This is incredible. In this room are leading youth HIV activists from 20 or so countries in both the Global North and South as well as a wide variety of organizations. Tsutomo, a peer educator from Japan, Keesha, a national organizer from Jamaica, Amr, Middle East Coordinator for the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS from Egypt…collectively we represent every region of the world and every sector of HIV mobilization. I’ll be blogging in particular with Tabris, a soft-spoken Peruvian youth educator, and Tsholofelo, a young Botswanan activist whose bright skirts and tanktops are bringing some much-needed color to this gathering of suits. Our collective knowledge and social capital is massive, the energy is palpable, and the curiousity levels are high. It’s going to be hard to remain on-task with UNGASS preparation with 60 young, attractive adults in one room.
On the eve of the UN Special Session on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS Chief Peter Piot claimed that the world community has gained momentum in the fight against AIDS, but told Reuters that “it was also crucial to address issues such as homophobia, sexual violence and inequality between the sexes which are ensuring HIV/AIDS is a long-term epidemic.”
Unfortunately, those very issues are exactly why conservative ideologues continue to promote strategies of delay, when what the world needs is to lock arms and work together.
As we reported in Rumor Mill the US is now in league with Syria in an “Axis of Ideology”, and the ideologues who believe they own the President are exporting their polarizing politicsfrom Congress to the international stage.
[img_assist|nid=215|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=75|height=100]I’m in day one of a Youth Summit at the UN Population Fund, and I’m pumped to meet the international youth delegation that’s been assembled. I’m curious as to how the summit planners are going to mobilize and equip such a disparate group for all the media and scheduling madness of any large international conference. More critically, though, I’m apprehensive and excited at discovering what exactly we’re facing in putting youth at the forefront of the UNGASS 06 agenda. It seems highly likely that the UNGASS review committee will face difficult political squabbling throughout the process with a US delegation that appears selected largely on political grounds, rather than on healthcare experience.
This clip includes the second portion of the question & answer session at the end of the presentation. It also includes closing remarks from Nils Daulaire.
We welcome Mark, Tabris and Tsholo who this week have journeyed to New York to attend the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on HIV/AIDS. They will be covering the meetings, NGO briefings and rallies live and providing you with a first-hand look at these global meetings from their perspectives having travelled from all around the world, linking what they see at the UN with their work fighting HIV back home. Last week we asked them to write something before coming to New York to introduce them to our readers. The next three blog entries are those introductions. Starting tomorrow, they'll be posting live -- and lively commentary. Register now, login, and comment to dialogue with these three dedicated people. Thanks to Advocates for Youth for their help in coordinating this special coverage.
It’s now only one day until I travel to New York City for the UNGASS meeting and its starting to show. I’m becoming increasingly apprehensive and nervous; the potential for real commitment and action, as well as for more continued bureaucratic wrangling, is currently hanging tenuously in the balance.
During my day job, I work for a development agency which has a lovely modern office with lots of lovely, educated, passionate mostly-Western professionals who seem to be forever coming back from Sudan or flying out to Haiti.
I am Tabris from Perú. I feel happy for this opportunity of representing young people from my country.
If in fact in my country there are laws that ensure rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, they are not often fulfilled, and regardless, teenagers and young people are not covered by such legislation. I want to share the need that young people have for real spaces to talk and reflect about sexuality, sexualities, gender equality and human rights with peers and adults.
