HIV—unfinished business in the Post-2015 Agenda.
People living with HIV essential for sustainable development success!
22 January 2015, New York - As the first of the official intergovernmental negotiations for the post-2015 development agenda conclude
this week at the United Nations in New York, the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+)
and the International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW) urge world leaders to ensure that
HIV-related targets remain central in the new sustainable development agenda. In particular, clear, rights-based indicators and lines of
accountability for promoting the rights of women living with HIV and key populations must accompany the targets under the health goal,
especially those specific to HIV.
We welcome the United Nations Secretary General's call in the recently released synthesis report The road to dignity by 2030: ending poverty, transforming all lives and protecting the planet, to
not leave anyone behind in the new development agenda, including the most vulnerable. As networks of people living with HIV know far too well, the world
can never end the AIDS epidemic if those most vulnerable and marginalised are left behind—including young women, men who have sex with men,
transgender people, sex workers and people who use drugs, children, young people and adolescents, migrants and people in prisons.
We must not lose the hard fought gains of the global HIV movement, and we must maintain a strong focus on human rights—in particular sexual and
reproductive health and rights—and on the social determinants of health that drive the HIV epidemic and impact the lives of women and men living
with HIV in all our diversity.
Suzette Moses-Burton, Executive Director of GNP+, says: “It is people living with HIV who have driven the progress on AIDS, and this
principle of involvement needs to be kept alive and harnessed beyond 2015. Critically, the focus on HIV must be placed within a framework of the
right to health for all people living with HIV, including key populations, who are often denied their fundamental rights and are criminalised
in many countries.”
“We must ensure women living with HIV in particular, are not left behind in the post 2015 development agenda. We are concerned the language
in the report stops short of ensuring sexual and reproductive rights for all. We must address the intersectional issues impacting the lives of women
and girls living with HIV, including access to care, treatment, and support and sexual and reproductive health and rights, prevention of stigma
and discrimination, and protections from human rights abuses such as forced and coerced sterilisation,” says Rebecca
Matheson, ICW Global Director, adding, “the agenda must place the needs of women, girls and other key populations at the
centre of the development agenda, and this is particularly true for setting clear and specific targets and indicators in response
to HIV.”
For the over 35 million people living with HIV and the 2 million more who will face a new HIV diagnosis this year, the epidemic is far from over. A
rights-based approach to closing global treatment gaps, ensuring care and support and ending the persistent human rights abuses people living with
HIV face must remain a top priority as the global community continues its march towards the new development agenda.
-ENDS-
For more information, please contact:
GNP+: Victoria Clarke, External Relations and Communications Officer
vclarke@gnpplus.net
Phone: +31-20-423 4114¦ Skype: vclarkegnpplus
ICW: Rachel Oostendorp, Esq., Attorney, ICW Global Office
rachelicwglobal@gmail.com
Phone: +1 616 308 3310
Source: The Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+)
The Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+)
The Gl bal Network of People Living With HIV (GNP+) is the global network for and by people living with HIV. Its mission is to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV. The vision is a powerful and united worldwide social movement of people living with HIV, with their leadership and voices at the centre of the HIV response. GNP+'s objective is equitable access to health and social services for people living with HIV by focusing on social justice, rights and involvement. This will be achieved through GNP's purpose, which is to promote the greater and more meaningful involvement of people living with HIV in programme and policy development (the GIPA principle). For more information, please visit www.gnpplus.net. You can also connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
"Reproduced with permission - Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+)"
Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+)
For more HIV and AIDS News visit...
Positively Positive - Living with HIV/AIDS:
HIV/AIDS News
|
