UNAIDS PCB NGO Delegation Update: May 2014
Suksma Ratri
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UNAIDS PCB NGO Delegation Update: May 2014
In This Issue:
- Update: 34th UNAIDS PCB Meeting Will be Held in July
- Financial Transaction Tax & HIV
- UBRAF Mid-Term Review
- Thematic Working Group on Addressing Social and Economic Drivers of HIV Through Social Protection
- AIDS 2014 Melbourne Declaration in The Making
Update: 34th UNAIDS PCB Meeting Will be Held in July
The upcoming 34th PCB Meeting will take place on 01 – 03 July 2014 in Geneva. The topic for 34thPCB Thematic Segment has been decided as “Addressing Social and Economic Drivers of HIV Through Social Protection”
The PCB NGO Delegation ensures that the priorities and interests of affected people, constituencies and communities are considered in UNAIDS decisions and policies. The NGO Delegation already knows of certain confirmed elements of this meeting. We are in the process of ensuring the voices of affect people are powerfully represented.
More information & documents for meeting will be posted on the NGO Delegation’s website as soon as they become available.
Governance Key Documents:
Financial Transaction Tax & HIV
On April 9 – 10, 2014 the General Assembly and the Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC) held a joint event titled “The Role of Partnerships In The Implementation of The Post-2015 Development Agenda”. The primary objective of this joint thematic debate is to provide a platform for Member States to address how strengthened global partnerships for sustainable development, including multi-stakeholder partnerships, can contribute to the implementation of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
The joint thematic debate featured 3 consecutive, interactive, multi-stakeholder panel discussions as well as 2 partnership sessions. A President’s Summary was issued at its conclusion and subsequently be made available to the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In the past year, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) worldwide from different fields of work have closely followed the United Nation’s Member States’ deliberations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. They have welcomed invitations to contribute through online or in-person consultations and have been suggesting development alternatives, analysis and comprehensive recommendations throughout this process.
Despite these efforts, the CSOs are alarmed that within the Post-2015 discussions, little seems to be underway to reverse the trend of doing business as usual. CSOs note that the UN is about to lose the opportunity to transform the current vicious cycle of development focused on economic growth alone that fuels inequalities, inequities, environmental degradation and marginalization into a virtuous cycle where human rights and justice prevail.
Despite the statement of the UN Secretary General that “no one will be left behind”, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are not on track to be built on the essential priorities for a sound and effective Post-2015 global agenda, namely “human rights and dignity for all.”
Alessandra Nilo, the NGO Delegate from Latin America and The Caribbean addressed the session as a keynote speaker. Watch her amazing speech here.
UBRAF Mid-Term Review
On March 27, members of the NGO Delegation joined the UNAIDS Secretariat, Co-Sponsors, and Member States in Geneva as part of a multi-stakeholder consultation to review progress in meeting the goals of the UNAIDS 2011-2015 Strategy. Since 2011, the mechanism used to detail, track, and report on progress toward meeting UNAIDS’ goals is the Unified Budget, Results, and Accountability Framework, known as UBRAF. This consultation was designed to gather input on the midterm review of the UBRAF which will be presented in full at the 34th PCB in July.
The consultation opened with an overview of the context of the global HIV epidemic, with particular focus by Michel Sidibe on emerging political challenges to the protection of basic human rights. Sidibe spoke of the need to reach those who have been left behind in access to prevention, treatment and care as a major challenge for 2015 and beyond. Echoing the NGO Report presented to the PCB last December, he called for better data that is disaggregated so we know what works for different populations. He spoke against rising conservatism and fundamentalism that threatens the sexual and reproductive health rights of women and youth, and the safety and health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, specifically pointing to laws in Uganda, Nigeria, Russia, and India. Noting the twenty African countries without homophobic laws and the approximately forty non-African counties with homophobic laws, Sidibe warned that we need to support the African countries that don’t have homophobic laws rather than label and attack the entire continent as homophobic. He argued that fundamentalism and lack of human rights for LGBT people is not an African problem, but rather a global problem, and needs to be understood and discussed as such. Further, Sidibe argued that making the link between violence against women, economic security, and HIV should be made central to the HIV response.
Read the full article here
Thematic Working Group on Addressing Social and Economic Drivers of HIV Through Social Protection
At its 33rd meeting in December 2013, the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) agreed that the subject for the 34th PCB Thematic Segment would be: “Addressing Social and Economic Drivers of HIV Through Social Protection”. This Thematic Segment will take as its starting point the focus of social protection in mitigating poverty, exclusion and inequality and bringing to scale emerging evidence on the preventive, protective and promotive role of social protection in the AIDS response.
The UNAIDS Secretariat convenes a PCB working group, in which NGO Delegation takes active part. This Working Group provides support and guidance for the development of the thematic session including the Background Note, agenda and the format of the session. In particular, the Working Group will provide technical and strategic inputs and advice on:
(1) Drafting the outline and background paper of the 34 PCB thematic segment session
(2) Identifying country examples and best practices (call for submission of country proposals)
(3) Drafting the agenda and format of the thematic day
The Working Group will take into account the draft outline proposed by UNAIDS as well as the template for the proposed theme as endorsed by the Board at its 33rd meeting.
The NGO Delegation also convened a call to gather input from civil society to be submitted to the Secretariat. More calls and consultations will be convened in the near future. If you are interested in sending your input, you can email it to pcb...@gmail.com
AIDS 2014 Melbourne Declaration in The Making
At each of the IAS World conferences every two years, a high level statement is produced calling upon global solidarity toward ending HIV and specifically highlighting issues which are holding us back.
Prior examples of International AIDS Conference declarations include:
The Vienna Declaration: A global call to action for science-based drug policy
Turning the Tide Together: A Declaration to End the AIDS Epidemic
To this end, the Conference Coordination Committee of AIDS 2014 has drafted an AIDS 2014 Melbourne Declaration calling upon the world's communities to ensure that the human rights of key affected populations are upheld in the pursuit of equality and a right to health of all people. The CCC of AIDS 2014 together with Civil Society around the globe are currently finalizing the draft of the declaration for the upcoming International AIDS Conference in Melbourne.
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The Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) is the governing body of UNAIDS. It is made up of 22 voting Member States, 11 UN Cosponsors and an NGO Delegation consisting of 5 delegates and 5 alternates. The NGO Delegation brings to the PCB the perspectives and expertise of people living with, most affected by, and most at risk of or vulnerable to HIV, as well as civil society and nongovernmental entities actively involved in HIV and AIDS. The Delegation works to ensure that human rights and equitable, gender-sensitive access to comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support are reinforced by the policies, programmes, strategies and actions of the PCB and UNAIDS.
To learn more, you can visit our website at unaidspcbngo.org or contact Suksma Ratri, Communications& Consultations Facility, at ratri...@gmail.com. If you are not already a subscriber, please join our mailing list.
Suksma Ratri
UNAIDS PCB NGO Delegation
Communications & Consultations Facility
APN+ | Ocean Tower 2 Building | 75/12 | 15th Floor Sukhumwit 19 |
Klongtoey Nua | Wattana | 10110 Bangkok | Thailand
Phone: +62 813 2168 0785 | Skype: suksma.ratri | http://unaidspcbngo.org/
