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Rights here, right now!
XVIII International AIDS Conference, 18-23 July 2010, Vienna
[Ralf Jürgens; Consultant, ***/AIDS health policy and human rights, Canada] In Vienna at the International AIDS Conference,
[Ralf Jürgens; Consultant, ***/AIDS health policy and human rights, Canada] human rights will be the main theme of the conference.
[Ralf Jürgens; Consultant, ***/AIDS health policy and human rights, Canada] We had to wait many years, we had to advocate very hard for it,
but "rights here right now" is now the theme of the conference.
[Joseph Amon; Human Rights Watch, USA] We have been working for a long time to spread the message
[Joseph Amon; Human Rights Watch, USA] that *** is about human rights and that we need to incorporate rights in our response.
[Joseph Amon; Human Rights Watch, USA] Having a focus in Vienna that integrates the idea of rights into every session
– whether it is a session about prevention, whether it is a session about treatment,
whatever we are talking about, we need to look at a rights approach,
a rights perspective to it and incorporate that in.
[Meena Seshu; India Secretary General, SANGRAM, India] Because it is going to be [about] human rights,
[Meena Seshu; India Secretary General, SANGRAM, India] we are going to see many more community people in this conference.
Meena Seshu; India Secretary General, SANGRAM, India] This is absolutely critical; to hear the voice of the community.
When you have a theme that says rights is the theme of the conference,
then everybody is more attuned to listen to that voice.
Therefore, we will be there in large numbers just to make government,
the state, society listen to us and tell them that we have to learn
to respect and give dignity to everybody: only then can we fight the epidemic;
otherwise we cannot fight this epidemic.
[Joanne Csete; Associate Professor, Columbia University, USA] It is of course not the first time at this Vienna conference
[Joanne Csete; Associate Professor, Columbia University, USA] that people talk about human rights being at the centre
[Joanne Csete; Associate Professor, Columbia University, USA] of the fight against *** but it has to be made real,
it has to have money behind it. That is the problem:
rights based approaches are an easy thing for everyone to say.
We have to talk about how, and who, and with what funds
people are going to reduce punitive and repressive laws
that stand in the way of *** services.
We have to talk about real attention to the status of women
and the way that they are vulnerable to ***.
We have to talk about real attention to the rights of children.
[Mary Ann Torres; Senior Policy Advisor, ICASO, Canada] Something that is very important about the conference
[Mary Ann Torres; Senior Policy Advisor, ICASO, Canada] is the focus on people who inject drugs and their needs.
[Mary Ann Torres; Senior Policy Advisor, ICASO, Canada] Looking at what is happening for example in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
where services, programs, commodities for these key populations,
they do not exist just because there is no political will,
no interest in them, they just put them in jail or forget about them.
Many countries pass laws criminalising *** transmission.
Many countries have laws that prohibit implementation of evidence based drug treatment.
These laws need to be a thing of the past.
[Susan Timberlake; Senior Advisor, Human Rights and Law UNAIDS, Switzerland] One of the priorities of UNAIDS right not is to remove punitive laws,
[Susan Timberlake; Senior Advisor, Human Rights and Law UNAIDS, Switzerland] policies, practices, stigma and discrimination,
[Susan Timberlake; Senior Advisor, Human Rights and Law UNAIDS, Switzerland] some of the issues raised in this document.
But we need to be able to say the following countries have *** related travel restrictions;
they have laws that overly broad, criminalising transmission;
they have laws that criminalise possession of small amounts of drugs
and send drug users automatically to jail.
We need to be able to come so that people focus on where the problems are.
Do not talk about the issues in abstract.
If we can use the passion that is behind human rights,
that is often at these big conferences,
but connect that passion to practical steps,
then it will be a real opportunity.
The most exciting, the most energising about the meeting
are the people coming to the conference for the first time.
Sometimes it is people who are newly positive or newly activists,
who have never seen the community of people coming to the conference,
who have never seen 25 thousand people care passionately about ***
and want to make a difference. To have at that time,
a discussion about human rights and *** and to have that discussion
taking place and demonstrating to people the power that human rights
can bring to the table – because human rights is about accountability.
Everyone there should be talking about how can we make sure
that the institutions, the donors, the governments are being held accountable
for the commitments that they have made about ***,
for the goals that they have adopted. That will make a change.
[Michaela Clayton; AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa, Namibia] And hopefully it will make world leaders
[Michaela Clayton; AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa, Namibia] sit up and think in terms of yes,
[Michaela Clayton; AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa, Namibia] this is why human rights are so important,
and this is why we maybe should be committing a little more political will,
a little more financing, a little more budget
to making sure that human rights are respected
and protected in the context of ***.
[Jonathan Cohen; Public Health Program, OSI, USA] A priority for AIDS 2010 in Vienna is to help people realise that
[Jonathan Cohen; Public Health Program, OSI, USA] by strengthening *** programs, we are strengthening health systems;
[Jonathan Cohen; Public Health Program, OSI, USA] that human rights responses to *** are not about taking our attention off
of other health priorities.
They are about realising that a human rights response to health generally is needed.
We hope that one legacy of AIDS 2010 will be that
AIDS continues to remain paramount on the global health agenda,
integrated into other health priorities of course,
but not swept aside as an issue that is no longer of global importance.
[Lydia Guterman; Open Society Institute, USA] The human rights theme provides the opportunity for us to say
[Lydia Guterman; Open Society Institute, USA] it is more than just about the science, it about the people.
[Lydia Guterman; Open Society Institute, USA] And it is the people that are at the centre of this discussion.
I just really call out to the young people that are involved in this response,
to take Vienna as a cue to think the next generation of the *** response
must put human rights at the centre:
the human rights of children and young people,
the human rights of the most affected groups,
the human rights of everyone.
[I] really call on the next generation to say,
“No more of the marginalising of our rights and other rights.
Rights must be at the centre and we are not going to accept it any other way.”
For further information on human rights, ***/AIDS
and to endorse Now More Than Ever, the Joint Statement,
visit, www.HIVhumanRIGHTSnow.org
Subtitles: Arielle Reid, István Gábor Takács �