In the most stirring speech from the High Level Panel on Civil Society, Mark Ahoud spoke by satellite from South Africa outlining the basic frustration around HIV and AIDS: Rich people live with HIV and poor people usually die.

In most parts of the world, human rights violations make HIV infection worse. Many people who fight for rights, in China and Zimbabwe among others, are repressed. Ahoud spoke about the vital role of civil society:

"It is the duty of civ society to uphold government commitments. When we gratefully accept the hand-me-downs of governments, we leave the poor and vulnerable even more vulnerable.

There is a direct link between civ soc pressure on governments and how well they uphold commitments."

Ahoud refuses for civil society to be beggars. Activists and young people working in advocacy must:

• Include systematic community action, human rights education, demanding to be meaningfully involved in every aspect of government.

• Demand continued funding, devise and implement systems that measure and monitor human rights.
• Demand investment in justic systems that poor people have access to.

• Mute witness to the demise of health systems.
• AIDS is not an exception. Every threat to the dignity and life of poor people should generate an exceptional response.