Article: International Battle Plan Against HIV/AIDS Adopted

28 June 2001

Article: International Battle Plan Against HIV/AIDS Adopted

U.N. Special Session on HIV/AIDS concludes

By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- The General Assembly ended a ground-breaking three-day meeting on HIV/AIDS by adopting a declaration that maps out a plan for governments to wage battle against the deadly disease that has touched all nations, rich and poor, developed or developing.

Secretary General Kofi Annan said at the end of the U.N. General Assembly's Special Session on HIV/AIDS June 27 that he is more confident now than he was at the start of the conference three days ago "that we can defeat this deadly disease."

"The attendance shows that the world is at long last waking up to the gravity of the HIV/AIDS crisis," the secretary general said, and the declaration "provides us with a clear strategy for tackling it ... with clear goals and a clear timeline."

In adopting the "Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS: Global Crisis -- Global Action" the United Nations is "setting a yardstick, a standard that people can measure their own performance to, that the average citizen can use to challenge their governments as to what they have done and what they are not doing," Annan said.

"It is a blueprint from which the whole of humanity can work in building a global response to a truly global challenge," Annan said. He said he hopes that the level of commitment he sees in African and Western leaders "will soon spread to all countries, especially those in Asia and eastern Europe where infection rates are going to rise steeply in the next year or two."

The need for additional resources and the fact that women are in the forefront of the battle are two major themes that emerged from the session. The ground-breaking participation of private groups and activists in official meetings with governments was important as well, Annan said.

"Girl power is Africa's own vaccine against HIV and that should be true for the whole world," he said. The battle against AIDS "can only be won if women are fully educated and enjoy their full rights, including a full say in devising society's collective response."

The secretary general and senior UNAIDS officials saw it as a good sign that during negotiations on the declaration there was intense debate about references to women's rights and whether to specify vulnerable groups such as gays and prostitutes.

"The debate has begun and it is not going to go away. That in itself is a very positive development," Annan said. "Everyone has learned something here. The discussions, the debate that has gone on I'm sure has been heard and listened to. I'm sure in some countries it may take a bit longer to get them to recognize the realities of what we are dealing with."

Annan said the three days of negotiations, general debate, press conferences, and other events should not be seen as wasted rhetoric.

"At a gathering like this it is sometimes difficult to quantify the achievement, but what I can tell you is that people are going to walk away from here with ideas, with new contacts, with networks, and with people they can call and exchange ideas and learn from best practices around the world," he said.

The conference focused awareness on HIV/AIDS in a manner the world had not seen before, he said. "I hope this conference will energize people at the grass roots; it will encourage them to become involved; it will encourage them to ask their governments and parliamentarians 'what are you doing about this disease?'"

Ambassador Penny Wensley of Australia said that the declaration "is not a perfect text, but it is a good text, action-oriented and practical."

Wensley, who along with Senegal Ambassador Ibra Ka led the negotiations, said that the negotiators wanted a declaration that "found the right balance between prevention and care, treatment and support, and ensures a truly global approach." It was also important to take into account cultural differences so that "together we could present this declaration to our governments, our leaders and the international community as a whole declaration which defines genuine commitments and priorities which all of us can now implement," she said.

The declaration sets such goals as reducing HIV infections among 15 to 24-year-olds by 25 percent in the most affected countries by 2005 and reducing the proportion of infants infected with HIV by 20 percent by 2005. It sets a target of annual expenditure on the epidemic of between seven and ten billion dollars in low- and middle-income countries.