AIDS Advocacy Alert

The purpose of this alert is to assist you in advocating to be part of your national delegation to the high-level meeting (HLM) in June 2008, to influence your government's representation and statements at the meeting, or to directly participate yourself.

How you can participate in and influence

Background

In December 2007, the General Assembly approved a Resolution (A/62/L.40) that sets out the process for the 2008 comprehensive review of the progress in implementing the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS. The Resolution (an official, binding agreement) includes a decision that the high-level meeting be held on 10 - 11 June 2008.

Other key decisions include:

Encouraging Member States (governments) to include civil society in their national delegations (in other words, the official national representatives). As in previous years, civil society organizations were invited to apply for accreditation (official permission) to attend the meeting. The application process is now closed. The President of the General Assembly has submitted a list of the names of those who applied to the member states for official approval.

An agreement to an opening plenary that will include a speaker who is openly living with HIV, five thematic panel discussions, and an informal interactive hearing with civil society (civil society speakers and statements from governments.) A call for governments to submit national reports by 31 January 2008 and for the UN Secretary General to submit a report on the progress and challenges six weeks before the high-level meeting.

The purpose of this alert is to assist you in advocating to be part of your national delegation to the high-level meeting (HLM) in June 2008, to influence your government's representation and statements at the meeting, or to directly participate yourself.

It is hoped that each Member State will send a senior delegation to the meeting. In most cases, the delegates will participate in the plenary (main UN discussion for governments to present statements for the record), panel discussions and the civil society hearing. Their speeches will influence the outcome document (summary of discussions) of the meeting.

You should be advocating that your government sends the highest level of official (for example, the President, Prime Minister, or Health Minister), and that the delegation includes representatives of civil society from your country, particularly from organizations of people living with HIV. This involvement can help ensure that there statements include the unique perspectives and experiences of civil society.

Here are some tips on how you may approach this:

Contact your UNAIDS Country Coordinator to obtain the relevant information and to identify who you need to contact in your country delegation.

Contact people you know in the National AIDS Control Programme, or the Department or Ministry of Health, or other relevant departments, to advocate for the highest official representation and the inclusion of civil society.

Contact other civil society organizations (CSOs) in your country and work at developing a common strategy for this advocacy effort. Get CSOs together to discuss which individuals will best represent the civil society sector as part of the national delegation.

Some arguments that you can use to ensure involvement:

The UNGASS Declaration of Commitment (DoC) specifically calls for civil society to be involved in the national periodic reviews to track the progress achieved; to identify problems and obstacles that may hamper achieving progress and to realizing the commitments, and to ensure wide dissemination of the results of these reviews.

The Resolution dealing with the organization of the 2008 high-level meeting on AIDS:

“Encourages Member States to include in their national delegations to the high-level meeting parliamentarians, representatives of civil society, including non-governmental organizations and organizations and networks representing people living with HIV/AIDS, women, young persons, orphans, community organizations, faith-based organizations and the private sector.”

A. Advocate to be part of your country's national delegation

B. Influence your government's participation

Whether or not civil society representatives are included in your country's delegation, you can still influence the positions that your government takes at the HLM. Each of the national delegations will be preparing their statements prior to the meeting. It is vital that the unique perspectives and experience of civil society are included in these preparations and deliberations.

Here are some suggestions of how to go about this:

All governments were asked to submit progress report on the implementation of the Declaration of Commitment to UNAIDS (by January 31, 2008). These reports are the basis for an overall report that will be drafted and presented by the UN Secretary General at this meeting. Ask your government for a copy of its national report, and analyze how your government's report reflects the reality in your country. You can also access most government reports on the UNAIDS web page Review the reports submitted by civil society organizations, particularly analyzing how NGOs participated in the reporting process, and to what extent their feedback was incorporated into the government's report.

You can find some of the "community reports" at: http://www.icaso.org/shadow_reports.html

Meet with other CSOs in your country to work out a common position and strategy for influencing your national delegation on key AIDS priorities and their statements at the HLM.

Ask for an opportunity for NGOs in your country to meet the members of your national delegation. The meeting should include a representative of your Department or Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Whether a representative of your NGO can attend the meeting in New York or not, and whether you have opportunities to influence the positions taken by your government, or not, you should contact accredited NGOs to make sure that issues from your country and community are discussed. This is vital, as the official outcome document of the meeting will be a summary of the discussions, and therefore opportunity to have on official UN record of your concerns and issues that affect you in your country.

The list of accredited NGOs will be available in the coming weeks. The accredited NGOs that take part in the HLM are the eyes and ears of communities around the world. You should use them to channel information and perspectives to the HLM, and you should call on them to update the NGO community about the overall progress and developments of the HLM and its outcomes.

You should contact the accredited NGOs directly (once the list of accredited organizations is made public by the OPGA, it will be available by e-mailing universalaccess2010@icaso.org We will also post the list to our own site at www.icaso.org and will distribute the list widely through ICASO's different ListServes).

http://www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/HIVData/CountryProgress/2007CountryProgress.asp

B. Influence your government’s participation

C. Contact accredited NGOs with your key messages and issues

"Accredited" NGOs will be allowed to attend the plenary sessions of the HLM (though available seating is limited), as well as other related events (panel discussions, civil society hearings etc.), again depending on available space.

There will also be official and CSO side-events, meetings and networking of CSOs.

More information on these will be sent out soon.

Contact universalaccess2010@icaso.org for updates.

"Accredited" NGOs are:

NGOs that already have consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the UN (ECOSOC status) and which have requested to be accredited for the HLM. ECOSOC accredited organizations are able to add additional participants by inputting the login credentials (received after registration) at http://www.un-ngls.org/unaids/status/en NGO representatives who are delegates to the Programme Coordination Board of UNAIDS (PCB).

Other NGOs that have applied for accreditation through the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Services (NGLS) and will be accorded special authorization to attend the review meeting.

[Please note again that the application process is now closed.]

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Second Meeting Civil Society Task Force High Level Meeting on AIDS, 6-8 April, New York

Quick Summary report
Second Meeting, 6-8 April, New YorkCivil Society Task Force of the 2008 High Level Meeting on AIDS

During 6-8 April, 2008, the Civil Society Task Force (CSTF), met in New York for the second time. During this meeting the CSTF focused on the selection of recommended civil society speakers for the High Level Meeting, as well as logistical progress for the meeting.

The CSTF will continue to provide periodic updates, informational notes and Action Alerts to keep you informed. Nonetheless, in recognition of our role and responsibility to communicate widely and in a timely manner with broader civil society, we would like to immediately share the following key issues discussed at this meeting:

1. Civil society speakers: During the High Level meeting, there will be three official spaces for civil society speakers: the Opening Plenary; the 5 panels, and; the informal and interactive Civil Society Hearing. The CSTF worked to identify first choice and alternate speaker candidates for each of these events and will shortly be putting these names forward to the Office of the President of the General Assembly (OPGA). They will seek the approval of Member States to confirm these candidates. The recommendations made seek to achieve regional and gender balance, as well as representation from people living with HIV and a broad base of constituencies. Once confirmed by the OPGA, the list of speakers will be publicly available.

2. Civil Society Hearing (CSH): The CSH is part of the official program of the HLM and will take place in the morning of June 10^th, for a duration of 2 hours. The CSTF is recommending that the theme of the CSH be “Action for Universal Access 2010: Myths and Realities”. Under this umbrella theme, the hearing is likely to address a number of issues, including: people who use drugs; sex work; access to treatment for people living with HIV; sexual minorities; children and HIV; travel restrictions, migration and mobility; women and girls; young people living with HIV; financing and health systems; and accountability and civil society involvement in AIDS reviews. Once the recommendations have been sent to the OPGA, they will be made public.

3. Panels: The OPGA released its latest information update^[1] on the High Level Meeting days after the CSTF met. The note includes information on the Panel topics, and stating that they all should consider cross-cutting issues, including human rights and the urgency in meeting commitments set out in the 2001 Declaration of Commitment and the 2006 Political Declaration. The five topics include:

· How do we build on results achieved and speed up progress towards universal access by 2010 – moving on to reach the MDGs by 2015?

· The challenges of providing leadership and political support in countries with concentrated epidemics.

· Making the Response to AIDS Work for Women and Girls – Gender Equality and AIDS.

· AIDS: A Multigenerational Challenge – Providing a Robust and Long Term Response.

· Resources and Universal Access: Opportunities and limitations.

The CSTF is finalizing the recommendations for the civil society speaker for each of the 5 panels and once they have been sent to the OPGA they will be made public.

4. Travel Restrictions: At the first CSTF meeting, held in February 2008, the CSTF raised its concerns regarding travel restrictions in the host country with the Ambassadors of Botswana and Estonia, who are the Facilitators for the High Level Meeting. In following up on this meeting, and at the request of the UN Global Task Team on HIV-related Travel Restrictions, the CSTF sent a letter to the facilitators, as well as to the OPGA, requesting that one of the 5 official panels be on human rights and travel restrictions. In addition, in order to ensure that the matter of travel restrictions is addressed in the High Level Meeting, it is recommended that it be covered in the CSH issues.

5. Tour of the HLM venue: the CSTF visited the rooms within the United Nations where the HLM will take place to ensure their adequacy and size. The CSTF will do its best to ensure that the CSH is held in a room which can hold the greatest number of participants.

6. Accreditation: The deadline for non ECOSOC organizations to register has passed and the list of verified organizations had been put forward to Member States for their confirmation. The deadline for any opposition from States is April 14^th, 2008. Immediately after that, on April 16^th, the CSTF is planning to have a conference call in an attempt to receive information on any potential issues related to accreditation which may require follow up.

The CSTF will continue to work via email, conference calls and will meet again in-person in early May. Prior to the meeting, we will ensure that the meeting agenda is available.

For further communication, please send an email to: universalaccess2010@icaso.org to join the mailing list and receive up-to-date information.

This Report-back has been prepared by the Civil Society Task Force: Kieran Daly (co-chair), Kate Thomson (co-chair), Claudia Ahumada, Elina Azaryan, Robert Carr, Syed Asif Altaf Cowdhury, Vince Crisostomo, Stijn Goossens, Linda Hartke, Neeraj Mistry, Lilian Mworeko, Rolake Odetoyinbo, Laxmi Tripathi, Zonny Woods.

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URGENT!!! Call For Applicatins For Civil Society Speakers 2008 High Level Meeting on AIDS

Applications must be completed IN ENGLISH
and received no later than 30 March 2008 – No extension

La version française (http://www.icaso.org/resources/HLM_Speaker_application_FR_FINAL.doc)

La versión en español (http://www.icaso.org/resources/HLM_Speaker_application_ESP_FINAL.doc)

Перевод на русский (http://www.icaso.org/resources/HLM_Speaker_application_PYCC_FINAL.doc)

English version (http://www.icaso.org/resources/HLM_Speaker_application_EN_FINAL.doc)

To download application, please go to http://www.icaso.org/cstf.html

1. Plenary Speaker (a Person Openly Living with HIV)

2. Speakers at the Informal Interactive Civil Society Hearing

3. Speakers on Panels

Background

On 10-11 June 2008, a High-Level Meeting will be convened in New York by the United Nations General Assembly to undertake a comprehensive review of the progress achieved in realizing the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS.

Opening plenary: In accordance with the resolution adopted by the General Assembly that sets out the organizational arrangements for this meeting, one person from civil society who is openly living with HIV will be invited to speak at the opening plenary session of the High Level Meeting. The other plenary speakers will be the Secretary General of the United Nations, the President of the UN General Assembly, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, and an eminent person (to be selected). For more information, see the organizational resolution for the Meeting at:

http://www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/Resources/FeatureStories/archive/2008/20070115_2008_High_level_mtg.asp

Civil society hearing: A 2 hour interactive hearing will be chaired by the President of the General Assembly with approximately 10 speakers from civil society. The dialogue will provide an opportunity to exchange views with representatives of governments. The format for the hearing and specific topics are still under discussion.

Panels: Five panel sessions will be held on specific themes that have not yet been selected but that will be drawn from the report being prepared for the meeting by the UN Secretary General. Speakers from civil society may also be members of each panel along with representatives of governments and inter-governmental organizations.

Applications Process

A Civil Society Task Force has been established to advise the President of the United Nations General Assembly on preparations for the High Level Meeting. The Task Force has been asked to propose the names of civil society speakers (including business/private sector) for the opening plenary, civil society hearing and panels. The Task Force has therefore established criteria for selection and a speaker application process, including criteria and timelines, given below.

Individuals are asked to apply on their own behalf and must complete and return the Application Form. Some people may have indicated their interest to be a speaker when they applied for accreditation or registered online to attend the High Level Meeting. These persons must still complete and return the provided Application Form, as it contains supplementary information to facilitate the review and selection process.

Applications are strongly encouraged from: women; young people; sex workers; people who use drugs; men who have sex with men; trans-gendered persons, ex-prisoners; migrants; refugees and internally displaced persons; and people in conflict and post conflict situations.

People living with HIV who attend the High Level Meeting and are prepared to speak from their experience as an openly HIV+ person, need to be comfortable that their status may become widely known due to the possibility of broad media coverage. In addition, people living with HIV will be required to apply for a visa to enter the US and a waiver because of their HIV status.

Selection

The Civil Society Task Force will review applications on the basis of the established criteria. Please note that short-listed candidates may be interviewed by phone. The Civil Society Task Force will make public on list-serves its recommendations of civil society speakers to the President of the General Assembly (who will then make the decisions in discussion with Member States). It will not be possible to reply individually to every applicant.

Deadline and contact details

Applications must be completed and received no later than 30 March 2008.

Only email applications will be accepted. Please send the application with all required information in English to:

E-mail: hlmspeakers@icaso.org

The Task Force is working within tight timeframes and understands the challenges of such a short process. However, this is required in order to allow time for a fair selection process, the approval by the President of the General Assembly, in discussion with Member States, and then for the final selected speakers to be able to arrange their travel and visa requirements. Your assistance in circulating this information as widely as possible and as rapidly as possible is appreciated to ensure that members of civil society are aware of this opportunity.

To download application, please go to http://www.icaso.org/cstf.html

Or write to hlmspeakers@icaso.org and request a copy to be sent electronically

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