[pronut-hiv] Action: Stop UNGASS block on TAC, ALP, ARASA and ALU

["Mathurot Chuladul - HDN" <mathurot@hdnet.org>]

Action: Stop UNGASS block on TAC, ALP, ARASA and ALU
Civil Society Coalition on HIV/AIDS UNGASS
*******************************************

[Mods note: Further to a previous call for support to a letter objecting
TAC and ALP being blocked to participate in the UNGASS review meeting by
the South African government, a letter regarding the exclusion of Namibian
NGOs: AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA) and the AIDS
Law Unit of the Legal Assistance Centre (ALU) (blocked by the government
of Namibia) has also now been added. Please now regard this as a 'double'
sign-on].
*******************************************

Dear all,

We ask you to support participation of five well-known and respected AIDS
NGOs from southern Africa in the Review Meeting on the UNGASS Declaration
of Commitment, taking place at the UN in New York on May 31-June 2, 2006.

South African NGOs: Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Friends of TAC, and
AIDS Law Project (ALP) submitted applications for 'accreditation' to
attend the Review Meeting. Following review of the list of civil society
organizations for accreditation by country delegations (government
representatives to the UN), however, the list no longer included the names
of these three organisations. It appears that the South African government
lodged an objection, preventing these well-known treatment activists
groups from participating in the review.

Namibian NGOs: UNGASS participation by the AIDS and Rights Alliance for
Southern Africa (ARASA) and the AIDS Law Unit of the Legal Assistance
Centre (ALU) was also blocked by the government of Namibia.

In response, the Civil Society Coalition on the HIV/AIDS UNGASS has
prepared TWO letters calling on the Presidents of South Africa and Namibia
to withdraw these objections. If you support this appeal, PLEASE SIGN-ON
TO THE LETTERS BELOW by sending your name, organization, city, country and
email address to: signup@ungasshiv.org by no later than April 6.

Please be careful to send to the email address given above, and not to
listserv/eForum addresses.

The letters will be re-sent to Presidents Mbeki and President Pohamba on
April 7 with all received signatures.

[Thanks to the many people who already signed-on to the original letter
about South African NGOs. Please now regard this as a double sign-on for
the two letters].

Thank you in advance for your help and support.

Zonny Woods, Marcel van Soest, Mary Ann Torres and Tim France
(On behalf of Civil Society Coalition on HIV/AIDS UNGASS)

(For more information on the Civil Society Coalition on HIV/AIDS UNGASS
and how to get involved in UNGASS review process: www.ungasshiv.org)

PLEASE SIGN ON TO THESE TWO LETTERS BY EMAIL TO:

signup@ungasshiv.org

no later than April 6


----Letter to President of South Africa follows-----

Mr Thabo Mbeki
President of South Africa
Fax (Pretoria):  012 323 8246
Fax (Cape Town) (021) 461 6456

Dr Nkosazana Zuma
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Government of South Africa
Fax (Pretoria): 012 351 0253
Fax (Cape Town): 012 465 6548


Dear Mr. President, dear Dr. Zuma,

We write to you as members of national and international civil society
organizations committed to overcoming HIV and AIDS. In 2003, we celebrated
the South African government's announcement to provide comprehensive care
and treatment to people living with HIV and AIDS in the country.   We note
also that South Africa adopted the 2001 UNGASS Declaration of Commitment
on HIV/AIDS, which stressed government leadership and the commitment to
partnership at all levels in addressing the pandemic.

We write to raise our concern regarding information that the South African
Government recently lodged an objection against the participation of three
organisations in the forthcoming United Nations Review of the Declaration
of Commitment on HIV/AIDS: Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Friends of TAC
and AIDS Law Project (ALP), three South African groups that have proven
their commitment to addressing HIV and AIDS in South Africa and the world.
This objection, effectively prevents the three organisations from
participating in the review being held in New York, 31 May - 2 June 2006.

By even the most conservative estimates, HIV and AIDS are devastating
communities and entire countries across the globe. Even if we ignore the
huge personal costs to families and friends directly affected by the
disease, we cannot ignore the impact it has on our societies - on
development, economic prospects, health systems, and education, to name
just a few.

The scale of the HIV pandemic demands that all sectors in society need to
respond to their fullest capacities. The nature of the disease also means
that institutions and individuals across the political spectrum must work
together if the spread of HIV is ever to be reversed, much less
eradicated.

Now is not the time for exclusion on the basis of political differences,
but a time to expand our partnerships across all institutions and
individuals tackling the pandemic - governments and civil society
organizations, businesses and faith-based organizations, educators and
health care workers, leaders of institutions and movements, and all people
living with HIV.

This letter, to which more signatories are lending their name daily, calls
on you in your capacity as President of South Africa, to exercise your
leadership in favour of partnerships over political difference - and to
repeal this objection. Such a step would put even further into practice
your government's initiative of "Batho Pele - Putting People First".

We ask you to clarify this situation. If the South African Government's
objection participation by the Treatment Action Campaign, Friends of TAC,
and the AIDS Law Project is confirmed, however, we call on you to lift
these objections.   Such an act will ensure that the invaluable
contributions and experience of these three organisations can help us move
closer to our common vision of a world without AIDS.

Respectfully,

[initial signatories]

AIDS LAW Project
Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance
Friends of TAC
Health & Development Networks
International Council of AIDS Service Organisations
International Women's Health Coalition
Treatment Action Campaign
World AIDS Campaign

cc: Dr  Mantombazana Tshabalala-Msimang, Minister of Health
Fax (Pretoria): 012 325 5526
Fax (Cape Town): 021 465 1575


----Letter to President of Namibia follows-----


Your Excellency Hifikepunye Pohamba
President of the Republic of Namibia
Fax: +264 61 221780

Your Excellency

We write to you as members of national and international civil society
organisations committed to overcoming HIV and AIDS. We applaud the
commitment of your government to reducing the number of new infections and
to providing access to treatment, care and support for people living with
HIV/AIDS. We note also that the Republic of Namibia signed on to the 2001
UNGASS Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, which stressed the
importance of government leadership and the commitment to partnerships at
all levels in addressing the epidemic.

We write to raise our concern regarding the information that the
Government of the Republic of Namibia lodged an objection against the AIDS
and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA) and the AIDS Law Unit of
the Legal Assistance Centre (ALU) being accredited to the UNGASS Review
taking place in New York at the end of May 2006.  This objection
effectively prevents both organisations from participating in the review.

The AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa is a regional alliance of
fourteen non-governmental organisations working to promote and build
capacity around a human rights based response to HIV/AIDS in SADC. The
regional secretariat of ARASA has its offices in Windhoek. We understand
that one of the primary considerations that resulted in the decision to
locate the secretariat of ARASA in Namibia was the Government of the
Republic of Namibia's demonstrated commitment to respecting, protecting
and upholding human rights, particularly in the context of its national
response to HIV/AIDS.

As a regional organisation, ARASA's exclusion from accreditation to the
UNGASS Review negatively impacts on all of its partner organisations,
which are located in each of the SADC countries. ARASA is the only
regional network of civil society organisations working in the field of
HIV and human rights in SADC and is recognised regionally, continentally
and internationally as such.

The AIDS Law Unit of the Legal Assistance Centre is the only organisation
in Namibia that provides a legal service for people living with HIV/AIDS
and has, we understand, contributed significantly to the development of
the Namibian legal and policy framework on HIV/AIDS, particularly in the
area of human rights. We understand that the AIDS Law Unit has been
working closely with the Government of the Republic of Namibia on the
development of a National Policy on HIV/AIDS.

The scale of the HIV pandemic demands that all sectors of society must be
involved in the response to HIV/AIDS, to the fullest extent of their
capacities. Now is not the time for the exclusion of civil society
organisations from the response. The nature of the epidemic demands that
we expand our partnerships across all institutions and individuals
tackling the epidemic - governments and civil society organisations,
businesses and faith based organisations, educators and health care
workers, leaders of institutions and movements and all people living with
HIV/AIDS.

This letter, to which even more signatures are being collected than just
those listed below, calls upon you, in your capacity as President of the
Republic of Namibia, to exercise your leadership in favour of partnerships
over exclusion.

We ask you to clarify this situation. If indeed it is true that the
Government of the Republic of Namibia has objected to the participation of
ARASA and the AIDS Law Unit at the UNGASS review meeting in May, we call
on you to lift these objections to their accreditation.

Respectfully

[initial signatories, including:
AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa
AIDS Law Unit]

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Cross-posted from: Break-the-silence eForum


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