Religious right thwarted AIDS meeting, say NGOs
-04/06/06
The high-level United Nation
Religious right thwarted AIDS meeting, say NGOs
-04/06/06
The high-level United Nations conference on AIDS-HIV has agreed on a global strategy to fight the pandemic. But NGOs and grassroots organisations have expressed frustration and anger at the lack of specific commitments and explicit references to high-risk groups ñ which they say is the result of an unholy alliance.
At the end of the three-day conference in New York assembly president Jan Eliasson insisted that the declaration was “a good, substantial and forward-looking document” that contained stronger language than might otherwise have been expected given deep divisions over issues such as sexual practices and gender equality.
He highlighted specific pledges to empower women and girls, detailed language on HIV prevention, and some explicit references to male and female condom use.
However many such references had been opposed by Muslim and some Latin American countries, the Vatican and the United States under influence from the religious right, critics said.
United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan accused a number of countries of putting their ìheads in the sandî in failing to spell out the truth about AIDS. He expressed disappointment about the limitations of the new document.
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 ëSundayí programme this morning, a spokesperson from the charity ActionAid said that faith groups had made a significant contribution to the fight against HIV-AIDS, but that conservative religious elements had also blocked the use of contraception and sex education as part of prevention strategies.
Research shows that these are vital for large segments of the population untouched by appeals for faithfulness or abstention alone.
The Roman Catholic Church has faced massive criticism for its refusal to countenance condom use, which it says is against the divine purpose. But more and more lay health promoters, religious, clergy and even bishops and cardinals are arguing for change ñ on practical, moral and theological grounds.
The new United Nations declaration, the first since 2001, aimed to lay down a blueprint for achieving the goal of universal access to AIDS prevention, treatment and care by 2010.
However the draft stopped short of naming those most at risk to HIV infection, such as sex workers, intravenous drug users and homosexuals, and opted instead for the euphemistic term “vulnerable groups.”
While it “recognised” the UN estimate that 20-23 billion dollars in annual funding would be needed to support scaled-up AIDS responses by 2010, it offered no binding commitment to achieving that goal.
“We are furious,” said Aditi Sharma, HIV/AIDS campaign and policy coordinator for ActionAid International.
“It is incomprehensible how negotiators could come up with such a weak declaration when we needed urgent action to stop 8,500 people dying and 13,500 people from becoming infected every day,” Sharma said.
.
AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognised in 1981, according to UNAIDS, the UN agency coordinating the fight against the disease.
Gender equality was one of the more contentious topics under debate at the meeting, and the final draft contained fresh language pledging countries to allow women greater control over their sexual and reproductive health, “free of coercion, discrimination and violence.”
UNAIDS executive director Peter Piot said the declaration the declaration represented “the next stage” in the fight against AIDS.
The United States, under pressure from the religious right which has great sway with President George Bushís White House, lobbied against specific funding targets and against street-level policies of prevention for prostitutes and for men having sex with men which involve condoms.
Some faith groups say that condom promotion encourages immorality. But others say that thwarting or limiting their distribution is a death sentence on large numbers of people.
[Also on Ekklesia: Faith leaders call for decisive action on HIV-AIDS 01/05/06; Prayer service to encourage UN to act on HIV-AIDS 27/05/06; Fulfil global HIV agreement, says Christian Aid 26/05/06; Combat HIV/AIDS ñ church agency says it with flowers; Vatican stance on contraception may be modified; Cardinal calls for reduction in price of AIDS medicines; Priests resist condom use in HIV-hit Tanzania; Unprecedented NHS debt threatens Christian hospital; Churches sign AIDS code; Cameroon Catholic cardinal backs condom use; Churches face up to world AIDS pandemic; The Body of Christ has AIDS, say Methodists]
Religious right thwarted AIDS meeting, say NGOs
-04/06/06
The high-level United Nations conference on AIDS-HIV has agreed on a global strategy to fight the pandemic. But NGOs and grassroots organisations have expressed frustration and anger at the lack of specific commitments and explicit references to high-risk groups ñ which they say is the result of an unholy alliance.
At the end of the three-day conference in New York assembly president Jan Eliasson insisted that the declaration was “a good, substantial and forward-looking document” that contained stronger language than might otherwise have been expected given deep divisions over issues such as sexual practices and gender equality.
He highlighted specific pledges to empower women and girls, detailed language on HIV prevention, and some explicit references to male and female condom use.
However many such references had been opposed by Muslim and some Latin American countries, the Vatican and the United States under influence from the religious right, critics said.
United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan accused a number of countries of putting their ìheads in the sandî in failing to spell out the truth about AIDS. He expressed disappointment about the limitations of the new document.
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 ëSundayí programme this morning, a spokesperson from the charity ActionAid said that faith groups had made a significant contribution to the fight against HIV-AIDS, but that conservative religious elements had also blocked the use of contraception and sex education as part of prevention strategies.
Research shows that these are vital for large segments of the population untouched by appeals for faithfulness or abstention alone.
The Roman Catholic Church has faced massive criticism for its refusal to countenance condom use, which it says is against the divine purpose. But more and more lay health promoters, religious, clergy and even bishops and cardinals are arguing for change ñ on practical, moral and theological grounds.
The new United Nations declaration, the first since 2001, aimed to lay down a blueprint for achieving the goal of universal access to AIDS prevention, treatment and care by 2010.
However the draft stopped short of naming those most at risk to HIV infection, such as sex workers, intravenous drug users and homosexuals, and opted instead for the euphemistic term “vulnerable groups.”
While it “recognised” the UN estimate that 20-23 billion dollars in annual funding would be needed to support scaled-up AIDS responses by 2010, it offered no binding commitment to achieving that goal.
“We are furious,” said Aditi Sharma, HIV/AIDS campaign and policy coordinator for ActionAid International.
“It is incomprehensible how negotiators could come up with such a weak declaration when we needed urgent action to stop 8,500 people dying and 13,500 people from becoming infected every day,” Sharma said.
.
AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognised in 1981, according to UNAIDS, the UN agency coordinating the fight against the disease.
Gender equality was one of the more contentious topics under debate at the meeting, and the final draft contained fresh language pledging countries to allow women greater control over their sexual and reproductive health, “free of coercion, discrimination and violence.”
UNAIDS executive director Peter Piot said the declaration the declaration represented “the next stage” in the fight against AIDS.
The United States, under pressure from the religious right which has great sway with President George Bushís White House, lobbied against specific funding targets and against street-level policies of prevention for prostitutes and for men having sex with men which involve condoms.
Some faith groups say that condom promotion encourages immorality. But others say that thwarting or limiting their distribution is a death sentence on large numbers of people.
[Also on Ekklesia: Faith leaders call for decisive action on HIV-AIDS 01/05/06; Prayer service to encourage UN to act on HIV-AIDS 27/05/06; Fulfil global HIV agreement, says Christian Aid 26/05/06; Combat HIV/AIDS ñ church agency says it with flowers; Vatican stance on contraception may be modified; Cardinal calls for reduction in price of AIDS medicines; Priests resist condom use in HIV-hit Tanzania; Unprecedented NHS debt threatens Christian hospital; Churches sign AIDS code; Cameroon Catholic cardinal backs condom use; Churches face up to world AIDS pandemic; The Body of Christ has AIDS, say Methodists]