News from UNGASS 2006

Below is the link to the the video, featuring young people talking about HIV and AIDS, which was shown at the opening session of the UNGASS 2006 meeting.

African civil society leaders are calling for African leaders to stand firm on the Abuja Summit Outcomes.

The final draft of the political declaration came on Friday 2 June 2006 in the morning. Please see below for the text.

June 2nd 2006
Civil society groups from around the world denounced the final UN Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, released after marathon negotiations during the UN High Level meeting on AIDS this week.

The closing plenary heard from Canon Gideon Byagumisha from Uganda, who was the first priest in Africa to publicly declare his HIV positive status. He challenged leaders to choose committment instead of tokenism.

Below is text from the summary given by the President of General Assembly regarding procedings of the Interactive Civil Society Hearing that took place on Wednesday, May 31. These remarks were made at June 1 Plenary Meeting.

UNGASS DECLARATION FAILS TO DELIVER NEEDED COMMITMENTS ON HIV/AIDS
Geneva, Switzerland, 7 June 2006

Below you will find the letter that was sent to the President of the General Assembly in appreciation for the inclusion and the organisation of the Civil Society Hearing: “Keeping the Promise; The People Speak” on May 31 at UNGASS, along with a list of the organisations that signed on in support of the letter.

June 1st, 2006
In the final hours of negotiations of the UN High-Level meeting on HIV/AIDS in New York this week, more than 100 civil society organizations worldwide staged an unprecedented protest shouting “The Declaration must include: treatment, targets, women and girls, harm reduction vulnerable groups”. As they were herded out from the hall by security guards they chanted “Silence is Death”.