Is an election nearer than expected?
tribune242 editorial
Nassau, The Bahamas
THIS MORNING dawns with an interesting political scene developing and depending on which way the wheel turns, we might be facing an election just after Christmas.
Miffed because their electoral seats were vaporised by the Boundaries Commission, two of the FNM's MPs have resigned from the party.
Although their resignations have been confirmed to The Tribune by reliable sources, the FNM have heard the rumours, but have no facts. FNM chairman Carl Bethel was still manning the post in the FNM's headquarters up to 5:30pm yesterday, but no letter of resignation had arrived from either Eight Mile Rock MP Verna Grant or Clifton MP Kendal Wright.
Neither was it clear whether they had only resigned from the party or whether they had also resigned from parliament. If the latter, as one person put it, we shall be faced with a "constitutional conundrum". However, up until late yesterday, Speaker Alvin Smith had seen no resignation letters.
We understand that, whatever the decision, they will keep it close to their chests until Wednesday when parliament again meets. It is not until then that the bugles will sound and candidates will know how soon they will have to move into their constituencies.
If the two cross the floor on Wednesday, do they go as Independents, or do they join the PLP -- or maybe even the DNA?
The FNM, which entered the House after the 2007 general election with 23 members to the PLP's 18, were left with 22 members on the floor when North Eleuthera MP Alvin Smith was elected from their number to become Speaker of the House.
During the course of the next four years, the PLP lost one member in Kenyatta Gibson, who crossed the floor to the FNM to bring their number back to the original 23. Recently, Branville McCartney left the FNM to form the DNA and become that party's only MP. If the reports about Ms Grant and Mr Wright are true, it means that the FNM will lose another two members, reducing their number on the floor to 20. It is not known whether the last two possible defections will cross the floor as Independents or whether they will join a party. Should they join the PLP, that party's numbers will be boosted to 19. Whether they join a party or remain Independent, the governing 20-member FNM will face a 20-member Opposition -- PLP (17), Independents (2) and DNA (1).
This means that should there be full attendance on both sides of the House at every meeting, all eyes will turn to their bewigged Speaker on his dais above them to break a tie or to get a measure through parliament.
However, should one or both defecting members resign from parliament a bye-election will have to be called within 60 days. This is most unlikely to happen. It is more likely that parliament will be dissolved. And so Bahamians will be facing either dissolution or a long recess of the House.
Of course bye-elections cannot be held in non-existent constituencies, which Clifton and Eight Mile Rock will soon be, if they are not already. It is probable that, if a bye-election were held, it would be held in the newly-named constituencies that would have absorbed the voters of Clifton and Eight Mile Rock. And should any FNM member attempt to run against any candidate already nominated by the party for these two new constituencies they are automatically expelled under the FNM party's rules.
This turn of events takes us back to January 10, 1967 when the PLP won its first election.
In that election, the United Bahamian Party, headed by Sir Roland Symonette -- the Bahamas' first premier -- won 18 seats. The PLP also won 18 seats. A tie -- no winner. Either the UBP or the PLP had to sacrifice one of their number from the floor to be House Speaker. Whichever side did it would be left with 17 members to the other's 18.
However, there were two floating members -- Alvin Braynen, representative of the Current, and labour leader Randol Fawkes. For several days, they were the most courted men in the Bahamas as each UBP and PLP sought them out to join their party to break the tie. Sir Alvin was a UBP, but before the election there had been a quarrel and he walked out. The UBP were most anxious to mend fences with Sir Alvin. But both Braynen and Fawkes wanted something. Randol Fawkes wanted to be the Labour czar and Alvin Braynen told us that his life-long dream was to become Speaker of the House. Here it was being handed to him on a silver platter, and no other consideration was going to stop him snatching the prize. The PLP got both Alvin Braynen as Speaker, and Randol Fawkes broke the tie by one on the floor of the House, which enabled Sir Lynden to form a government. The following year, the PLP held an election and won by a landslide.
The only difference between then and now is that although there might be a tie on the House floor, there is already a Speaker in the chair to break the tie. This was not so in 1967.
The next few months promise to be interesting.
December 06, 2011
tribune242 editorial
An International Caribbean Online Log about the news and opinions in the Americas and World. This Caribbean Blog of global reach and appeal is maintained by Bahamian Blogger - Dennis Dames with all readers and subscribers in mind.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Last week's general election in Guyana, with its resultant hung Parliament, has put that country in unaccustomed territory which, we believe, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) must be prepared to help it chart
CARICOM Must Help Guyana
jamaica-gleaner editorial
Jamaica, W.I.
Last week's general election in Guyana, with its resultant hung Parliament, has put that country in unaccustomed territory which, we believe, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) must be prepared to help it chart.
In that regard, the Community's leaders, while mindful of the line between support and meddling, should, through their chairman, signal to all parties the availability of their good offices to work through difficulties. This kind of pre-emptive political action, we suggest, is in that spirit of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, on which rests the programme for widening and deepening regional integration.
In Guyana's proportional representation electoral system, the People's Progressive Party (PPP)/Civic alliance gained 48.6 per cent of the votes cast a week ago, a plurality that assured it of 32 of the 65 seats in the national assembly. Its candidate, the PPP's general secretary, Mr Donald Ramotar, was, on the basis of the return, elected president.
But while PPP/Civic gets to form the government, it will be a minority administration. Between them, the two other groups, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change, gained 51.1 per cent of the votes and 33 of the legislative seats.
This means that unless the PPP can co-opt the Alliance for Change, which got seven seats, from its 10.3 per cent of the votes, it will have to govern by consensus, dependent on the opposition for the passage of legislation. The assumption is that the PPP/Civic has, in the Alliance for Change, its best shot at a coalition partner, given that the Alliance for Change's leader, Mr Khemraj Ramjattan, is a former, though excommunicated, member of the PPP.
Long-standing tensions
It is less likely that APNU, dominated by the largely Afro-Guyanese-supported People's National Congress (PNC), would be a coalition partner of choice for PPP/Civic and, in any event, would be less likely to willingly be part of a formal unity government.
Indeed, the history of Guyana's race-based politics and the long-standing tensions between the Indo-Guyanese-supported PPP and the PNC, which held power for 28 years until 1992, complicate issues. The current situation is likely to be further aggravated by claims from some elements of the PNC who believe that voting irregularities may have cost them the election.
In 1997, similar concerns by the PNC led to riots in the Guyanese capital of Georgetown which, gratefully, were contained. CARICOM, at that time, contributed to the efforts at calming tempers and in giving a stamp of legitimacy to the administration of the then president, Bharrat Jagdeo.
The Community should, this time, act early to head off any breakdown to prevent this important member of CARICOM descending into violent turmoil, the potential for which is exacerbated by the politics of ethnicity.
The better outcome for Guyana, of course, is where we started - administration by consensus. This assumes that the parties read the election result as a signal for them to retreat from a deep-rooted, race-based heritage. That is difficult, but not impossible.
We are encouraged by the initial talks between Messrs Ramotar, Ramjattan and APNU's David Granger. Should the PPP/Civic administration get going, a substantial test will come in a few months when it has to pass a budget, failure at which will precipitate a new election. In the meantime, CARICOM should help the Guyanese keep their country on even keel.
December 4, 2011
jamaica-gleaner editorial
Saturday, December 3, 2011
65/277 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS: Intensifying our Efforts to Eliminate HIV/AIDS [Resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 June 2011]
1 Resolution S-26/2, annex.
2 Resolution 60/262, annex.
1 We, Heads of State and Government and representatives of States and Governments assembled at the United Nations from 8 to 10 June 2011 to review progress achieved in realizing the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS1 and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS,2 with a view to guiding and intensifying the global response to HIV and AIDS by promoting continued political commitment and engagement of leaders in a comprehensive response at the community, local, national, regional and international levels to halt and reverse the HIV epidemic and mitigate its impact;
2 Reaffirm the sovereign rights of Member States, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, and the need for all countries to implement the commitments and pledges in the present Declaration consistent with national laws, national development priorities and international human rights;
3 Reaffirm the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS and the urgent need to scale up significantly our efforts towards the goal of universal access to comprehensive prevention programmes, treatment, care and support;
4 Recognize that although HIV and AIDS are affecting every region of the world, each country’s epidemic is distinctive in terms of drivers, vulnerabilities, aggravating factors and the populations that are affected, and therefore the responses from both the international community and the countries themselves must be uniquely tailored to each particular situation taking into account the epidemiological and social context of each country concerned;
5 Acknowledge the significance of this high-level meeting, which marks three decades since the first report of AIDS, ten years since the adoption of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and its time-bound measurable goals and targets, and five years since the adoption of the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS and its commitment to urgently scale up responses towards achieving the goal of universal access to comprehensive prevention programmes, treatment, care and support by 2010;
3 Resolution 65/1.
6 Reaffirm our commitment to the achievement of all the Millennium Development Goals, in particular Goal 6, and, recognizing the importance of rapidly scaling up efforts to integrate HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support with efforts to achieve those Goals, in this regard welcome the outcome of the 2010 High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals entitled “Keeping the promise: united to achieve the Millennium Development Goals”;3
7 Recognize that HIV and AIDS constitute a global emergency, pose one of the most
formidable challenges to the development, progress and stability of our respective societies and the world at large and require an exceptional and comprehensive global response that takes into account that the spread of HIV is often a consequence and cause of poverty;
8 Note with deep concern that despite substantial progress over the three decades since AIDS was first reported, the HIV epidemic remains an unprecedented human
catastrophe inflicting immense suffering on countries, communities and families throughout the world, that more than 30 million people have died from AIDS, with another estimated 33 million people living with HIV, that more than 16 million children have been orphaned because of AIDS, that over 7,000 new HIV infections occur every day, mostly among people in low- and middle-income countries, and that less than half of the people living with HIV are believed to be aware of their infection;
9 Reiterate with profound concern that Africa, in particular sub-Saharan Africa, remains the worst affected region and that urgent and exceptional action is required at all levels to curb the devastating effects of this epidemic, and recognize the renewed commitment by African Governments and regional institutions to scale up their own HIV and AIDS responses;
10 Express deep concern that HIV and AIDS affect every region of the world and that the Caribbean continues to have the highest prevalence outside sub-Saharan Africa, while the number of new HIV infections is increasing in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, North Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia and the Pacific;
11 Welcome the leadership and commitment shown in every aspect of the HIV and AIDS response by Governments, people living with HIV, political and community leaders, parliaments, regional and subregional organizations, communities, families, faith-based organizations, scientists, health professionals, donors, the philanthropic community, workforces, the business sector, civil society and the media;
12 Welcome the exceptional efforts at the national, regional and international levels to implement the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS and the important progress being achieved, including a more than 25 per cent reduction in the rate of new HIV infections in over 30 countries, the significant reduction in mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and the unprecedented expansion of access to HIV antiretroviral treatment to over 6 million people, resulting in the reduction of AIDS-related deaths by more than 20 per cent in the past five years;
13 Recognize that the worldwide commitment to the global HIV epidemic has been unprecedented since the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, represented by an over eight-fold increase in funding from $1.8 billion in 2001 to $16 billion in 2010, the largest amount dedicated to combating a single disease in history;
14 Express deep concern that funding devoted to HIV and AIDS responses is still not commensurate with the magnitude of the epidemic either nationally or internationally, and that the global financial and economic crisis continues to have a negative impact on the HIV and AIDS response at all levels, including the fact that for the first time international assistance has not increased from the levels in 2008 and 2009, and in this regard welcome the increased resources that are being made available as a result of the establishment by many developed countries of timetables to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product for official development assistance by 2015, stressing also the importance of complementary innovative sources of financing, in addition to traditional funding, including official development assistance to support national strategies, financing plans and multilateral efforts aimed at combating HIV and AIDS;
15 Stress the importance of international cooperation, including the role of North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation, in the global response to HIV and AIDS, bearing in mind that South-South cooperation is not a substitute for, but rather a complement to, North-South cooperation, and recognize the shared but differentiated responsibilities and respective capacities of Governments and donor countries, as well as civil society, including the private sector, while noting that national ownership and leadership are absolutely indispensable in this regard;
16 Commend the Secretariat and the co-sponsors of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS for their leadership role on HIV/AIDS policy and coordination and for the support they provide to countries through the Joint Programme;
17 Commend the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for the vital role it is playing in mobilizing and providing funding for national and regional HIV and AIDS responses and in improving the predictability of financing over the long-term, and welcome the commitment of over $30 billion in funding from donors to date, including the significant pledges made by donors at the 2010 Global Fund replenishment meeting; note with concern that while these pledges represented an increase in financing, they fall short of the amounts targeted by the Global Fund to further accelerate progress towards universal access, and recognize that to reach that goal it is imperative that the work of the Global Fund be supported and also that it be adequately funded;
18 Commend also the work of the International Drug Purchase Facility, based on innovative financing and focusing on accessibility, quality and price-reduction of antiretroviral drugs;
19 Welcome the United Nations Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, undertaken by a broad coalition of partners in support of national plans and strategies, to significantly reduce the number of maternal, newborn and under-five child deaths, as a matter of immediate concern, including by scaling up a priority package of high-impact interventions and integrating efforts in sectors such as health, education, gender equality, water and sanitation, poverty reduction and nutrition;
20 Recognize that agrarian economies are heavily affected by HIV and AIDS, which debilitate their communities and families with negative consequences for poverty eradication, that people die prematurely from AIDS because, inter alia, poor nutrition exacerbates the impact of HIV on the immune system and compromises its ability to respond to opportunistic infections and diseases, and that HIV treatment, including antiretroviral treatment, should be complemented with adequate food and nutrition;
21 Remain deeply concerned that globally women and girls are still the most affected by the epidemic and that they bear a disproportionate share of the care-giving burden, and that the ability of women and girls to protect themselves from HIV continues to be compromised by physiological factors, gender inequalities, including unequal legal, economic and social status, insufficient access to health care and services, including for sexual and reproductive health, and all forms of discrimination and violence, including sexual violence and exploitation against them;
22 Welcome the establishment of UN-Women as a new stakeholder that can play an important role in global efforts to combat HIV by promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women, which are fundamental for reducing the vulnerability of women to HIV, and the appointment of the first Executive Director of UN-Women;
4 Resolution 61/106, annex I.
23 Welcome the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,4 and recognize the need to take into account the rights of persons with disabilities as
set forth in that Convention, in particular with regard to health, education, accessibility and information, in the formulation of our global response to HIV and AIDS;
24 Note with appreciation the efforts of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in supporting national parliaments to ensure an enabling legal environment supportive of effective national responses to HIV and AIDS;
25 Express grave concern that young people between the ages of 15 and 24 years account for more than one third of all new HIV infections, with some 3,000 young people becoming infected with HIV each day, and note that most young people still have limited access to good quality education, decent employment and recreational facilities, as well as limited access to sexual and reproductive health programmes that provide the information, skills, services and commodities they need to protect themselves that only 34 per cent of young people possess accurate knowledge of HIV, and that laws and policies in some instances exclude young people from accessing sexual health-care and HIV-related services, such as voluntary and confidential HIV-testing, counselling and age-appropriate sex and HIV prevention education, while also recognizing the importance of reducing risk taking behaviour and encouraging responsible sexual behaviour, including abstinence, fidelity and correct and consistent use of condoms;
26 Note with alarm the rise in the incidence of HIV among people who inject drugs and that, despite continuing increased efforts by all relevant stakeholders, the drug problem continues to constitute a serious threat to, among other things, public health and safety and the well-being of humanity, in particular children and young people and their families, and recognize that much more needs to be done to effectively combat the world drug problem;
27 Recall our commitment that prevention must be the cornerstone of the global HIV and AIDS response, but note that many national HIV prevention programmes and spending priorities do not adequately reflect this commitment, that spending on HIV prevention is insufficient to mount a vigorous, effective and comprehensive global HIV prevention response, that national prevention programmes are often not sufficiently coordinated and evidence-based, that prevention strategies do not adequately reflect infection patterns or sufficiently focus on populations at higher risk of HIV, and that only 33 per cent of countries have prevalence targets for young people and only 34 per cent have specific goals in place for condom programming;
28 Note with concern that national prevention strategies and programmes are often too generic in nature and do not adequately respond to infection patterns and the disease burden; for example, where heterosexual sex is the dominant mode of transmission, married or cohabitating individuals, including those in sero-discordant relationships, account for the majority of new infections but they are not sufficiently targeted with testing and prevention interventions;
29 Note that many national HIV prevention strategies inadequately focus on populations that epidemiological evidence shows are at higher risk, specifically men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs and sex workers, and further note, however, that each country should define the specific populations that are key to its epidemic and response, based on the epidemiological and national context;
30 Note with grave concern that despite the near elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in high-income countries and the availability of low-cost interventions to prevent transmission, approximately 370,000 infants were estimated to have been infected with HIV in 2009;
31 Note with concern that prevention, treatment, care and support programmes have been inadequately targeted or made accessible to persons with disabilities;
32 Recognize that access to safe, effective, affordable, good-quality medicines and commodities in the context of epidemics such as HIV is fundamental to the full realization of the right of everyone to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;
33 Express grave concern that the majority of low- and middle-income countries did not meet their universal access to HIV treatment targets, despite the major achievement of expansion in providing access to antiretroviral treatment to over 6 million people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries, that there are at least 10 million people living with HIV who are medically eligible to start antiretroviral treatment now, that discontinued treatment is a threat to treatment efficacy, and that the sustainability of providing life-long HIV treatment is threatened by factors such as poverty, lack of access to treatment and insufficient and unpredictable funding and by the number of new HIV infections outpacing the number of people starting HIV treatment by a factor of two to one;
34 Recognize the pivotal role of research in underpinning progress in HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and welcome the extraordinary advances in scientific knowledge about HIV and its prevention and treatment, but note with concern that most new treatments are not available or accessible in low- and middle-income countries and even in developed countries there are often significant delays in accessing new HIV treatments for people not responding to currently available treatment; and affirm the importance of social and operational research in improving our understanding of factors that influence the epidemic and actions that address it;
35 Recognize the critical importance of affordable medicines, including generics in scaling up access to affordable HIV treatment; and further recognize that protection and enforcement measures for intellectual property rights should be compliant with Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement and should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of the right of Member States to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all;
36 Note with concern that regulations, policies and practices, including those that limit legitimate trade of generic medicines, may seriously limit access to affordable HIV treatment and other pharmaceutical products in low- and middle-income countries, and recognize that improvements can be made, inter alia through national legislation, regulatory policy and supply chain management, and note that reductions in barriers to affordable products could be explored in order to expand access to affordable and good quality HIV prevention products, diagnostics, medicine and treatment commodities for HIV, including for opportunistic infections and co-infections;
37 Recognize that there are additional means to reverse the global epidemic and avert millions of HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths, and in this context also recognize that new and potential scientific evidence is available that could contribute to the effectiveness and scaling up of prevention, treatment, care and support programmes;
5 Resolution 217 A (III).
38 Reaffirm the commitment to fulfil obligations to promote universal respect for and the observance and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights5 and other instruments relating to human rights and international law; and emphasize the importance of cultural, ethical and religious values, the vital role of the family and the community and in particular people living with and affected by HIV, including their families, and the need to take into account the particularities of each country in sustaining national HIV and AIDS responses, reaching all people living with HIV, delivering HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and strengthening health systems, in particular primary health care;
39 Reaffirm that the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all is an essential element in the global response to the HIV epidemic, including in the areas of prevention, treatment, care and support, recognize that addressing stigma and discrimination against people living with, presumed to be living with or affected by HIV, including their families, is also a critical element in combating the global HIV epidemic, and recognize also the need, as appropriate, to strengthen national policies and legislation to address such stigma and discrimination;
40 Recognize that close cooperation with people living with HIV and populations at higher risk of HIV infection will facilitate the achievement of a more effective HIV and AIDS response, and emphasize that people living with and affected by HIV, including their families, should enjoy equal participation in social, economic and cultural activities, without prejudice and discrimination, and that they should have equal access to health care and community support as all members of the community;
41 Recognize that access to sexual and reproductive health has been and continues to be essential for HIV and AIDS responses, and that Governments have the responsibility to provide for public health, with special attention to families, women and children;
42 Recognize the importance of strengthening health systems, in particular primary health care and the need to integrate the HIV response into it, and note that weak health systems, which already face many challenges, including a lack of trained and retention of skilled health workers, are among the biggest barriers to access HIV/AIDS-related services;
43 Reaffirm the central role of the family, bearing in mind that in different cultural, social and political systems various forms of the family exist, in reducing vulnerability to HIV, inter alia in educating and guiding children, and take account of cultural, religious and ethical factors in reducing the vulnerability of children and young people by ensuring access of both girls and boys to primary and secondary education, including HIV and AIDS in curricula for adolescents, ensuring safe and secure environments especially for young girls, expanding good-quality youth-friendly information and sexual health education and counselling services, strengthening reproductive and sexual health programmes, and involving families and young people in planning, implementing and evaluating HIV and AIDS prevention and care programmes, to the extent possible;
44 Recognize the role that community organizations play, including those run by people living with HIV, in sustaining national and local HIV and AIDS responses, reaching all people living with HIV, delivering prevention, treatment, care and support services and strengthening health systems, in particular the primary health-care approach;
45 Acknowledge that the current trajectory of costs of HIV programmes is not sustainable and that programmes must become more cost-effective and evidence-based and deliver better value for money, and that poorly coordinated and transaction-heavy responses and lack of proper governance and financial accountability impede progress;
46 Note with concern that evidence-based responses, which must be informed by data disaggregated by incidence and prevalence, including by age, sex and mode of transmission, continue to require stronger measuring tools, data management systems and improved monitoring and evaluation capacity at the national and regional levels;
47 Note the relevant strategies of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization on HIV and AIDS;
48 Recognize that the deadlines for achieving key targets and goals set out in the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS have now expired, while noting with deep concern that many countries have been unable to fulfil their pledges to achieve them, and stress the urgent need to recommit to those targets and goals and commit to new, ambitious and achievable targets and goals building on the impressive advances of the past 10 years and addressing barriers to progress and new challenges through a revitalized and enduring HIV and AIDS response;
49 Therefore, we solemnly declare our commitment to end the epidemic with renewed political will and strong, accountable leadership and to work in meaningful partnership with all stakeholders at all levels to implement bold and decisive actions as set out below, taking into account the diverse situations and circumstances in different countries and regions throughout the world;
Leadership: uniting to end the HIV epidemic
50 Commit to seize this turning point in the HIV epidemic and through decisive, inclusive and accountable leadership to revitalize and intensify the comprehensive global HIV and AIDS response by recommitting to the commitments made in the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS and by fully implementing the commitments, goals and targets contained in the present Declaration;
51 Commit to redouble efforts to achieve, by 2015, universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support as a critical step towards ending the global HIV epidemic, with a view to achieving Millennium Development Goal 6, in particular to halt and begin to reverse by 2015 the spread of HIV;
52 Reaffirm our determination to achieve all the Millennium Development Goals, in particular Goal 6, and recognize the importance of rapidly scaling up efforts to integrate HIV prevention, treatment, care and support with efforts to achieve these goals;
53 Pledge to eliminate gender inequalities and gender-based abuse and violence, increase the capacity of women and adolescent girls to protect themselves from the risk of HIV infection, principally through the provision of health care and services, including, inter alia, sexual and reproductive health, as well as full access to comprehensive information and education, ensure that women can exercise their right to have control over, and decide freely and responsibly on, matters related to their sexuality in order to increase their ability to protect themselves from HIV infection, including their sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence, and take all necessary measures to create an enabling environment for the empowerment of women and strengthen their economic independence, and, in this context, reiterate the importance of the role of men and boys in achieving gender equality;
54 Commit by 2012 to update and implement, through inclusive, country-led and transparent processes and multisectoral national HIV and AIDS strategies and plans, including financing plans, which include time bound goals to be reached in a targeted, equitable and sustained manner, to accelerate efforts to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2015, and address unacceptably low prevention and treatment coverage;
55 Commit to increase national ownership of HIV and AIDS responses, while calling on the United Nations system, donor countries, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the business sector and international and regional organizations, to support Member States in ensuring that nationally driven, credible, costed, evidence-based, inclusive and comprehensive national HIV and AIDS strategic plans are, by 2013, funded and implemented with transparency, accountability and effectiveness in line with national priorities;
56 Commit to encouraging and supporting the active involvement and leadership of young people, including those living with HIV, in the fight against the epidemic at the local, national and global levels, and agree to work with these new leaders to help develop specific measures to engage young people about HIV, including in communities, families, schools, tertiary institutions, recreation centres and workplaces;
57 Commit to continue engaging people living with and affected by HIV in decision-making, and planning, implementing and evaluating the response, and to partner with local leaders and civil society, including community-based organizations, to develop and scale up community-led HIV services and to address stigma and discrimination;
Prevention: expand coverage, diversify approaches and intensify efforts to end new HIV infections
58 Reaffirm that prevention of HIV must be the cornerstone of national, regional and international responses to the HIV epidemic;
59 Commit to redouble HIV prevention efforts by taking all measures to implement comprehensive, evidence-based prevention approaches, taking into account local circumstances, ethics and cultural values, including through, but not limited to:
a Conducting public awareness campaigns and targeted HIV education to raise public awareness about HIV;
b Harnessing the energy of young people in helping to lead global HIV awareness;
c Reducing risk-taking behaviour and encouraging responsible sexual behaviour including abstinence, fidelity and consistent and correct use of condoms;
d Expanding access to essential commodities, particularly male and female condoms and sterile injecting equipment;
e Ensuring that all people, particularly young people, have the means to exploit the potential of new modes of connection and communication;
f Significantly expanding and promoting voluntary and confidential HIV testing and counselling and provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling;
g Intensifying national testing promotion campaigns for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections;
h Giving consideration, as appropriate, to implementing and expanding risk and harm reduction programmes, taking into account the WHO, UNODC, UNAIDS Technical Guide for countries to set targets for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care for injecting drug users in accordance with national legislation;
i Promoting medical male circumcision where HIV prevalence is high and male circumcision rates are low;
j Sensitizing and encouraging the active engagement of men and boys in promoting gender equality;
k Facilitating access to sexual and reproductive health-care services;
l Ensuring that women of child-bearing age have access to HIV prevention-related services and that pregnant women have access to antenatal care, information, counselling and other HIV services, and increasing the availability of and access to effective treatment for women living with HIV and infants;
m Strengthening evidence-based health sector prevention interventions, including in rural and hard to reach places;
n Deploying new biomedical interventions as soon as they are validated, including female-initiated prevention methods such as microbicides, HIV treatment
prophylaxis, earlier treatment as prevention, and an HIV vaccine;
60 Commit to ensure that financial resources for prevention are targeted to evidence-based prevention measures that reflect the specific nature of each country’s epidemic by focusing on geographic locations, social networks and populations vulnerable to HIV infection, according to the extent to which they account for new infections in each setting, in order to ensure that resources for HIV prevention are spent as cost-effectively as possible, and to ensuring that particular attention is paid to women and girls, young people, orphans and vulnerable children, migrants and people affected by humanitarian emergencies, prisoners, indigenous people and people with disabilities, depending on local circumstances;
61 Commit to ensure that national prevention strategies comprehensively target populations at higher risk and that systems of data collection and analysis about these populations are strengthened; and to take measures to ensure that HIV services, including voluntary and confidential HIV testing and counselling, are accessible to these populations so that they are encouraged to access HIV prevention, treatment, care and support;
62 Commit to working towards reducing sexual transmission of HIV by 50 per cent by 2015;
63 Commit to working towards reducing transmission of HIV among people who inject drugs by 50 per cent by 2015;
64 Commit to working towards the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2015 and substantially reducing AIDS-related maternal deaths;
Treatment, care and support: eliminating AIDS-related illness and death
65 Pledge to intensify efforts that will help to increase the life expectancy and quality of life of all people living with HIV;
66 Commit to accelerate efforts to achieve the goal of universal access to antiretroviral treatment for those eligible based on World Health Organization HIV treatment guidelines that indicate timely initiation of quality assured treatment for its maximum benefit, with the target of working towards having 15 million people living with HIV on antiretroviral treatment by 2015;
67 Commit to support the reduction of unit costs and improve HIV treatment delivery, including through, inter alia, provision of good quality, affordable, effective, less toxic and simplified treatment regimens that avert drug resistance, simple, affordable diagnostics at point-of-care, cost reductions for all major elements of treatment delivery, mobilization and capacity-building of communities to support treatment scale-up and patient retention, programmes that support improved treatment adherence, directing particular efforts towards hard-to-reach populations far from physical health-care facilities and programmes and those in informal settlement settings and other locations where health-care facilities are inadequate, and recognizing the supplementary prevention benefits from treatment alongside other prevention efforts;
68 Commit to develop and implement strategies to improve infant HIV diagnosis, including through access to diagnostics at point-of-care, significantly increase and improve access to treatment for children and adolescents living with HIV, including access to prophylaxis and treatments for opportunistic infections, as well as increased support to children and adolescents through increased financial, social and moral support for their parents, families and legal guardians, and promote a smooth transition from paediatric to young adult treatment and related support and services;
69 Commit to promote services that integrate prevention, treatment and care of co-occurring conditions, including tuberculosis and hepatitis, improve access to quality, affordable primary health care, comprehensive care and support services, including those which address physical, spiritual, psychosocial, socio-economic, and legal aspects of living with HIV, and palliative care services;
70 Commit to take immediate action on the national and global levels to integrate food and nutritional support into programmes directed to people affected by HIV, in order to ensure access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to enable people to meet their dietary needs and food preferences, for an active and healthy life as part of a comprehensive response to HIV and AIDS;
71 Commit to remove before 2015, where feasible, obstacles that limit the capacity of low- and middle-income countries to provide affordable and effective HIV prevention and treatment products, diagnostics, medicines and commodities and other pharmaceutical products, as well as treatment for opportunistic infections and co-infections, and to reduce costs associated with life-long chronic care, including by amending national laws and regulations, as deemed appropriate by respective Governments, so as to optimize:
a The use, to the full, of existing flexibilities under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement specifically geared to promoting access to and trade of medicines, and, while recognizing the importance of the intellectual property rights regime in contributing towards a more effective AIDS response, ensure that intellectual property rights provisions in trade agreements do not undermine these existing flexibilities, as confirmed by the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, and call for early acceptance of the amendment to article 31 of the TRIPS Agreement adopted by the General Council of the World Trade Organization in its decision of 6 December 2005;
b Addressing barriers, regulations, policies and practices that prevent access to affordable HIV treatment by promoting generic competition in order to help reduce costs associated with life-long chronic care, and by encouraging all States to apply measures and procedures for enforcing intellectual property rights in such a manner as to avoid creating barriers to the legitimate trade of medicines, and to provide for safeguards against the abuse of such measures and procedures;
c Encouraging the voluntary use, where appropriate, of new mechanisms such as partnerships, tiered pricing, open-source sharing of patents and patent pools benefiting all developing countries, including through entities such as the Medicines Patent Pool, to help reduce treatment costs and encourage development of new HIV treatment formulations, including HIV medicines and point-of-care diagnostics, in particular for children;
72 Urge relevant international organizations, upon request and in accordance with their respective mandates, such as, where appropriate, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization, to provide national Governments of developing countries with technical and capacity-building assistance for the efforts of those Governments to increase access to HIV medicines and treatment, in accordance with the national strategies of each Government, consistent with, and including through the use of, existing flexibilities under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement, as confirmed by the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health;
73 Commit by 2015 to address factors that limit treatment uptake and contribute to treatment stock-outs and delays in drug production and delivery, inadequate storage of medicines, patient drop-out, including inadequate and inaccessible transportation to clinical sites, lack of accessibility of information, resources and sites, especially to persons with disabilities, sub-optimal management of treatment-related side effects, poor adherence to treatment, out-of-pocket expenses for non-drug components of treatment, loss of income associated with clinic attendance, and inadequate human resources for health care;
74 Call on pharmaceutical companies to take measures to ensure timely production and delivery of affordable, good quality and effective antiretroviral medicines so as to contribute to maintaining an efficient national system of distribution of these medicines;
75 Expand efforts to combat tuberculosis, which is a leading cause of death among people living with HIV, by improving tuberculosis screening, tuberculosis prevention, access to diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis and access to antiretroviral therapy, through more integrated delivery of HIV and tuberculosis services in line with the Global Plan to Stop TB, 2011-2015, and commit by 2015 to work towards reducing tuberculosis deaths in people living with HIV by 50 per cent;
76 Commit to reduce the high rates of HIV and hepatitis B and C co-infection by developing as soon as practicable an estimate of the global treatment need, increasing efforts towards the development of a vaccination for hepatitis C and rapidly expanding access to appropriate vaccination for hepatitis B and diagnostics and treatment of HIV and hepatitis co-infections;
Advancing human rights to reduce stigma, discrimination and violence related to HIV
77 Commit to intensify national efforts to create enabling legal, social and policy frameworks in each national context in order to eliminate stigma, discrimination and violence related to HIV and promote access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and non-discriminatory access to education, health care, employment and social services, provide legal protections for people affected by HIV, including inheritance rights and respect for privacy and confidentiality, and promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms with particular attention to all people vulnerable to and affected by HIV;
78 Commit to review, as appropriate, laws and policies that adversely affect the successful, effective and equitable delivery of HIV prevention, treatment, care and support programmes to people living with and affected by HIV, and consider their review in accordance with relevant national review frameworks and time frames;
79 Encourage Member States to consider identifying and reviewing any remaining HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay and residence so as to eliminate them;
80 Commit to national HIV and AIDS strategies that promote and protect human rights, including programmes aimed at eliminating stigma and discrimination against people living with and affected by HIV, including their families, including through sensitizing the police and judges, training health-care workers in non-discrimination, confidentiality and informed consent, supporting national human rights learning campaigns, legal literacy and legal services, as well as monitoring the impact of the legal environment on HIV prevention, treatment, care and support;
81 Commit to ensuring that national responses to HIV and AIDS meet the specific needs of women and girls, including those living with and affected by HIV, across their lifespan, through strengthening legal, policy, administrative and other measures for the promotion and protection of women’s full enjoyment of all human rights and the reduction of their vulnerability to HIV through the elimination of all forms of discrimination, as well as all types of sexual exploitation of women, girls and boys, including for commercial reasons, and all forms of violence against women and girls, including harmful traditional and customary practices, abuse, rape and other forms of sexual violence, battering and trafficking in women and girls;
82 Commit to strengthen national social and child protection systems and care and support programmes for children, in particular for the girl child, and adolescents affected by and vulnerable to HIV, as well as their families and caregivers, including through the provision of equal opportunities to support the development to full potential of orphans and other children affected by and living with HIV, especially through equal access to education, the creation of safe and non-discriminatory learning environments, supportive legal systems and protections, including civil registration systems, and provision of comprehensive information and support to children and their families and caregivers, especially age-appropriate HIV information to assist children living with HIV as they transition through adolescence, consistent with their evolving capacities;
83 Commit to promoting laws and policies that ensure the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for young people, particularly those living with HIV and those at higher risk of HIV infection, so as to eliminate the stigma and discrimination they face;
84 Commit to address, according to national legislation, the vulnerabilities to HIV experienced by migrant and mobile populations and support their access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support;
85 Commit to mitigate the impact of the epidemic on workers, their families, their dependants, workplaces and economies, including by taking into account all relevant conventions of the International Labour Organization, as well as the guidance provided by the relevant International Labour Organization recommendations, including Recommendation No. 200, and call on employers, trade and labour unions, employees and volunteers to eliminate stigma and discrimination, protect human rights and facilitate access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support;
Resources for the AIDS response
86 Commit to working towards closing the global HIV and AIDS resource gap by 2015, currently estimated by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS to be $6 billion annually, through greater strategic investment, continued domestic and international funding to enable countries to access predictable and sustainable financial resources and sources of innovative financing, and by ensuring that funding flows through country finance systems, where appropriate and available, and is aligned with accountable and sustainable national HIV and AIDS and development strategies that maximize synergies and deliver sustainable programmes that are evidence-based and implemented with transparency, accountability and effectiveness;
87 Commit to breaking the upward trajectory of costs through the efficient utilization of resources, addressing barriers to the legal trade of generics and other low-cost medicines, improving the efficiency of prevention by targeting interventions to deliver more efficient, innovative and sustainable programmes for the HIV and AIDS response, in accordance with national development plans and priorities, and ensuring that synergies are exploited between the HIV and AIDS response and efforts to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals;
88 Commit by 2015, through a series of incremental steps and through our shared responsibility, to reach a significant level of annual global expenditure on HIV and AIDS, while recognizing that the overall target estimated by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS is between $22 billion and $24 billion in low- and middle-income countries, by increasing national ownership of HIV and AIDS responses through greater allocations from national resources and traditional sources of funding, including official development assistance;
89 Strongly urge those developed countries which have pledged to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product for official development assistance by 2015, and urge those developed countries that have not yet done so, to make additional concrete efforts to fulfil their commitments in this regard;
90 Strongly urge African countries that adopted the Abuja Declaration and Framework for Action for the Fight against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other Diseases to take concrete measures to meet the target of allocating at least 15 per cent of their annual budget to the improvement of the health sector, in accordance with the Abuja Declaration and Framework for Action;
91 Commit to enhance the quality of aid by strengthening national ownership, alignment, harmonization, predictability, mutual accountability and transparency, and results-orientation;
92 Commit to supporting and strengthening existing financial mechanisms, including the Global Fund and relevant United Nations organizations, through the provision of funds in a sustained and predictable manner, in particular to those countries with low and middle incomes with a high disease burden or a large number of people living with and affected by HIV;
93 Recommit to fully implementing the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and agree to cancel all eligible bilateral official debts of qualified countries within the Initiative, who reach the completion point under the initiative, in particular the countries most affected by HIV and AIDS, and urge the use of debt service savings, inter alia, to finance poverty eradication programmes, particularly for prevention, treatment, care and support for HIV and AIDS and other infections;
94 Commit to scaling up new, voluntary and additional innovative financing mechanisms to help address the shortfall of resources available for the global HIV and AIDS response and to improve the financing of the HIV and AIDS response over the long term, and to accelerating efforts to identify innovative financing mechanisms that will generate additional financial resources for HIV and AIDS to complement national budgetary allocations and official development assistance;
95 Appreciate that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a pivotal mechanism for achieving universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support by 2015, recognize the programme for reform of the Global Fund, and encourage Member States, the business community, including foundations, and philanthropists to provide the highest level of support for the Global Fund, taking into account the funding targets to be identified at the 2012 midterm review of the Global Fund replenishment process;
Strengthening health systems and integrating HIV and AIDS into broader health and development
96 Commit to redouble efforts to strengthen health systems, including primary health care, particularly in developing countries, through measures such as allocating national and international resources, appropriate decentralization of HIV and AIDS programmes to improve access for communities, including rural and hard-to-reach populations, integration of HIV and AIDS programmes into primary health care, sexual and reproductive health-care services and specialized infectious disease services, improving planning for institutional, infrastructure and human resource needs, improving supply chain management within health systems, and increasing human resource capacity for the response, including by scaling up the training and retention of human resources for health policy and planning, health-care personnel, consistent with the World Health Organization voluntary Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, community health workers and peer educators, and with support from and in partnership with international and regional organizations, the business sector and civil society, as appropriate;
97 Support and encourage, through domestic and international funding and the provision of technical assistance, the substantial development of human capital, development of national and international research infrastructures, laboratory capacity, improved
surveillance systems, and data collection, processing and dissemination, and training basic and clinical researchers, social scientists and technicians, with a focus on those countries most affected by HIV and/or experiencing or at risk of a rapid expansion of the epidemic;
98 Commit by 2015 to working with partners to direct resources to and strengthen the advocacy, policy and programmatic links between HIV and tuberculosis responses, primary health-care services, sexual and reproductive health, maternal and child health, hepatitis B and C, drug dependence, non-communicable diseases and overall health systems, leverage health-care services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, strengthen the interface between HIV services, related sexual and reproductive health care and services and other health services, including maternal and child health, eliminate parallel systems for HIV-related services and information where feasible, and strengthen linkages among national and global efforts concerned with human and national development, including poverty eradication, preventative health care, enhanced nutrition, access to safe and clean drinking water, sanitation, education and the improvement of livelihoods;
99 Commit to supporting all national, regional and global efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including those undertaken through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation, to improve comprehensive and integrated HIV prevention, treatment, care and support programmes, as well as tuberculosis, sexual and reproductive health, malaria and maternal and child health care;
Research and development: the key to preventing, treating and curing HIV
100 Commit to investing in accelerated basic research on the development of sustainable and affordable HIV and tuberculosis diagnostics and treatments for HIV and its
associated co-infections, microbicides and other new prevention technologies, including female-controlled prevention methods, rapid diagnostic and monitoring technologies, as well as biomedical operations, social, cultural and behavioural and traditional medicine research and continue to build national research capacity, especially in developing countries, through increased funding and public-private partnerships, and create a conducive environment for research and ensure that it is based on the highest ethical and scientific standards and strengthening national regulatory authorities;
101 Commit to accelerate research and development for a safe, affordable, effective and accessible vaccine and for a cure for HIV, while ensuring that sustainable systems for vaccine procurement and equitable distribution are also developed;
Coordination, monitoring and accountability: maximizing the response
102 Commit to having effective evidence-based operational monitoring and evaluation and mutual accountability mechanisms between all stakeholders to support multisectoral national strategic plans for HIV and AIDS to fulfil the commitments in the present Declaration, with the active involvement of people living with, affected by and vulnerable to HIV, and other relevant civil society and private sector stakeholders;
103 Commit to revise by the end of 2012 the recommended framework of core indicators that reflect the commitments made in the present Declaration and to develop additional measures, where necessary, to strengthen national, regional and global coordination and monitoring mechanisms of HIV and AIDS responses through inclusive and transparent processes with the full involvement of Member States and other relevant stakeholders, with the support of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS;
Follow up: sustaining progress
104 Encourage and support the exchange among countries and regions of information, research, evidence and experiences for implementing the measures and commitments related to the global HIV and AIDS response and in particular those contained in the present Declaration, facilitate intensified North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation, as well as regional, subregional and interregional cooperation and coordination, and, in this regard, continue to encourage the Economic and Social Council to request the regional commissions, within their respective mandates and resources, to support periodic, inclusive reviews of national efforts and progress made in their respective regions to combat HIV;
105 Request the Secretary-General to provide an annual report to the General Assembly on progress achieved in realizing the commitments made in the present Declaration, and, with support from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, report progress to the Assembly in accordance with global reporting on the Millennium Development Goals at the 2013 and subsequent Millennium Development Goal reviews.
unaids.org
2 Resolution 60/262, annex.
1 We, Heads of State and Government and representatives of States and Governments assembled at the United Nations from 8 to 10 June 2011 to review progress achieved in realizing the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS1 and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS,2 with a view to guiding and intensifying the global response to HIV and AIDS by promoting continued political commitment and engagement of leaders in a comprehensive response at the community, local, national, regional and international levels to halt and reverse the HIV epidemic and mitigate its impact;
2 Reaffirm the sovereign rights of Member States, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, and the need for all countries to implement the commitments and pledges in the present Declaration consistent with national laws, national development priorities and international human rights;
3 Reaffirm the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS and the urgent need to scale up significantly our efforts towards the goal of universal access to comprehensive prevention programmes, treatment, care and support;
4 Recognize that although HIV and AIDS are affecting every region of the world, each country’s epidemic is distinctive in terms of drivers, vulnerabilities, aggravating factors and the populations that are affected, and therefore the responses from both the international community and the countries themselves must be uniquely tailored to each particular situation taking into account the epidemiological and social context of each country concerned;
5 Acknowledge the significance of this high-level meeting, which marks three decades since the first report of AIDS, ten years since the adoption of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and its time-bound measurable goals and targets, and five years since the adoption of the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS and its commitment to urgently scale up responses towards achieving the goal of universal access to comprehensive prevention programmes, treatment, care and support by 2010;
3 Resolution 65/1.
6 Reaffirm our commitment to the achievement of all the Millennium Development Goals, in particular Goal 6, and, recognizing the importance of rapidly scaling up efforts to integrate HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support with efforts to achieve those Goals, in this regard welcome the outcome of the 2010 High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals entitled “Keeping the promise: united to achieve the Millennium Development Goals”;3
7 Recognize that HIV and AIDS constitute a global emergency, pose one of the most
formidable challenges to the development, progress and stability of our respective societies and the world at large and require an exceptional and comprehensive global response that takes into account that the spread of HIV is often a consequence and cause of poverty;
8 Note with deep concern that despite substantial progress over the three decades since AIDS was first reported, the HIV epidemic remains an unprecedented human
catastrophe inflicting immense suffering on countries, communities and families throughout the world, that more than 30 million people have died from AIDS, with another estimated 33 million people living with HIV, that more than 16 million children have been orphaned because of AIDS, that over 7,000 new HIV infections occur every day, mostly among people in low- and middle-income countries, and that less than half of the people living with HIV are believed to be aware of their infection;
9 Reiterate with profound concern that Africa, in particular sub-Saharan Africa, remains the worst affected region and that urgent and exceptional action is required at all levels to curb the devastating effects of this epidemic, and recognize the renewed commitment by African Governments and regional institutions to scale up their own HIV and AIDS responses;
10 Express deep concern that HIV and AIDS affect every region of the world and that the Caribbean continues to have the highest prevalence outside sub-Saharan Africa, while the number of new HIV infections is increasing in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, North Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia and the Pacific;
11 Welcome the leadership and commitment shown in every aspect of the HIV and AIDS response by Governments, people living with HIV, political and community leaders, parliaments, regional and subregional organizations, communities, families, faith-based organizations, scientists, health professionals, donors, the philanthropic community, workforces, the business sector, civil society and the media;
12 Welcome the exceptional efforts at the national, regional and international levels to implement the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS and the important progress being achieved, including a more than 25 per cent reduction in the rate of new HIV infections in over 30 countries, the significant reduction in mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and the unprecedented expansion of access to HIV antiretroviral treatment to over 6 million people, resulting in the reduction of AIDS-related deaths by more than 20 per cent in the past five years;
13 Recognize that the worldwide commitment to the global HIV epidemic has been unprecedented since the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, represented by an over eight-fold increase in funding from $1.8 billion in 2001 to $16 billion in 2010, the largest amount dedicated to combating a single disease in history;
14 Express deep concern that funding devoted to HIV and AIDS responses is still not commensurate with the magnitude of the epidemic either nationally or internationally, and that the global financial and economic crisis continues to have a negative impact on the HIV and AIDS response at all levels, including the fact that for the first time international assistance has not increased from the levels in 2008 and 2009, and in this regard welcome the increased resources that are being made available as a result of the establishment by many developed countries of timetables to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product for official development assistance by 2015, stressing also the importance of complementary innovative sources of financing, in addition to traditional funding, including official development assistance to support national strategies, financing plans and multilateral efforts aimed at combating HIV and AIDS;
15 Stress the importance of international cooperation, including the role of North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation, in the global response to HIV and AIDS, bearing in mind that South-South cooperation is not a substitute for, but rather a complement to, North-South cooperation, and recognize the shared but differentiated responsibilities and respective capacities of Governments and donor countries, as well as civil society, including the private sector, while noting that national ownership and leadership are absolutely indispensable in this regard;
16 Commend the Secretariat and the co-sponsors of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS for their leadership role on HIV/AIDS policy and coordination and for the support they provide to countries through the Joint Programme;
17 Commend the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for the vital role it is playing in mobilizing and providing funding for national and regional HIV and AIDS responses and in improving the predictability of financing over the long-term, and welcome the commitment of over $30 billion in funding from donors to date, including the significant pledges made by donors at the 2010 Global Fund replenishment meeting; note with concern that while these pledges represented an increase in financing, they fall short of the amounts targeted by the Global Fund to further accelerate progress towards universal access, and recognize that to reach that goal it is imperative that the work of the Global Fund be supported and also that it be adequately funded;
18 Commend also the work of the International Drug Purchase Facility, based on innovative financing and focusing on accessibility, quality and price-reduction of antiretroviral drugs;
19 Welcome the United Nations Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, undertaken by a broad coalition of partners in support of national plans and strategies, to significantly reduce the number of maternal, newborn and under-five child deaths, as a matter of immediate concern, including by scaling up a priority package of high-impact interventions and integrating efforts in sectors such as health, education, gender equality, water and sanitation, poverty reduction and nutrition;
20 Recognize that agrarian economies are heavily affected by HIV and AIDS, which debilitate their communities and families with negative consequences for poverty eradication, that people die prematurely from AIDS because, inter alia, poor nutrition exacerbates the impact of HIV on the immune system and compromises its ability to respond to opportunistic infections and diseases, and that HIV treatment, including antiretroviral treatment, should be complemented with adequate food and nutrition;
21 Remain deeply concerned that globally women and girls are still the most affected by the epidemic and that they bear a disproportionate share of the care-giving burden, and that the ability of women and girls to protect themselves from HIV continues to be compromised by physiological factors, gender inequalities, including unequal legal, economic and social status, insufficient access to health care and services, including for sexual and reproductive health, and all forms of discrimination and violence, including sexual violence and exploitation against them;
22 Welcome the establishment of UN-Women as a new stakeholder that can play an important role in global efforts to combat HIV by promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women, which are fundamental for reducing the vulnerability of women to HIV, and the appointment of the first Executive Director of UN-Women;
4 Resolution 61/106, annex I.
23 Welcome the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,4 and recognize the need to take into account the rights of persons with disabilities as
set forth in that Convention, in particular with regard to health, education, accessibility and information, in the formulation of our global response to HIV and AIDS;
24 Note with appreciation the efforts of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in supporting national parliaments to ensure an enabling legal environment supportive of effective national responses to HIV and AIDS;
25 Express grave concern that young people between the ages of 15 and 24 years account for more than one third of all new HIV infections, with some 3,000 young people becoming infected with HIV each day, and note that most young people still have limited access to good quality education, decent employment and recreational facilities, as well as limited access to sexual and reproductive health programmes that provide the information, skills, services and commodities they need to protect themselves that only 34 per cent of young people possess accurate knowledge of HIV, and that laws and policies in some instances exclude young people from accessing sexual health-care and HIV-related services, such as voluntary and confidential HIV-testing, counselling and age-appropriate sex and HIV prevention education, while also recognizing the importance of reducing risk taking behaviour and encouraging responsible sexual behaviour, including abstinence, fidelity and correct and consistent use of condoms;
26 Note with alarm the rise in the incidence of HIV among people who inject drugs and that, despite continuing increased efforts by all relevant stakeholders, the drug problem continues to constitute a serious threat to, among other things, public health and safety and the well-being of humanity, in particular children and young people and their families, and recognize that much more needs to be done to effectively combat the world drug problem;
27 Recall our commitment that prevention must be the cornerstone of the global HIV and AIDS response, but note that many national HIV prevention programmes and spending priorities do not adequately reflect this commitment, that spending on HIV prevention is insufficient to mount a vigorous, effective and comprehensive global HIV prevention response, that national prevention programmes are often not sufficiently coordinated and evidence-based, that prevention strategies do not adequately reflect infection patterns or sufficiently focus on populations at higher risk of HIV, and that only 33 per cent of countries have prevalence targets for young people and only 34 per cent have specific goals in place for condom programming;
28 Note with concern that national prevention strategies and programmes are often too generic in nature and do not adequately respond to infection patterns and the disease burden; for example, where heterosexual sex is the dominant mode of transmission, married or cohabitating individuals, including those in sero-discordant relationships, account for the majority of new infections but they are not sufficiently targeted with testing and prevention interventions;
29 Note that many national HIV prevention strategies inadequately focus on populations that epidemiological evidence shows are at higher risk, specifically men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs and sex workers, and further note, however, that each country should define the specific populations that are key to its epidemic and response, based on the epidemiological and national context;
30 Note with grave concern that despite the near elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in high-income countries and the availability of low-cost interventions to prevent transmission, approximately 370,000 infants were estimated to have been infected with HIV in 2009;
31 Note with concern that prevention, treatment, care and support programmes have been inadequately targeted or made accessible to persons with disabilities;
32 Recognize that access to safe, effective, affordable, good-quality medicines and commodities in the context of epidemics such as HIV is fundamental to the full realization of the right of everyone to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;
33 Express grave concern that the majority of low- and middle-income countries did not meet their universal access to HIV treatment targets, despite the major achievement of expansion in providing access to antiretroviral treatment to over 6 million people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries, that there are at least 10 million people living with HIV who are medically eligible to start antiretroviral treatment now, that discontinued treatment is a threat to treatment efficacy, and that the sustainability of providing life-long HIV treatment is threatened by factors such as poverty, lack of access to treatment and insufficient and unpredictable funding and by the number of new HIV infections outpacing the number of people starting HIV treatment by a factor of two to one;
34 Recognize the pivotal role of research in underpinning progress in HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and welcome the extraordinary advances in scientific knowledge about HIV and its prevention and treatment, but note with concern that most new treatments are not available or accessible in low- and middle-income countries and even in developed countries there are often significant delays in accessing new HIV treatments for people not responding to currently available treatment; and affirm the importance of social and operational research in improving our understanding of factors that influence the epidemic and actions that address it;
35 Recognize the critical importance of affordable medicines, including generics in scaling up access to affordable HIV treatment; and further recognize that protection and enforcement measures for intellectual property rights should be compliant with Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement and should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of the right of Member States to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all;
36 Note with concern that regulations, policies and practices, including those that limit legitimate trade of generic medicines, may seriously limit access to affordable HIV treatment and other pharmaceutical products in low- and middle-income countries, and recognize that improvements can be made, inter alia through national legislation, regulatory policy and supply chain management, and note that reductions in barriers to affordable products could be explored in order to expand access to affordable and good quality HIV prevention products, diagnostics, medicine and treatment commodities for HIV, including for opportunistic infections and co-infections;
37 Recognize that there are additional means to reverse the global epidemic and avert millions of HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths, and in this context also recognize that new and potential scientific evidence is available that could contribute to the effectiveness and scaling up of prevention, treatment, care and support programmes;
5 Resolution 217 A (III).
38 Reaffirm the commitment to fulfil obligations to promote universal respect for and the observance and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights5 and other instruments relating to human rights and international law; and emphasize the importance of cultural, ethical and religious values, the vital role of the family and the community and in particular people living with and affected by HIV, including their families, and the need to take into account the particularities of each country in sustaining national HIV and AIDS responses, reaching all people living with HIV, delivering HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and strengthening health systems, in particular primary health care;
39 Reaffirm that the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all is an essential element in the global response to the HIV epidemic, including in the areas of prevention, treatment, care and support, recognize that addressing stigma and discrimination against people living with, presumed to be living with or affected by HIV, including their families, is also a critical element in combating the global HIV epidemic, and recognize also the need, as appropriate, to strengthen national policies and legislation to address such stigma and discrimination;
40 Recognize that close cooperation with people living with HIV and populations at higher risk of HIV infection will facilitate the achievement of a more effective HIV and AIDS response, and emphasize that people living with and affected by HIV, including their families, should enjoy equal participation in social, economic and cultural activities, without prejudice and discrimination, and that they should have equal access to health care and community support as all members of the community;
41 Recognize that access to sexual and reproductive health has been and continues to be essential for HIV and AIDS responses, and that Governments have the responsibility to provide for public health, with special attention to families, women and children;
42 Recognize the importance of strengthening health systems, in particular primary health care and the need to integrate the HIV response into it, and note that weak health systems, which already face many challenges, including a lack of trained and retention of skilled health workers, are among the biggest barriers to access HIV/AIDS-related services;
43 Reaffirm the central role of the family, bearing in mind that in different cultural, social and political systems various forms of the family exist, in reducing vulnerability to HIV, inter alia in educating and guiding children, and take account of cultural, religious and ethical factors in reducing the vulnerability of children and young people by ensuring access of both girls and boys to primary and secondary education, including HIV and AIDS in curricula for adolescents, ensuring safe and secure environments especially for young girls, expanding good-quality youth-friendly information and sexual health education and counselling services, strengthening reproductive and sexual health programmes, and involving families and young people in planning, implementing and evaluating HIV and AIDS prevention and care programmes, to the extent possible;
44 Recognize the role that community organizations play, including those run by people living with HIV, in sustaining national and local HIV and AIDS responses, reaching all people living with HIV, delivering prevention, treatment, care and support services and strengthening health systems, in particular the primary health-care approach;
45 Acknowledge that the current trajectory of costs of HIV programmes is not sustainable and that programmes must become more cost-effective and evidence-based and deliver better value for money, and that poorly coordinated and transaction-heavy responses and lack of proper governance and financial accountability impede progress;
46 Note with concern that evidence-based responses, which must be informed by data disaggregated by incidence and prevalence, including by age, sex and mode of transmission, continue to require stronger measuring tools, data management systems and improved monitoring and evaluation capacity at the national and regional levels;
47 Note the relevant strategies of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization on HIV and AIDS;
48 Recognize that the deadlines for achieving key targets and goals set out in the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS have now expired, while noting with deep concern that many countries have been unable to fulfil their pledges to achieve them, and stress the urgent need to recommit to those targets and goals and commit to new, ambitious and achievable targets and goals building on the impressive advances of the past 10 years and addressing barriers to progress and new challenges through a revitalized and enduring HIV and AIDS response;
49 Therefore, we solemnly declare our commitment to end the epidemic with renewed political will and strong, accountable leadership and to work in meaningful partnership with all stakeholders at all levels to implement bold and decisive actions as set out below, taking into account the diverse situations and circumstances in different countries and regions throughout the world;
Leadership: uniting to end the HIV epidemic
50 Commit to seize this turning point in the HIV epidemic and through decisive, inclusive and accountable leadership to revitalize and intensify the comprehensive global HIV and AIDS response by recommitting to the commitments made in the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS and by fully implementing the commitments, goals and targets contained in the present Declaration;
51 Commit to redouble efforts to achieve, by 2015, universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support as a critical step towards ending the global HIV epidemic, with a view to achieving Millennium Development Goal 6, in particular to halt and begin to reverse by 2015 the spread of HIV;
52 Reaffirm our determination to achieve all the Millennium Development Goals, in particular Goal 6, and recognize the importance of rapidly scaling up efforts to integrate HIV prevention, treatment, care and support with efforts to achieve these goals;
53 Pledge to eliminate gender inequalities and gender-based abuse and violence, increase the capacity of women and adolescent girls to protect themselves from the risk of HIV infection, principally through the provision of health care and services, including, inter alia, sexual and reproductive health, as well as full access to comprehensive information and education, ensure that women can exercise their right to have control over, and decide freely and responsibly on, matters related to their sexuality in order to increase their ability to protect themselves from HIV infection, including their sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence, and take all necessary measures to create an enabling environment for the empowerment of women and strengthen their economic independence, and, in this context, reiterate the importance of the role of men and boys in achieving gender equality;
54 Commit by 2012 to update and implement, through inclusive, country-led and transparent processes and multisectoral national HIV and AIDS strategies and plans, including financing plans, which include time bound goals to be reached in a targeted, equitable and sustained manner, to accelerate efforts to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2015, and address unacceptably low prevention and treatment coverage;
55 Commit to increase national ownership of HIV and AIDS responses, while calling on the United Nations system, donor countries, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the business sector and international and regional organizations, to support Member States in ensuring that nationally driven, credible, costed, evidence-based, inclusive and comprehensive national HIV and AIDS strategic plans are, by 2013, funded and implemented with transparency, accountability and effectiveness in line with national priorities;
56 Commit to encouraging and supporting the active involvement and leadership of young people, including those living with HIV, in the fight against the epidemic at the local, national and global levels, and agree to work with these new leaders to help develop specific measures to engage young people about HIV, including in communities, families, schools, tertiary institutions, recreation centres and workplaces;
57 Commit to continue engaging people living with and affected by HIV in decision-making, and planning, implementing and evaluating the response, and to partner with local leaders and civil society, including community-based organizations, to develop and scale up community-led HIV services and to address stigma and discrimination;
Prevention: expand coverage, diversify approaches and intensify efforts to end new HIV infections
58 Reaffirm that prevention of HIV must be the cornerstone of national, regional and international responses to the HIV epidemic;
59 Commit to redouble HIV prevention efforts by taking all measures to implement comprehensive, evidence-based prevention approaches, taking into account local circumstances, ethics and cultural values, including through, but not limited to:
a Conducting public awareness campaigns and targeted HIV education to raise public awareness about HIV;
b Harnessing the energy of young people in helping to lead global HIV awareness;
c Reducing risk-taking behaviour and encouraging responsible sexual behaviour including abstinence, fidelity and consistent and correct use of condoms;
d Expanding access to essential commodities, particularly male and female condoms and sterile injecting equipment;
e Ensuring that all people, particularly young people, have the means to exploit the potential of new modes of connection and communication;
f Significantly expanding and promoting voluntary and confidential HIV testing and counselling and provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling;
g Intensifying national testing promotion campaigns for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections;
h Giving consideration, as appropriate, to implementing and expanding risk and harm reduction programmes, taking into account the WHO, UNODC, UNAIDS Technical Guide for countries to set targets for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care for injecting drug users in accordance with national legislation;
i Promoting medical male circumcision where HIV prevalence is high and male circumcision rates are low;
j Sensitizing and encouraging the active engagement of men and boys in promoting gender equality;
k Facilitating access to sexual and reproductive health-care services;
l Ensuring that women of child-bearing age have access to HIV prevention-related services and that pregnant women have access to antenatal care, information, counselling and other HIV services, and increasing the availability of and access to effective treatment for women living with HIV and infants;
m Strengthening evidence-based health sector prevention interventions, including in rural and hard to reach places;
n Deploying new biomedical interventions as soon as they are validated, including female-initiated prevention methods such as microbicides, HIV treatment
prophylaxis, earlier treatment as prevention, and an HIV vaccine;
60 Commit to ensure that financial resources for prevention are targeted to evidence-based prevention measures that reflect the specific nature of each country’s epidemic by focusing on geographic locations, social networks and populations vulnerable to HIV infection, according to the extent to which they account for new infections in each setting, in order to ensure that resources for HIV prevention are spent as cost-effectively as possible, and to ensuring that particular attention is paid to women and girls, young people, orphans and vulnerable children, migrants and people affected by humanitarian emergencies, prisoners, indigenous people and people with disabilities, depending on local circumstances;
61 Commit to ensure that national prevention strategies comprehensively target populations at higher risk and that systems of data collection and analysis about these populations are strengthened; and to take measures to ensure that HIV services, including voluntary and confidential HIV testing and counselling, are accessible to these populations so that they are encouraged to access HIV prevention, treatment, care and support;
62 Commit to working towards reducing sexual transmission of HIV by 50 per cent by 2015;
63 Commit to working towards reducing transmission of HIV among people who inject drugs by 50 per cent by 2015;
64 Commit to working towards the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2015 and substantially reducing AIDS-related maternal deaths;
Treatment, care and support: eliminating AIDS-related illness and death
65 Pledge to intensify efforts that will help to increase the life expectancy and quality of life of all people living with HIV;
66 Commit to accelerate efforts to achieve the goal of universal access to antiretroviral treatment for those eligible based on World Health Organization HIV treatment guidelines that indicate timely initiation of quality assured treatment for its maximum benefit, with the target of working towards having 15 million people living with HIV on antiretroviral treatment by 2015;
67 Commit to support the reduction of unit costs and improve HIV treatment delivery, including through, inter alia, provision of good quality, affordable, effective, less toxic and simplified treatment regimens that avert drug resistance, simple, affordable diagnostics at point-of-care, cost reductions for all major elements of treatment delivery, mobilization and capacity-building of communities to support treatment scale-up and patient retention, programmes that support improved treatment adherence, directing particular efforts towards hard-to-reach populations far from physical health-care facilities and programmes and those in informal settlement settings and other locations where health-care facilities are inadequate, and recognizing the supplementary prevention benefits from treatment alongside other prevention efforts;
68 Commit to develop and implement strategies to improve infant HIV diagnosis, including through access to diagnostics at point-of-care, significantly increase and improve access to treatment for children and adolescents living with HIV, including access to prophylaxis and treatments for opportunistic infections, as well as increased support to children and adolescents through increased financial, social and moral support for their parents, families and legal guardians, and promote a smooth transition from paediatric to young adult treatment and related support and services;
69 Commit to promote services that integrate prevention, treatment and care of co-occurring conditions, including tuberculosis and hepatitis, improve access to quality, affordable primary health care, comprehensive care and support services, including those which address physical, spiritual, psychosocial, socio-economic, and legal aspects of living with HIV, and palliative care services;
70 Commit to take immediate action on the national and global levels to integrate food and nutritional support into programmes directed to people affected by HIV, in order to ensure access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to enable people to meet their dietary needs and food preferences, for an active and healthy life as part of a comprehensive response to HIV and AIDS;
71 Commit to remove before 2015, where feasible, obstacles that limit the capacity of low- and middle-income countries to provide affordable and effective HIV prevention and treatment products, diagnostics, medicines and commodities and other pharmaceutical products, as well as treatment for opportunistic infections and co-infections, and to reduce costs associated with life-long chronic care, including by amending national laws and regulations, as deemed appropriate by respective Governments, so as to optimize:
a The use, to the full, of existing flexibilities under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement specifically geared to promoting access to and trade of medicines, and, while recognizing the importance of the intellectual property rights regime in contributing towards a more effective AIDS response, ensure that intellectual property rights provisions in trade agreements do not undermine these existing flexibilities, as confirmed by the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, and call for early acceptance of the amendment to article 31 of the TRIPS Agreement adopted by the General Council of the World Trade Organization in its decision of 6 December 2005;
b Addressing barriers, regulations, policies and practices that prevent access to affordable HIV treatment by promoting generic competition in order to help reduce costs associated with life-long chronic care, and by encouraging all States to apply measures and procedures for enforcing intellectual property rights in such a manner as to avoid creating barriers to the legitimate trade of medicines, and to provide for safeguards against the abuse of such measures and procedures;
c Encouraging the voluntary use, where appropriate, of new mechanisms such as partnerships, tiered pricing, open-source sharing of patents and patent pools benefiting all developing countries, including through entities such as the Medicines Patent Pool, to help reduce treatment costs and encourage development of new HIV treatment formulations, including HIV medicines and point-of-care diagnostics, in particular for children;
72 Urge relevant international organizations, upon request and in accordance with their respective mandates, such as, where appropriate, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization, to provide national Governments of developing countries with technical and capacity-building assistance for the efforts of those Governments to increase access to HIV medicines and treatment, in accordance with the national strategies of each Government, consistent with, and including through the use of, existing flexibilities under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement, as confirmed by the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health;
73 Commit by 2015 to address factors that limit treatment uptake and contribute to treatment stock-outs and delays in drug production and delivery, inadequate storage of medicines, patient drop-out, including inadequate and inaccessible transportation to clinical sites, lack of accessibility of information, resources and sites, especially to persons with disabilities, sub-optimal management of treatment-related side effects, poor adherence to treatment, out-of-pocket expenses for non-drug components of treatment, loss of income associated with clinic attendance, and inadequate human resources for health care;
74 Call on pharmaceutical companies to take measures to ensure timely production and delivery of affordable, good quality and effective antiretroviral medicines so as to contribute to maintaining an efficient national system of distribution of these medicines;
75 Expand efforts to combat tuberculosis, which is a leading cause of death among people living with HIV, by improving tuberculosis screening, tuberculosis prevention, access to diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis and access to antiretroviral therapy, through more integrated delivery of HIV and tuberculosis services in line with the Global Plan to Stop TB, 2011-2015, and commit by 2015 to work towards reducing tuberculosis deaths in people living with HIV by 50 per cent;
76 Commit to reduce the high rates of HIV and hepatitis B and C co-infection by developing as soon as practicable an estimate of the global treatment need, increasing efforts towards the development of a vaccination for hepatitis C and rapidly expanding access to appropriate vaccination for hepatitis B and diagnostics and treatment of HIV and hepatitis co-infections;
Advancing human rights to reduce stigma, discrimination and violence related to HIV
77 Commit to intensify national efforts to create enabling legal, social and policy frameworks in each national context in order to eliminate stigma, discrimination and violence related to HIV and promote access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and non-discriminatory access to education, health care, employment and social services, provide legal protections for people affected by HIV, including inheritance rights and respect for privacy and confidentiality, and promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms with particular attention to all people vulnerable to and affected by HIV;
78 Commit to review, as appropriate, laws and policies that adversely affect the successful, effective and equitable delivery of HIV prevention, treatment, care and support programmes to people living with and affected by HIV, and consider their review in accordance with relevant national review frameworks and time frames;
79 Encourage Member States to consider identifying and reviewing any remaining HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay and residence so as to eliminate them;
80 Commit to national HIV and AIDS strategies that promote and protect human rights, including programmes aimed at eliminating stigma and discrimination against people living with and affected by HIV, including their families, including through sensitizing the police and judges, training health-care workers in non-discrimination, confidentiality and informed consent, supporting national human rights learning campaigns, legal literacy and legal services, as well as monitoring the impact of the legal environment on HIV prevention, treatment, care and support;
81 Commit to ensuring that national responses to HIV and AIDS meet the specific needs of women and girls, including those living with and affected by HIV, across their lifespan, through strengthening legal, policy, administrative and other measures for the promotion and protection of women’s full enjoyment of all human rights and the reduction of their vulnerability to HIV through the elimination of all forms of discrimination, as well as all types of sexual exploitation of women, girls and boys, including for commercial reasons, and all forms of violence against women and girls, including harmful traditional and customary practices, abuse, rape and other forms of sexual violence, battering and trafficking in women and girls;
82 Commit to strengthen national social and child protection systems and care and support programmes for children, in particular for the girl child, and adolescents affected by and vulnerable to HIV, as well as their families and caregivers, including through the provision of equal opportunities to support the development to full potential of orphans and other children affected by and living with HIV, especially through equal access to education, the creation of safe and non-discriminatory learning environments, supportive legal systems and protections, including civil registration systems, and provision of comprehensive information and support to children and their families and caregivers, especially age-appropriate HIV information to assist children living with HIV as they transition through adolescence, consistent with their evolving capacities;
83 Commit to promoting laws and policies that ensure the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for young people, particularly those living with HIV and those at higher risk of HIV infection, so as to eliminate the stigma and discrimination they face;
84 Commit to address, according to national legislation, the vulnerabilities to HIV experienced by migrant and mobile populations and support their access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support;
85 Commit to mitigate the impact of the epidemic on workers, their families, their dependants, workplaces and economies, including by taking into account all relevant conventions of the International Labour Organization, as well as the guidance provided by the relevant International Labour Organization recommendations, including Recommendation No. 200, and call on employers, trade and labour unions, employees and volunteers to eliminate stigma and discrimination, protect human rights and facilitate access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support;
Resources for the AIDS response
86 Commit to working towards closing the global HIV and AIDS resource gap by 2015, currently estimated by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS to be $6 billion annually, through greater strategic investment, continued domestic and international funding to enable countries to access predictable and sustainable financial resources and sources of innovative financing, and by ensuring that funding flows through country finance systems, where appropriate and available, and is aligned with accountable and sustainable national HIV and AIDS and development strategies that maximize synergies and deliver sustainable programmes that are evidence-based and implemented with transparency, accountability and effectiveness;
87 Commit to breaking the upward trajectory of costs through the efficient utilization of resources, addressing barriers to the legal trade of generics and other low-cost medicines, improving the efficiency of prevention by targeting interventions to deliver more efficient, innovative and sustainable programmes for the HIV and AIDS response, in accordance with national development plans and priorities, and ensuring that synergies are exploited between the HIV and AIDS response and efforts to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals;
88 Commit by 2015, through a series of incremental steps and through our shared responsibility, to reach a significant level of annual global expenditure on HIV and AIDS, while recognizing that the overall target estimated by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS is between $22 billion and $24 billion in low- and middle-income countries, by increasing national ownership of HIV and AIDS responses through greater allocations from national resources and traditional sources of funding, including official development assistance;
89 Strongly urge those developed countries which have pledged to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product for official development assistance by 2015, and urge those developed countries that have not yet done so, to make additional concrete efforts to fulfil their commitments in this regard;
90 Strongly urge African countries that adopted the Abuja Declaration and Framework for Action for the Fight against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other Diseases to take concrete measures to meet the target of allocating at least 15 per cent of their annual budget to the improvement of the health sector, in accordance with the Abuja Declaration and Framework for Action;
91 Commit to enhance the quality of aid by strengthening national ownership, alignment, harmonization, predictability, mutual accountability and transparency, and results-orientation;
92 Commit to supporting and strengthening existing financial mechanisms, including the Global Fund and relevant United Nations organizations, through the provision of funds in a sustained and predictable manner, in particular to those countries with low and middle incomes with a high disease burden or a large number of people living with and affected by HIV;
93 Recommit to fully implementing the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and agree to cancel all eligible bilateral official debts of qualified countries within the Initiative, who reach the completion point under the initiative, in particular the countries most affected by HIV and AIDS, and urge the use of debt service savings, inter alia, to finance poverty eradication programmes, particularly for prevention, treatment, care and support for HIV and AIDS and other infections;
94 Commit to scaling up new, voluntary and additional innovative financing mechanisms to help address the shortfall of resources available for the global HIV and AIDS response and to improve the financing of the HIV and AIDS response over the long term, and to accelerating efforts to identify innovative financing mechanisms that will generate additional financial resources for HIV and AIDS to complement national budgetary allocations and official development assistance;
95 Appreciate that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a pivotal mechanism for achieving universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support by 2015, recognize the programme for reform of the Global Fund, and encourage Member States, the business community, including foundations, and philanthropists to provide the highest level of support for the Global Fund, taking into account the funding targets to be identified at the 2012 midterm review of the Global Fund replenishment process;
Strengthening health systems and integrating HIV and AIDS into broader health and development
96 Commit to redouble efforts to strengthen health systems, including primary health care, particularly in developing countries, through measures such as allocating national and international resources, appropriate decentralization of HIV and AIDS programmes to improve access for communities, including rural and hard-to-reach populations, integration of HIV and AIDS programmes into primary health care, sexual and reproductive health-care services and specialized infectious disease services, improving planning for institutional, infrastructure and human resource needs, improving supply chain management within health systems, and increasing human resource capacity for the response, including by scaling up the training and retention of human resources for health policy and planning, health-care personnel, consistent with the World Health Organization voluntary Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, community health workers and peer educators, and with support from and in partnership with international and regional organizations, the business sector and civil society, as appropriate;
97 Support and encourage, through domestic and international funding and the provision of technical assistance, the substantial development of human capital, development of national and international research infrastructures, laboratory capacity, improved
surveillance systems, and data collection, processing and dissemination, and training basic and clinical researchers, social scientists and technicians, with a focus on those countries most affected by HIV and/or experiencing or at risk of a rapid expansion of the epidemic;
98 Commit by 2015 to working with partners to direct resources to and strengthen the advocacy, policy and programmatic links between HIV and tuberculosis responses, primary health-care services, sexual and reproductive health, maternal and child health, hepatitis B and C, drug dependence, non-communicable diseases and overall health systems, leverage health-care services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, strengthen the interface between HIV services, related sexual and reproductive health care and services and other health services, including maternal and child health, eliminate parallel systems for HIV-related services and information where feasible, and strengthen linkages among national and global efforts concerned with human and national development, including poverty eradication, preventative health care, enhanced nutrition, access to safe and clean drinking water, sanitation, education and the improvement of livelihoods;
99 Commit to supporting all national, regional and global efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including those undertaken through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation, to improve comprehensive and integrated HIV prevention, treatment, care and support programmes, as well as tuberculosis, sexual and reproductive health, malaria and maternal and child health care;
Research and development: the key to preventing, treating and curing HIV
100 Commit to investing in accelerated basic research on the development of sustainable and affordable HIV and tuberculosis diagnostics and treatments for HIV and its
associated co-infections, microbicides and other new prevention technologies, including female-controlled prevention methods, rapid diagnostic and monitoring technologies, as well as biomedical operations, social, cultural and behavioural and traditional medicine research and continue to build national research capacity, especially in developing countries, through increased funding and public-private partnerships, and create a conducive environment for research and ensure that it is based on the highest ethical and scientific standards and strengthening national regulatory authorities;
101 Commit to accelerate research and development for a safe, affordable, effective and accessible vaccine and for a cure for HIV, while ensuring that sustainable systems for vaccine procurement and equitable distribution are also developed;
Coordination, monitoring and accountability: maximizing the response
102 Commit to having effective evidence-based operational monitoring and evaluation and mutual accountability mechanisms between all stakeholders to support multisectoral national strategic plans for HIV and AIDS to fulfil the commitments in the present Declaration, with the active involvement of people living with, affected by and vulnerable to HIV, and other relevant civil society and private sector stakeholders;
103 Commit to revise by the end of 2012 the recommended framework of core indicators that reflect the commitments made in the present Declaration and to develop additional measures, where necessary, to strengthen national, regional and global coordination and monitoring mechanisms of HIV and AIDS responses through inclusive and transparent processes with the full involvement of Member States and other relevant stakeholders, with the support of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS;
Follow up: sustaining progress
104 Encourage and support the exchange among countries and regions of information, research, evidence and experiences for implementing the measures and commitments related to the global HIV and AIDS response and in particular those contained in the present Declaration, facilitate intensified North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation, as well as regional, subregional and interregional cooperation and coordination, and, in this regard, continue to encourage the Economic and Social Council to request the regional commissions, within their respective mandates and resources, to support periodic, inclusive reviews of national efforts and progress made in their respective regions to combat HIV;
105 Request the Secretary-General to provide an annual report to the General Assembly on progress achieved in realizing the commitments made in the present Declaration, and, with support from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, report progress to the Assembly in accordance with global reporting on the Millennium Development Goals at the 2013 and subsequent Millennium Development Goal reviews.
unaids.org
Friday, December 2, 2011
UNAIDS will be guided by the new UNAIDS strategy 2011–2015 , which aims to advance global progress in achieving country set targets for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and to halt and reverse the spread of HIV and contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development goals by 2015
UNAIDS in 2011
As the world enters into the 30th year of the AIDS epidemic, UNAIDS will work to position the HIV response in a new global environment. Ten years after the United Nations Special Session on HIV/AIDS and the landmark adoption of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, member states are now preparing for the 2011 High Level Meeting on AIDS to review and renew future commitments for the AIDS response.
UNAIDS will be guided by the new UNAIDS strategy 2011–2015 , which aims to advance global progress in achieving country set targets for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and to halt and reverse the spread of HIV and contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development goals by 2015.
“This strategy was developed through a highly inclusive and open process—reflecting the needs and opportunities ahead of us,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “It is about fundamentally transforming the global AIDS response.”
Adopted by the Programme Committee Board in December 2010, the strategy will also serve as reference in the lead up to the UN High Level Meeting on AIDS.
“The High Level Meeting will be a major milestone in the history of the AIDS response. Only by working together to set our future course can we accelerate greater results for people,” added Mr Sidibé.
The strategy will be underpinned by a new unified budget and accountability framework. The framework will operationalize the strategy, mobilize and allocate resources for its implementation, measure progress and report on results.
unaids.org
As the world enters into the 30th year of the AIDS epidemic, UNAIDS will work to position the HIV response in a new global environment. Ten years after the United Nations Special Session on HIV/AIDS and the landmark adoption of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, member states are now preparing for the 2011 High Level Meeting on AIDS to review and renew future commitments for the AIDS response.UNAIDS will be guided by the new UNAIDS strategy 2011–2015 , which aims to advance global progress in achieving country set targets for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and to halt and reverse the spread of HIV and contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development goals by 2015.
“This strategy was developed through a highly inclusive and open process—reflecting the needs and opportunities ahead of us,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “It is about fundamentally transforming the global AIDS response.”
Adopted by the Programme Committee Board in December 2010, the strategy will also serve as reference in the lead up to the UN High Level Meeting on AIDS.
“The High Level Meeting will be a major milestone in the history of the AIDS response. Only by working together to set our future course can we accelerate greater results for people,” added Mr Sidibé.
The strategy will be underpinned by a new unified budget and accountability framework. The framework will operationalize the strategy, mobilize and allocate resources for its implementation, measure progress and report on results.
unaids.org
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Who is afraid of the Haitian people?
By Jean H Charles
President Michel Martelly has failed his appointment on November 18, 2011, to visit the historic and touristic city of Cape Haitian on the historic day of the Battle of Vertieres. Previous presidents used to visit Cape Haitian on that date, to commemorate the final epic story of the slaves who defeated the mighty army of Napoleon on November 18, 1803, to render Haiti and the rest of the world free of the scourge of slavery of man by man.
They were all there -- the school children in bright costume uniforms marching to the beat of the drum and the sound of the trumpet, proud as the Spartacus of antiquity crossing the Rubicon to enter Rome, the conqueror that was at last defeated by a band of slaves. The Haitian people have re-edited once more this event in the annals of world history.
Vertieres should occupy a preeminent place, along with Marathon, Waterloo, and Gettysburg in the record of great battles of the world!
It does not!
The people in Sunday dress were there on the battlefield en masse, waiting for the president and his officials to deliver the famous speech magnifying the glory of the past and urging the spirit of appurtenance to continue to build together a nation free and independent. The momentum was at its peak. The Haitian people were expecting Urbis et Orbi from Cape Haitian to the world, a mighty and revered president as the commander in chief declaring that the Haitian armed forces, issued from the patrimony of the ragged but dignified indigenous army, are reinstalled on the territory of the republic.
He was not there!
He has succumbed to the weight of the international community, France, the former slaveholder; the United States that profited from the Haitian victory to become from sea to shining sea a predestined nation in the Western Hemisphere; the United Nations, of which Haiti was a founding member, with its so called stabilization force, now the enforcer of the great powers agenda.
Who is afraid of the Haitian people is a legitimate question that astute observers should be concerned about?
I am!
Out of a population of 10 million people, 8 million of them are living in almost destitute poverty yet there is an energy of creativity and a reservoir of resilience coupled with a wit that sustains daily living. This phenomenon is rare and maybe unique to Haiti.
The former slaves and their descendants have been denied for two hundred years the bread of education and the discipline of sophistication and refinement, as a line of demarcation for holding them indefinitely in the bondage neo-slavery. They have survived by paying dearly for their children to be educated with the hope of a better tomorrow.
They have been deceived not only by the international community but also by their own nationals in positions of power and authority, who took their cue from those who assassinated their founding father to impose the rule that freedom was only for a few, not for all.
Finally, two hundred-plus years, 208 to be exact, Haiti has a president in love with Haiti and with the Haitian people. He must be crushed by a Parliament, whose venal interests are in opposition to the national destiny.
I was not sure where this line of inquiry would lead me until I attended a conference this weekend in Cape Haitian on the national dialogue and fraternity in Haiti, organized by the Haitian Institute of the Christian social doctrine. Two eminent bishops were present, the Archbishop Louis Kebreau, the president of the Haitian Episcopal, and the very intellectual and scholarly Bishop Dumas to underscore this momentous experience.
Dr Antonio M. Baggio, the main speaker for the day, was sharing with the audience the product of his research, a book entitled: Letters to France by Toussaint Louverture. Dr Baggio has revolutionized the political thinking of the day by reviling and proving that Toussaint Louverture may have inspired the philosophical underpinning of the French Revolution not the other way around.
It will take some time for the world and the western civilization to accept this phenomenon that President John Adams of the United States had already perceived. He wanted to help Toussaint to become king of Haiti and as such helping his own cause, liberate the slaves on the American territory half a century earlier.
Here we are! Haiti that accomplished one of the most signature revolutions in the world does not have its place as a universal patrimony of the rational homo species. Having forced onto the world order the concept of liberty, equality and fraternity for all, the concept of fraternity according to Professor Baggio has been eliminated from the political praxis and discourse. (La fraternidad en perspective politica, exigencias, recourses, definiciones del principio olvidado. Buenos Aires 2009 and La fraternita nella rifles-sione politoligica contemporanea, Roma 2007.)
Professor Emil Vlajki, as the great thinkers of the world who sing the same song in different languages from different countries (Moses, Jesus, Rousseau, Kant, Marx, Nietzsche and Freud), has reformulated the same concept by defining the world of absolute rationality (liberty, equality without fraternity) and the world of human rationality (liberty, equality with fraternity).
The young people of America assaulting Wall Street to demand fraternity, or human rationality in a world where cynicism is the rule are playing their own partition in this quest where fraternity must be, as dictated by Toussaint Louverture, a key underpinning of the world order.
President Michel Joseph Martelly, enrobed with a popular mandate, has the possibility to help Haiti recover for itself and for the rest of the world the possibility that fraternity, or human rationality becomes a reality in the country and by ricochet for the rest of humanity.
As in 1804, when slaves were ready to explode slavery of man by man, the Haitian people are ready today to follow a leader with the guts to confront the western powers to make this world a better one for all by injecting the concept of fraternity and human rationality as the oil that will fuel the transactional activities such as commerce, arts and industry between different and all nations.
November 29, 2011
caribbeannewsnow
President Michel Martelly has failed his appointment on November 18, 2011, to visit the historic and touristic city of Cape Haitian on the historic day of the Battle of Vertieres. Previous presidents used to visit Cape Haitian on that date, to commemorate the final epic story of the slaves who defeated the mighty army of Napoleon on November 18, 1803, to render Haiti and the rest of the world free of the scourge of slavery of man by man.
They were all there -- the school children in bright costume uniforms marching to the beat of the drum and the sound of the trumpet, proud as the Spartacus of antiquity crossing the Rubicon to enter Rome, the conqueror that was at last defeated by a band of slaves. The Haitian people have re-edited once more this event in the annals of world history.
Vertieres should occupy a preeminent place, along with Marathon, Waterloo, and Gettysburg in the record of great battles of the world!
It does not!
The people in Sunday dress were there on the battlefield en masse, waiting for the president and his officials to deliver the famous speech magnifying the glory of the past and urging the spirit of appurtenance to continue to build together a nation free and independent. The momentum was at its peak. The Haitian people were expecting Urbis et Orbi from Cape Haitian to the world, a mighty and revered president as the commander in chief declaring that the Haitian armed forces, issued from the patrimony of the ragged but dignified indigenous army, are reinstalled on the territory of the republic.
He was not there!
He has succumbed to the weight of the international community, France, the former slaveholder; the United States that profited from the Haitian victory to become from sea to shining sea a predestined nation in the Western Hemisphere; the United Nations, of which Haiti was a founding member, with its so called stabilization force, now the enforcer of the great powers agenda.
Who is afraid of the Haitian people is a legitimate question that astute observers should be concerned about?
I am!
Out of a population of 10 million people, 8 million of them are living in almost destitute poverty yet there is an energy of creativity and a reservoir of resilience coupled with a wit that sustains daily living. This phenomenon is rare and maybe unique to Haiti.
The former slaves and their descendants have been denied for two hundred years the bread of education and the discipline of sophistication and refinement, as a line of demarcation for holding them indefinitely in the bondage neo-slavery. They have survived by paying dearly for their children to be educated with the hope of a better tomorrow.
They have been deceived not only by the international community but also by their own nationals in positions of power and authority, who took their cue from those who assassinated their founding father to impose the rule that freedom was only for a few, not for all.
Finally, two hundred-plus years, 208 to be exact, Haiti has a president in love with Haiti and with the Haitian people. He must be crushed by a Parliament, whose venal interests are in opposition to the national destiny.
I was not sure where this line of inquiry would lead me until I attended a conference this weekend in Cape Haitian on the national dialogue and fraternity in Haiti, organized by the Haitian Institute of the Christian social doctrine. Two eminent bishops were present, the Archbishop Louis Kebreau, the president of the Haitian Episcopal, and the very intellectual and scholarly Bishop Dumas to underscore this momentous experience.
Dr Antonio M. Baggio, the main speaker for the day, was sharing with the audience the product of his research, a book entitled: Letters to France by Toussaint Louverture. Dr Baggio has revolutionized the political thinking of the day by reviling and proving that Toussaint Louverture may have inspired the philosophical underpinning of the French Revolution not the other way around.
It will take some time for the world and the western civilization to accept this phenomenon that President John Adams of the United States had already perceived. He wanted to help Toussaint to become king of Haiti and as such helping his own cause, liberate the slaves on the American territory half a century earlier.
Here we are! Haiti that accomplished one of the most signature revolutions in the world does not have its place as a universal patrimony of the rational homo species. Having forced onto the world order the concept of liberty, equality and fraternity for all, the concept of fraternity according to Professor Baggio has been eliminated from the political praxis and discourse. (La fraternidad en perspective politica, exigencias, recourses, definiciones del principio olvidado. Buenos Aires 2009 and La fraternita nella rifles-sione politoligica contemporanea, Roma 2007.)
Professor Emil Vlajki, as the great thinkers of the world who sing the same song in different languages from different countries (Moses, Jesus, Rousseau, Kant, Marx, Nietzsche and Freud), has reformulated the same concept by defining the world of absolute rationality (liberty, equality without fraternity) and the world of human rationality (liberty, equality with fraternity).
The young people of America assaulting Wall Street to demand fraternity, or human rationality in a world where cynicism is the rule are playing their own partition in this quest where fraternity must be, as dictated by Toussaint Louverture, a key underpinning of the world order.
President Michel Joseph Martelly, enrobed with a popular mandate, has the possibility to help Haiti recover for itself and for the rest of the world the possibility that fraternity, or human rationality becomes a reality in the country and by ricochet for the rest of humanity.
As in 1804, when slaves were ready to explode slavery of man by man, the Haitian people are ready today to follow a leader with the guts to confront the western powers to make this world a better one for all by injecting the concept of fraternity and human rationality as the oil that will fuel the transactional activities such as commerce, arts and industry between different and all nations.
November 29, 2011
caribbeannewsnow
Sunday, November 27, 2011
The British media's anti-Jamaica campaign
By DIANE ABBOTT:
THERE was yet another depressing story about Jamaica in the British media last week. It featured in the evening news bulletin of BBC Radio. The news item began by mentioning that next year is the 50th anniversary of Jamaica's Independence. But it went on to suggest that any Jamaicans foolish enough to return home for Independence in 2012 risked being murder victims.
The news reporter said that over a thousand people returned to Jamaica every year. The source of that exact figure is a mystery. He went on to say that in the past decade 350 returning residents had been murdered and the possibility of being killed was "casting a cloud" over people thinking of returning home in 2012.
The reporter did point out that tourists hardly ever got attacked in Jamaica. But this fact would not have been much consolation to tourists of a nervous disposition who happened to be listening to the programme.
The news report went on to say that most returning residents flew into Norman Manley Airport in Kingston and that there was a network of criminals at the airport who targeted people visiting Jamaica and followed them. The programme implied that these criminals were often working in collusion with policemen and soldiers.
The programme also interviewed victims of crime and Mark Shields, former Scotland Yard detective who was appointed deputy commissioner of police in Jamaica in 2005 on secondment. He left the Jamaica Constabulary Force after a few years and is currently managing director of Shields Crime Security Consultants Limited on the island.
Percival La Touche, a long-time champion of returnees was also interviewed, and claimed that there was no plan to protect returning residents.
Crime is a serious issue in Jamaica, and the death of any Jamaican, returning resident or not, is a tragedy. But I was disappointed that the programme mentioned, only in passing, that violent crime overall has dropped in Jamaica and there has been a 25 per cent drop in the murder rate this year.
It was a programme designed to frighten anyone who was thinking of visiting Jamaica. I have worked for years to try and improve the image of Jamaica in the media. And I was depressed that on the one hand it is such a struggle to get anything positive about Jamaica in the newspapers and on television, but on the other hand these kinds of negative items easily obtain prominence.
We do not know when the next general election will be and we certainly do not know which party will be the victor. But whoever leads Jamaica in the future, the fight against crime will have to be a top priority. Fear of crime does not just have the potential to frighten off returning residents. Crime is also frightening tourists and potential investors.
However, I deplore the tendency of the British media to present only the negative side of Jamaica. I sometimes think that it is a testimony to the loyalty of Jamaicans living overseas and the excellence of Jamaica's tourism product that anyone ever visits Jamaica at all.
Diane Abbott is the British Labour Party's shadow public health minister
www.dianeabbott.org.uk
Sunday, November 27, 2011
jamaicaobserver
THERE was yet another depressing story about Jamaica in the British media last week. It featured in the evening news bulletin of BBC Radio. The news item began by mentioning that next year is the 50th anniversary of Jamaica's Independence. But it went on to suggest that any Jamaicans foolish enough to return home for Independence in 2012 risked being murder victims.
The news reporter said that over a thousand people returned to Jamaica every year. The source of that exact figure is a mystery. He went on to say that in the past decade 350 returning residents had been murdered and the possibility of being killed was "casting a cloud" over people thinking of returning home in 2012.
The reporter did point out that tourists hardly ever got attacked in Jamaica. But this fact would not have been much consolation to tourists of a nervous disposition who happened to be listening to the programme.
The news report went on to say that most returning residents flew into Norman Manley Airport in Kingston and that there was a network of criminals at the airport who targeted people visiting Jamaica and followed them. The programme implied that these criminals were often working in collusion with policemen and soldiers.
The programme also interviewed victims of crime and Mark Shields, former Scotland Yard detective who was appointed deputy commissioner of police in Jamaica in 2005 on secondment. He left the Jamaica Constabulary Force after a few years and is currently managing director of Shields Crime Security Consultants Limited on the island.
Percival La Touche, a long-time champion of returnees was also interviewed, and claimed that there was no plan to protect returning residents.
Crime is a serious issue in Jamaica, and the death of any Jamaican, returning resident or not, is a tragedy. But I was disappointed that the programme mentioned, only in passing, that violent crime overall has dropped in Jamaica and there has been a 25 per cent drop in the murder rate this year.
It was a programme designed to frighten anyone who was thinking of visiting Jamaica. I have worked for years to try and improve the image of Jamaica in the media. And I was depressed that on the one hand it is such a struggle to get anything positive about Jamaica in the newspapers and on television, but on the other hand these kinds of negative items easily obtain prominence.
We do not know when the next general election will be and we certainly do not know which party will be the victor. But whoever leads Jamaica in the future, the fight against crime will have to be a top priority. Fear of crime does not just have the potential to frighten off returning residents. Crime is also frightening tourists and potential investors.
However, I deplore the tendency of the British media to present only the negative side of Jamaica. I sometimes think that it is a testimony to the loyalty of Jamaicans living overseas and the excellence of Jamaica's tourism product that anyone ever visits Jamaica at all.
Diane Abbott is the British Labour Party's shadow public health minister
www.dianeabbott.org.uk
Sunday, November 27, 2011
jamaicaobserver
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Bahamas: These days, school children are contributing to a wave of criminality and brutality that has utterly disrupted our once quiet and tranquil existence
Gangsters in school
By ADRIAN GIBSON
Nassau, The Bahamas
Nowadays, as crime spirals out of control and has led to nationwide trepidation as regards the criminal element, a microcosmic look at the issues of violence and miscreant behavior in our schools is representative of what we’re facing in wider society. Indeed, there are those students who are so disrespectful and fierce that they openly engage in frightful, mob-like brawls that leave teachers, students and administrators scrambling for cover and demanding the presence of a school gang unit/police, particularly in those school districts that are alleged to be a gangland.
Of late, I’ve been told—by friends who are police officers and educators alike—that bedlam is being wreaked upon certain educational institutions as unruly, poorly socialized students terrify their classmates and teachers.
These days, school children are contributing to a wave of criminality and brutality that has utterly disrupted our once quiet and tranquil existence. By all accounts, students use objects—wood, metal poles/pipes, blocks, knives—which were either left behind by contractors or tossed over school walls before security checks or during the weekend/nights. I’ve even heard stories of home invasions involving youngsters who are young enough to be in primary school but small enough to slither through windows that have been pried open to open doors for their accomplices. Where are the truant officers to ensure that the whereabouts of these youngsters who duck school to break into people’s homes (e.g. the cash for gold racket)?
These days, school children are contributing to a wave of criminality and brutality that has utterly disrupted our once quiet and tranquil existence. By all accounts, students use objects—wood, metal poles/pipes, blocks, knives—which were either left behind by contractors or tossed over school walls before security checks or during the weekend/nights. I’ve even heard stories of home invasions involving youngsters who are young enough to be in primary school but small enough to slither through windows that have been pried open to open doors for their accomplices. Where are the truant officers to ensure that the whereabouts of these youngsters who duck school to break into people’s homes (e.g. the cash for gold racket)?
In recent years, there have been several reports of clashes between students when gang-affiliated pupils jump school walls and return with the support of outsiders. Frankly, the MOE should make a concerted effort to raise the parameter walls of certain public schools, perhaps using barbed wire atop the school’s fence as well.
In secondary schools—and some primary schools—on-campus gangs are problematic, with students becoming fiercely territorial and dabbling in drugs. Gangs, which are groups of allied and aberrant individuals, are infamous for their involvement in criminal activity.
These groupings of errant individuals may loosely hang out together or form a strict organization, with a designated leader, ruling council, a name, identifiers and, with the most structured gangs, bank accounts.
These groupings of errant individuals may loosely hang out together or form a strict organization, with a designated leader, ruling council, a name, identifiers and, with the most structured gangs, bank accounts.
A few years ago, I spoke with Corporal 2552 Darvey Pratt, an authority on local gangs, who was then posted in the Police Force’s Community Relations Unit.
According to him, there are about 46 known gangs in this country, with a combined membership of about 10,000-foot soldiers. He said that although there may be a few populous gangs.
At that time, he said that gangs are usually recognizable by hand signals, colors, caps and, in the case of many local gangs, sports paraphernalia (eg, football and basketball jerseys).
During the 1960s, neighborhood groups such as the Farmyard Boys or the Kemp Road Boys had squabbles but rarely engaged in serious criminal acts.
By the 1980s, it is said that the era of political sleaze and drug dealing led to the formation of more violent, felonious gangs such as the Syndicate and the Rebellion, with the latter being the former gang of reformed gangster, pastor and motivational speaker Carlos Reid. During the last 20 years, the number of youth gangs has grown.
By the 1980s, it is said that the era of political sleaze and drug dealing led to the formation of more violent, felonious gangs such as the Syndicate and the Rebellion, with the latter being the former gang of reformed gangster, pastor and motivational speaker Carlos Reid. During the last 20 years, the number of youth gangs has grown.
Gangs are an omnipresent part of inner-city life, where they petrify the community with patent dope-peddling and mafia-style violence, which is sometimes well planned but may result in the deaths of innocent bystanders.
I was told that these local gangs are extremely sadistic, instigate deadly rivalries and usually carry out unlawful acts in specific zones that they claim as turf. Corporal Pratt told me that some gangsters cannot venture out of there immediate area into any part of Nassau, because they would be immediately killed.
With approximately 10,000 young Bahamians engaging in anti-social behaviour, Corporal Pratt said that their thrust to become gangsters is brought on by “a search for identity, a lack of education, a want for protection when they travel to other areas of New Providence, poverty and absentee and neglectful parents.” At the time of our interview, he said that single parent homes or homes with uneducated, young parents who lack parental skills and “don’t have much of anything to teach their kids” are those that usually produce gang bangers.
He said that the students in gangs are usually disruptive nuisances on school campuses, who usually have dismal grade point averages. According to the policeman, poverty-stricken teenagers have no money to purchase what they desire, so they turn to working for a gang leader who will pay them a stipend or buy material possessions for them.
I was told that these local gangs are extremely sadistic, instigate deadly rivalries and usually carry out unlawful acts in specific zones that they claim as turf. Corporal Pratt told me that some gangsters cannot venture out of there immediate area into any part of Nassau, because they would be immediately killed.
With approximately 10,000 young Bahamians engaging in anti-social behaviour, Corporal Pratt said that their thrust to become gangsters is brought on by “a search for identity, a lack of education, a want for protection when they travel to other areas of New Providence, poverty and absentee and neglectful parents.” At the time of our interview, he said that single parent homes or homes with uneducated, young parents who lack parental skills and “don’t have much of anything to teach their kids” are those that usually produce gang bangers.
He said that the students in gangs are usually disruptive nuisances on school campuses, who usually have dismal grade point averages. According to the policeman, poverty-stricken teenagers have no money to purchase what they desire, so they turn to working for a gang leader who will pay them a stipend or buy material possessions for them.
Older, hardened criminals are known to recruit and exploit school age children. Frankly, it is those adolescents who lack self-esteem and are in pursuit of love who are the persons chosen to be hit men subjected to the orders of their leaders.
Studies on gang violence reveal that new inductees must be beaten by a certain number of other members for at least 10 minutes, and the wannabe gangster cannot resort to any defensive postures during the thumping. Survival of such a cruel affair would prove that an aspirant member is tough and lead to him being accepted. Moreover, the gang leader may send a wannabe member to kill a perceived threat/enemy to earn ‘his stripes’.
Studies on gang violence reveal that new inductees must be beaten by a certain number of other members for at least 10 minutes, and the wannabe gangster cannot resort to any defensive postures during the thumping. Survival of such a cruel affair would prove that an aspirant member is tough and lead to him being accepted. Moreover, the gang leader may send a wannabe member to kill a perceived threat/enemy to earn ‘his stripes’.
Female gang members, who usually belong to spin-offs of male gangs, are initiated in the same way as males and may also be told to have sex with a member or every male in an affiliated gang.
In the 21st century, gangs have evolved into multidimensional consortiums that traffic drugs, deal in firearms/ammunition, threaten police officers, carry out drive-by shootings and contract killings, and engage in extortion, human smuggling, phone tampering, marriage fraud and identity theft.
According to Pratt, the Raiders gang is ubiquitous throughout New Providence, with segments located in Fox Hill, Kemp Road, Bain Town, Carmichael Road, Pinewood, etc. Although there are a few major groups, he noted that there are numerous splinter gangs throughout the island that are either affiliated with a more established crew or are only associated with schools or a small grouping of hoodlums peddling dope on a street corner.
Based upon information gleaned from Corporal Pratt and a focus group of students some time ago, I can identify certain New Providence based gangs and their neighborhoods.
The active gangs and splinter groups terrorizing this island are: the Raiders, Nike Boys (Coconut Grove, Yellow Elder, CC Sweeting), Dukes (Englerston) Corner Boys, 187, the Irish, Gun Hawks, Sharks (Key West Street/Ida Street/CH Reeves), Gun Doggs (Bain Town, Kemp Road), Monster Doggs (Carmichael, Carlton Francis), Pond Boys (Big Pond), War Kings (Englerston), MOB (Bamboo Town/Sunset Park), Deathrow (Carmichael), Gun A** (Sunshine Park), Dirty South (South Beach/St Vincent Road), Cash Money Boys, Cowboys, 242, 362 (Bacardi Road), Wet Money Gangsters (Winton), Swamper Dogs (Pinewood), Raider Boy Killers, Original Boy Gangsters, Hoyas, etc.
There are also female gangs such as the Trip Out Daughters, Mad A** Daughters, Head Gone B******, Looney Tunes, Shebellion (part of Raiders), and so on.
Behind the bushes of Carmichael and Cowpen roads are Haitian gangs such as the Bush Boys and an offshoot of one of the world’s most dangerous and notorious black gangs—ZoPound. These gangs are all prevalent in our schools.
ZoPound is a gang started in the ghettos of Miami, by destitute Haitian immigrants or persons of Haitian descent.
Since its launch, ZoPound has been exported to the Bahamas via the large influx of illegal Haitian immigrants and the deportation of Haitian-Bahamians to the Bahamas after they have served sentences in US prisons. Reportedly, ZoPound is also comprised of ex-militants and ex-cops and generates hundreds of millions per annum from the sale of drugs, gambling and prostitution.
ZoPound’s initiation rituals are slightly different from many Bahamian gangs, because to qualify for membership, you must have Haitian parentage.
The policeman said that ZoPound is a worldwide gang involved in “drug racketeering.” He claimed that gangs, particularly ZoPound, are known to “hire fellas to stand on various street corners and serve as sentries to protect the dope sellers.”
He claimed that several of these drug peddling lookouts work shifts like a regular job and earn $1,000-$1,500 per week.
In various schools, particularly in bathrooms or desks, gangland graffiti is a common sight. In a BIS report in 2005, Seanalee Lewis, then head of the Behavioural Modification Programme at Woodcock Primary and a veteran social worker with the Ministry of Social Services and Community Development, asserted that primary school students are using marijuana, forming gangs and marking out turf. What a travesty!
According to Pratt, the Raiders gang is ubiquitous throughout New Providence, with segments located in Fox Hill, Kemp Road, Bain Town, Carmichael Road, Pinewood, etc. Although there are a few major groups, he noted that there are numerous splinter gangs throughout the island that are either affiliated with a more established crew or are only associated with schools or a small grouping of hoodlums peddling dope on a street corner.
Based upon information gleaned from Corporal Pratt and a focus group of students some time ago, I can identify certain New Providence based gangs and their neighborhoods.
The active gangs and splinter groups terrorizing this island are: the Raiders, Nike Boys (Coconut Grove, Yellow Elder, CC Sweeting), Dukes (Englerston) Corner Boys, 187, the Irish, Gun Hawks, Sharks (Key West Street/Ida Street/CH Reeves), Gun Doggs (Bain Town, Kemp Road), Monster Doggs (Carmichael, Carlton Francis), Pond Boys (Big Pond), War Kings (Englerston), MOB (Bamboo Town/Sunset Park), Deathrow (Carmichael), Gun A** (Sunshine Park), Dirty South (South Beach/St Vincent Road), Cash Money Boys, Cowboys, 242, 362 (Bacardi Road), Wet Money Gangsters (Winton), Swamper Dogs (Pinewood), Raider Boy Killers, Original Boy Gangsters, Hoyas, etc.
There are also female gangs such as the Trip Out Daughters, Mad A** Daughters, Head Gone B******, Looney Tunes, Shebellion (part of Raiders), and so on.
Behind the bushes of Carmichael and Cowpen roads are Haitian gangs such as the Bush Boys and an offshoot of one of the world’s most dangerous and notorious black gangs—ZoPound. These gangs are all prevalent in our schools.
ZoPound is a gang started in the ghettos of Miami, by destitute Haitian immigrants or persons of Haitian descent.
Since its launch, ZoPound has been exported to the Bahamas via the large influx of illegal Haitian immigrants and the deportation of Haitian-Bahamians to the Bahamas after they have served sentences in US prisons. Reportedly, ZoPound is also comprised of ex-militants and ex-cops and generates hundreds of millions per annum from the sale of drugs, gambling and prostitution.
ZoPound’s initiation rituals are slightly different from many Bahamian gangs, because to qualify for membership, you must have Haitian parentage.
The policeman said that ZoPound is a worldwide gang involved in “drug racketeering.” He claimed that gangs, particularly ZoPound, are known to “hire fellas to stand on various street corners and serve as sentries to protect the dope sellers.”
He claimed that several of these drug peddling lookouts work shifts like a regular job and earn $1,000-$1,500 per week.
In various schools, particularly in bathrooms or desks, gangland graffiti is a common sight. In a BIS report in 2005, Seanalee Lewis, then head of the Behavioural Modification Programme at Woodcock Primary and a veteran social worker with the Ministry of Social Services and Community Development, asserted that primary school students are using marijuana, forming gangs and marking out turf. What a travesty!
Indeed, students must be taught to be independent and individualistic in their outlook as membership in menacing gangs can do nothing but result in social anarchy and in a collective lack of productivity.
Character development and family values must become a focal point in Bahamian homes and in our classrooms!
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