News from UNAIDS Board meeting
What happened at the 26th meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) in Geneva, Switzerland, June 22-24, 2010?
Civil society played a crucial role in this meeting, both throughthe NGO Delegation and the many Observers who participated in themeeting. Following a controversial discussion over the human rights ofkey populations that arose in the last PCB, there was great concernthat the agenda items and related decisions in this meeting (whichincluded men who have sex with men and transgender persons, as well asstigma and discrimination) would be contested, and that some countrieswere attempting to limit the work of UNAIDS in these areas.
Theoverwhelming presence of civil society at the meeting allowed the NGODelegation more consultation and more influence in its negotiations,especially in the drafting room (where the wording of the decisions arediscussed and agreed). In the end, the key decision points passed,notably the decision point on the agenda item “Reducing HIVtransmission among men who have sex with men and transgender people.”This decision took note of the update report from UNAIDS on ReducingHIV transmission among men who have sex with men and transgenderpeople, and “calls on UNAIDS and all partners to intensify efforts tomeet the health needs of men who have sex with men and transgenderpeople in the context of HIV and to ensure non-discrimination,” and toincrease their “direct participation in national, regional and globalHIV policy and programming.” Iran disassociated itself from thisdecision point at the end of the meeting. http://unaidspcbngo.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/20100528_msmpcbpaper_en.pdf
Thematic session: linking sexual and reproductive health services to HIV interventions in practice http://unaidspcbngo.org/?p=7781
ThisPCB Meeting’s thematic session focused on linking sexual andreproductive health services to HIV interventions in practice and wasdivided up into four breakout sessions: Empowering young people throughcomprehensive sexuality education; Models, Magic and Meaning:Integrated Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV Services; Fundingopportunities for integrating SRH and HIV services; and Gender-basedviolence and HIV. The opening session began with a presentation fromLydia Mungherera, NGO Africa Delegate and also included presentationsfrom Ricky Swuan Pyae Phyo, a sex worker and community organizer inMyanmar, and Luisa Cabal, Director of the Center for ReproductiveRights in New York. The break-out sessions were designed to beinteractive and allow for more detailed discussion and participation.Each session included civil society speakers and one NGO Rapporteur. Apanel discussion with lead rapporteurs from each session was held atthe end of the day and final conclusions compiled. More information,including the reports from the individual breakout sessions and thefinal conclusions, will be available shortly on the NGO Delegation’swebsite: www.pcbngo.org.
In order to encourage concreteoutcomes via board decision points, the NGO Delegation requested adecision point that sexual and reproductive health be an agenda item atthe next PCB, which was accepted.
Upcoming thematic sessions:
27th meeting (December 2010): “Food and nutrition security and HIV: howto ensure that food and nutrition security are integral parts of HIVprogramming”
28th meeting (June 2011): No Thematic Sessions to allow greater focus on the budget and accountability framework
29th meeting (December 2011): “HIV and Enabling Legal Environments”
Report from the Executive Director http://data.unaids.org/pub/SpeechEXD/2010/20100623_pcb_speech_en.pdf
Thisyear’s report to the board underlined the accomplishments but also theshortfalls towards the achievement of universal access to prevention,treatment, care and support, and called for a renewal of commitments asoutlined in the political declarations to achieving universal accessfor all, with an extension of the deadline to 2015 and a high levelmeeting in 2011. Last December at the 25th PCB Meeting, Michel Sidibécalled for a “Prevention Revolution,” an area the Second IndependentEvaluation of UNAIDS identified as weak. The Executive Director notedthat the “revolution will be driven by communities, for communities” inhis address to the 26th PCB and described the process, which includesthe development of a UN High-Level Prevention Commission, composed ofpolitical, business, activist and philanthropic leaders, and aScientific Advisory Committee. Michel Sidibe emphasized renewedcommitment to universal access to treatment and talked about treatmentas prevention under the new UNAIDS concept of “Treatment 2.0.” TheHigh-Level Commission stemming from the Prevention Revolution andTreatment 2.0 will be launched by UNAIDS at the International AIDSConference in Vienna. During this PCB, Sidibé also launched the highlevel commission on HIV and the Law, which will be coordinated by UNDPand work with the World AIDS Campaign and run for 18 months.
NGO report on stigma and discrimination http://unaidspcbngo.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/2010_NGO_Report_Final_website.pdf
Thisyear’s annual NGO report focused on stigma and discrimination (the keybarrier to universal access identified in the 2009 report) and waspresented under a dedicated agenda item entitled “Ensuringnon-discrimination in responses to HIV.” The report was presented byAfrican NGO Delegate Lydia Mungherera and was followed by the UNAIDSSecretariat update on non-discrimination work, a civil society responsefrom Kenly Sikwese (from the Zambian Network of People living with HIVand an implementer of the PLHIV Stigma Index), and the Minister ofHealth from El Salvador, Eduardo Antonio Espinoza Fiallos, whopresented on some ground breaking work in his country. The boardreaffirmed its commitment to the political declarations of 2001 and2006, and supported a High Level review in 2011 with attention tostigma and discrimination. Additional decision points supported theevaluation and expansion of stigma and discrimination programs, and thetraining of health care workers, notably around sexuality and thespecific needs of key populations. The board agreed that tools formeasurement and the inclusion of PLHIV and key populations in thedevelopment and use of those tools should be strengthened. The boardsupported the improvement of global, national and programmaticindicators to measure our progress, especially specific to keypopulations. The more controversial decision points were around:calling on Member states to remove punitive laws; and the request forMember States to increase direct participation of PLHIV and keypopulations in programming and data collection. This point was passedby the board with wording that did not specify key populations, eventhough the original decision point explicitly named population groups.
UNAIDS’ Evaluation Follow up
The board reviewed the progress report http://unaidspcbngo.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/pcbsieprogressreport_final_en.pdf and recommendations coming from the task force http://unaidspcbngo.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/pcbsieprogressreport_final_en.pdf ongovernance following the Second Independent Evaluation (SIE). The boardsupported recommendations around the ways of working of the Cosponsorsand the ways of working of the board. One recommendation notes the needto increase participation from the Middle East and North Africa andother under-represented regions and constituencies. The subcommittee ofthe budget (with civil society participation) will be reconvened andthematic sessions will be moved to the third day of a board meeting(except when the budget is being reviewed) so that the topic of thethematic can be better followed up in the next meeting. In the meeting,the NGO Delegation followed up on the recommendation of the SIE toensure that the new UNAIDS’ partnership strategy with civil society isdistinct from other partners, and is focused at country level.
UNAIDS passed a new vision and mission statement http://unaidspcbngo.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/20100526_unaids_mission_statement_en.pdf
Thenew vision statement reads: “Zero new HIV infections. Zerodiscrimination. Zero AIDS-related deaths.” The NGO Delegation supportedthe vision and mission statements, but noted that consultation shouldhave extended beyond French and English, as it limits inclusion ofcivil society.
Gender sensitivity of the AIDS response
Anupdate was given to the board on the implementation of the Agenda forAccelerated Country Action for Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV.There were strong concerns from civil society on the lack of progressin implementation at country level. The board adopted a decision pointhighlighting the need for the next update (to be a substantive agendaitem at the 27th PCB Meeting in December 2010) to include a section onthe policy and programmatic progress achieved at country level.
Statement by the representative of the UNAIDS Staff Association
TheUNAIDS Secretariat Staff association gave its report, in which itrequested support for same sex partners to receive benefits and supportfor HIV+ staff, which the NGO Delegation supported in its intervention.http://unaidspcbngo.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/ussapcbjune2010finalstatement_en.pdf
Reminder: What is the PCB again?
TheProgramme Coordinating Board (PCB) is the governing body of UNAIDS. Itis made up of 22 voting Member States, the 10 UN Cosponsors that makeup the UNAIDS program, and a NGO Delegation (consisting of one delegateand one alternate from each of 5 regions). How can I learn more? Pleasevisit the website at: www.unaidspcbngo.org