African Development Forum 2000
AIDS: The Greatest Leadership Challenge

DECLARATION BY AFRICAN CIVIL SOCIETY ANISAT

We, the African Civil Society Organizations represented at the Africa Development Forum 2000, recognize and applaud the courageous and ongoing efforts made by community-based organizations, groups of People Living with HIV/AIDS and their networks, to combat the pandemic of HIV/AIDS. We call on our governments and the international community to recognize and support these efforts, which must also be expanded to other organizations of civil society.

We call for greater focus on People Living with HIV/AIDS, youth and the media as central partners in the common struggle against HIV/AIDS.

We recognize the challenge of HIV/AIDS as the greatest threat facing the current generation in Africa. It is an all-encompassing social, economic, cultural and political crisis. HIV/AIDS is a threat that calls for all of society to be mobilized if we are to prevail.

We are encouraged that African national and continental leaders, and international donors and partners, are recognizing the scale of the challenge posed by HIV/AIDS. We urge them to do more, to match the efforts of African citizens and civil society organizations. We urge them to enter into a true partnership with African civil society: it is through such a partnership that we will succeed.

A Partnership against HIV/AIDS in Africa

We, African civil society organizations, call for our leaders, our civil society and our citizens to forge a true partnership, to work together to overcome HIV/AIDS in Africa.

We submit that there is no simple plan of action that can overcome this scourge. Instead we propose a true partnership, in the form of a grand coalition of leaders, organizations and individuals at all levels, working in their different ways towards a common goal: the conquest of HIV/AIDS.

This partnership challenges our leaders, and sets down basic principles for collective action.

1. National political leaders. Our national political leaders have responsibilities:

• to lead by example,

• to take a lead in combating the culture of fear, denial and stigmatisation, including by encouraging openness within government about HIV positive status and by formulating appropriate policies for national media,

• to take a lead in non-discrimination in government employment,

• to draft necessary legislation to address issues including discrimination, employment, violence against PLWAs, sexual violence, etc, to take the necessary steps to make a strategy to combat HIV/AIDS a top national priority, for all arms of the government.
  

2. Voluntary and grassroots leaders. Recognizing the leading role they are playing in responding to the pandemic, voluntary and grassroots leaders, including People Living with HIV/AIDS and Youth, we should continue to search for and implement innovative, effective and people-centered means of struggling against HIV/AIDS.

3. Women leaders. Women leaders, in government, civil society and international organizations, can play a key leadership role in mobilizing society, empowering their sisters, and changing attitudes and behavior. Male leaders have a responsibility to encourage and respect women leaders.

4. Religious leaders. Religious leaders have the responsibility to initiate moral and social responses to HIV/AIDS such as caring for sick people and orphans, renegotiating gender roles, promoting the social inclusion of PLWAs, fighting against stigma and human rights abuses.

5. Business leaders. Entrepreneurs, business-people and especially transnational corporations have responsibilities to their employees, to take the necessary steps to minimize HIV transmission at the workplace, to treat employees living with HIV/AIDS without discrimination.

6. Trade union leaders. Based on notions of solidarity and equality, trade unions have the responsibility, to educate workers about protection and to act as a safety net for those who have been infected with HIV. The international leadership of labor organizations have a duty to support their comrades in Africa.

7. Intellectual leaders. Professors, researchers and public intellectuals have a responsibility and an opportunity for shaping thinking and action.

8. Education sector leaders. Teachers have major responsibilities to their pupils, not only while they are studying but throughout their lifetimes. Teachers should include education about HIV/AIDS in the curriculum, and should lead by example, both in their own personal conduct and by making special efforts to include and respect students who are HIV positive and those who are caring for family members living with HIV/AIDS.

9. Cultural and social leaders. Cultural figures and celebrities serve as role models and opinion formers, especially for youth. They can influence the cultural environment positively.

10. Media leaders. Journalists, broadcasters, editors, chat-show hosts, actors, script-writers for soap operas: all these individuals and their respective institutions need to be mobilized, educated and strengthened to play important roles:

• educating the public,

• overcoming denial, stigmatization and stereotyping,

• providing a platform for People Living with HIV/AIDS,

• promoting transparency.

11. Military leaders. Military and police commanders have responsibilities to ensure that their uniformed officers and troops do not transmit HIV They also have duties towards their officers and men who are HIV positive, and their families.

12. International leaders. Leaders of international organizations, including African organizations, UN agencies, donor governments, or international financial institutions, have a responsibility to respond to the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa, and to support African initiatives with generosity and fairness. International organizations should set an example of transparency and accountability in acknowledging their past records of inadequate response to the pandemic.

1. Inclusion of People Living with HIV/AIDS. No campaign to address the challenge of HIV/AIDS can possibly succeed without the full participation of PLWA at all levels, including policymaking and policy implementation. People Living with HIV/AIDS are human beings, members of their community and citizens, and their human rights must be respected in full. We call for participation that is comprehensive, meaningful, consistent, democratic, and immediate.

2. Overcoming Denial, Stigma and Discrimination. An absolutely

fundamental requirement for overcoming the HIV/AIDS pandemic is eradicating denial, stigmatization and discrimination. Discrimination is manifest in many ways including employment, housing, education, foreign travel, insurance, health care and other social amenities and citizenship rights. We need to create a culture in which HIV/AIDS can be acknowledged without fear. Honesty and transparency from leaders who are themselves HIV positive is crucial. Hypocrisy and secrecy are the allies of HIV/AIDS, and they are our enemies.

We call for our governments to implement the international guidelines on human rights and HIV and to put in place effective mechanisms of monitoring the implementation, including full legal backing for elimination of discrimination in law and practice, and vigorous prosecution of those who victimize PLWAs. We call for all Africans, in an individual capacity, as citizens, as members of their families and communities, to address the challenges of safe sex, gender relations, and cultural taboos.

3. Empowerment of Women. More than half of those infected by HIV in Africa are women. Women and girls are vulnerable because of cultural, social, economic and political gender inequalities. Rape, sexual violence and domestic violence must be targeted for elimination from our societies. Women and girls must be provided with the knowledge, skills, resources and power to be able to refuse unsafe sex. There must be no double standards when discussing commercial sex work. Women also bear the greater burden of caring for people who are suffering from AIDS. We call for a comprehensive program for the achievement of women's rights.

4. Resource Mobilization and Allocation. Africa's governments are poor, but can devote more resources to HIV/AIDS. Existing mechanisms to support CSOs and community efforts are grossly inadequate. Existing resources mobilized and allocated to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa are scarce and insufficient. We call for direct funding to Coos and their networks. We call for African Heads of State to prioritize HIV/AIDS programs in their legislation, policy making, financing and policy implementation across all sectors. International donors, who have far greater resources, should prioritize HIV/AIDS programs including prevention, care and the highest quality treatment. African governments should consider receiving loans for AIDS programs as an immoral commitment, which they should never make on behalf of their citizens. We call for donors to provide grants only.

We also note that the struggle against HIV/AIDS requires a positive environment of economic development, and we call upon international creditors to relieve Africa's unsustainable debt immediately and in full, and provide more resources towards equitable and sustainable development.

5. Reduction of the Transmission of HIV /AIDS transmission must be

reduced through wide-ranging programs of education, utilizing schools, the media, public education, traditional health practitioners and religious leaders. Youth must be fully involved and empowered at all levels. Economic factors that drive women and men to risky sexual behavior must be addressed. Condoms should be free and widely available. Treatment for STDs should be readily available and free. Voluntary counseling and testing services should be widely available, professional and confidential.

Treatments to minimize mother-to-child transmission should be universally available.

6. Treatment. The treatment of People Living with HIV/AIDS is a basic human

right. It is also essential to any comprehensive strategy to overcome the virus. Without treatment to enable PLWAs to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives, the stigma attaching to AIDS cannot be removed. Without hope for the future, people will not go for testing. Africa cannot write off 25

million of its citizens, when care and medication that can radically improve their condition already exist. We do not accept that the necessary drugs are too expensive, as evidence shows that they can be produced for a small fraction of their current market prices. We call upon African governments and the international community to insist on price reductions that make drugs affordable for ordinary Africans, and upon the rights under TRIPS to make use of alternatives including generic manufacture and import to achieve the lowest possible price. We call for expanding the list of essential drugs to include anti-retroviral and drugs for opportunistic infections. We denounce the means used to maintain pharmaceutical companies' excessive profits at the expense of human lives.

7. Care. Africans living with HIV/AIDS deserve the highest quality of care.

Community-based organizations and families have been caring for PLWAs at huge cost and with minimal support. We call for substantial support to those providing care at home and within the community for PLWAs. We call for a scaling up of assistance for treatment and care.

8. Vaccine Development. African People Living with HIV/AIDS and their

communities are partners in attempts to develop vaccines against HIV. We call for African governments to adopt the 'African Strategy for an HIV Vaccine of 14 th June 2000' so as to actively participate in the global search for a vaccine and to ensure that communities can benefit from the positive product of the trials.

9. Strengthening CSOs and their networks. The true partnership requested to effectively respond to this pandering demands strong, informed, skilled and organized civil society organizations. We call on governments and the international community to support CSOs and their networks financially and technically to play their full role.

We are mindful of the fact that HIV/AIDS is a societal crisis and any effective response must be a social, economic and political response. Creating a mass movement means unleashing the creative energies of ordinary people to empower them to take their destinies into their own hands. The central role is played by CSOs. Governments should play their proper role in designing public policy in a way that will create an enabling environment for a social movement. Donors including international financial institutions should provide resources, in support of the modalities laid down by the African agenda.

We call upon all participants in this Conference to study the true partnership arrived at by the Civil Society Organizations, and to disseminate this through campaigns on their return to their home countries. Governments should disseminate the ideas through meetings, directives and the media. International donors should support these exercises.

We express our gratitude to the President of Nigeria and the Secretary General of the OAU for the initiative to convene a special OAU Summit on the issue of HIV/AIDS. We, the African CSOs, consider this a significant step forward. It is a signal that our leaders are taking HIV/AIDS with the seriousness that it deserves. We consider the Summit to indicate an irreversible commitment: we shall go forward from here.

To continue with the spirit of ADF 2000, we request that the recommendations from this Forum, including the CSO Common Compact, be forwarded to the Abuja Summit and presented to all our Heads of State as a major contribution. In the spirit of ADF 2000, we further request that CSOs, including especially those representing PLWA and Youth, be invited to participate fully and to speak for themselves in the Abuja Summit.

We the CSOs are committed to expanding and strengthening our existing networking and advocacy role. We call on OAU and ECA together with their partners as part of the post-ADF activities to technically and financially support the existing networks so as to enable them to effectively fulfill the leadership role at national, subregional, continental and global levels. To this end we propose the creation of a CSO Focal Point at the OAU and ECA

We, the African CSOs, including PLWA and Youth, reiterate our commitment to be active partners in the Common Compact of collective social mobilization against HIV/AIDS in Africa. We call on our national and continental leaders and our international partners to support our efforts. We believe that if we act together, with honest commitment and common purpose, we shall overcome the HIV/AIDS pandering in our continent.