We are satisfied with the outcome of
the document."

Three areas remain controversial Cravero said: the phrasing of
language characterizing HIV/AIDS as a human rights issue; the
empowerment of women and girls in protecting themselves from HIV/AIDS;
and the identification of groups especially vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.

Cravero emphasized that the negotiators do fundamentally agree that
these issues should be addressed in the declaration, but diplomatic
phrasing remains a matter of debate in the final days before the
session convenes.

The controversial language identifying vulnerable groups names men who
have sex with men, sex workers, injecting drug users and their sexual
partners, persons confined to institutions, prison populations,
refugees and internally displaced migrant workers and indigenous
populations.

Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy Scott
Evertz said the United States recognizes that certain populations are
more vulnerable than others to HIV/AIDS exposure, and favors
acknowledgement of this fact in the declaration document. Based upon
the U.S. constitutional principle that rights are vested in
individuals, not in groups, Evertz said the U.S. prefers language that
identifies vulnerable populations in clinical terms.

Southwick said while some nations want the groups clearly named,
"mostly Islamic countries" argue that naming the groups sanctions
their activities, and gives them legitimacy. He said the U.S. will
seek a compromise that is "less morally judgmental."

Cravero said the international community has endorsed in other fora
women's rights to control their own sexual lives and make free
decisions. Most prominently, she noted the 1995 U.N. Fourth World
Conference on Women in Beijing, in which 189 countries adopted a
Platform for Action, calling for economic opportunity and security for
women, quality education and health care, full political and economic
participation of women, equality, and the promotion of human rights
for women.

She said UNAIDS is attempting to discourage an expansive treatment of
these women's issues in the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS when
they have been addressed in other global agreements.

Regarding the U.S. position on this controversy, Southwick said
simply, "The U.S. has always been at the forefront of women's
protections and rights."

An announcement naming the members of the U.S. delegation is expected
within days. The delegation of about 50 people will comprise
representatives from various governmental agencies dealing with the
AIDS issue, non-governmental agencies and congressional advisors

Evretz said at least one HIV-positive individual has been invited to
join the group. This individual, whom Evertz did not identify, has not
yet accepted the appointment to the group, he said.

The size and the administration of a global trust fund for HIV/AIDS
and other infectious diseases will be another issue of considerable
concern at UNGASS. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for
establishment of a fund of $7,000-10,000 million dollars.

President Bush announced May 11, 2001, an initial U.S. contribution to
the fund of $200 million. UNAIDS Director Peter Piot said at the
Washington briefing that he expects other European nations to announce
further support for the fund at the UNGASS meeting or at a meeting of
the G-7 nations in July.

UNAIDS will play a key role in overseeing distribution of the fund,
and Piot said deciding how the money should flow -- to whom and for
what -- will be a complicated process. Those decisions will be left
until later in the year when officials hope the trust fund will be
operational.

Piot said it will be "an incredible challenge" to make those choices.
"How the money will be channeled will be as challenging as getting the
money," the UNAIDS director told the Washington group of AIDS
activists and health organizations.