Appeal to the 7th Ordinary Session of the AU in Banjul: Please Act to Protect the Abuja Summit Outcomes

African civil society delegates went through something of a roller-coaster experience at the high level meeting on AIDS in New York, June 2006. The international statement of leadership coming from New York was less bold than the African specific leadership statements coming out just a month before in Abuja. Now African civil society leaders are calling for African leaders to stand firm on these Abuja, African commitments. See the below letter for their specific requests.

From: The African Civil Society Coalition on HIV and AIDS

Your Excellencies Chairpersons Sassou Nguesso and Alpha Konare:

We are writing to you as representatives of African civil society organisations that are concerned with tackling the HIV and AIDS pandemic on our continent. We speak as a collective of African citizens who are deeply committed to the role of the African Union as a critical regional institution whose mandate is to provide leadership as our continent develops solutions to its complex challenges.

We are in full support of the statement issued by the AU on June 19, 2006, reaffirming the importance of all African countries achieving coverage rates of 80% for HIV treatment and prevention by 2010, in line with the agreements reached at the AU Special Summit on AIDS, TB and Malaria, which was held in Abuja, Nigeria in May this year. However, we are also writing to express our concerns about potential developments that may arise in relation to issues of HIV and AIDS at the Seventh Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union, which takes place in Banjul, The Gambia on July 1 and 2, 2006.

Events at the United Nations High Level Review Meeting on AIDS that was held in New York, USA between May 31st and June 2nd this year, have raised questions about the commitment of some AU member-states, to the undertakings made at the Abuja Special Summit. As has been well-documented in African and international press as well as in summit proceedings, a few African states took positions that were not consistent with the African Common Position on AIDS, which was endorsed at the AU Special Summit. Senior officials of the AU Commission who participated in the High-Level Review, including the Honourable Commissioner for Social Affairs, also witnessed these contraventions of the spirit of the Abuja outcome documents by some AU members.

We are therefore anxious that the forthcoming Seventh Ordinary Summit reinforces the integrity of the AU, and confirms the strong leadership on HIV and AIDS demonstrated by African leaders at the Abuja Summit both in 2001 and again in 2006. At the most recent Abuja Summit, African leaders adopted the following outcome documents:

• The Abuja Call for Accelerated Action on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria
• African Common Position to the High Level Review Meeting of the UN General Assembly Special Session On AIDS (June 2006)
• The African Statement to the May 2006 World Health Assembly

We are aware that these three outcome documents and a report of the Abuja summit are expected to the endorsed by the Ordinary Session of the AU, as listed in Draft Agenda Item V Assembly/AU/3(VII). It is crucial that, not only do member-states uphold these documents as adopted by the Special Summit, but also that member states and the Commission move promptly to operationalise the Abuja commitments in full partnership with all stakeholders. The role of the Commission in this regard is essential.

As representatives of African people infected and affected by HIV and AIDS, we call on you, as Chair of the AU and of the AU Commission respectively, to:

1. Use your good offices to ensure that the outcome documents are upheld and endorsed without reservations by the Seventh Ordinary Session;
2. Announce at the Banjul meeting this week, a roll-out plan by the Commission to operationalise the Abuja outcome documents and promote full implementation of the African Common Position at national levels.

As civil society organizations, we are fully committed to supporting the African Union and its member-states in promoting the urgent implementation of the activities listed in the outcome documents, in order that our continent may achieve Universal Access to HIV and AIDS prevention, care and treatment for all African peoples.

The people of Africa, who constitute two-thirds of the world's population of those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS, are eager for you to continue to demonstrate strong, exceptional leadership in your response to this matter. The world has acknowledged the renewed commitment by African leaders and by the AU to scale up their responses to this epidemic. As the Seventh Ordinary Session of the AU holds this week in Banjul, the AU must not fail the African people, so many of whom are vulnerable to HIV and AIDS.

We thank you for your urgent consideration of the matters raised in this communication and wish you the best in the deliberations at the Banjul Summit.

Should you wish to respond formally to the coalition of organisations listed below, please feel free to contact:
Omolulu Falobi Sisonke Msimang
[ omololu@nigeria-aids.org] [ sisonkem@osisa.org]
+234 1 7731457 +27 83 450 7382
JAAIDS OSISA

Signed by the partners of the African Civil Society Coalition on HIV and AIDS, including the following:
AIDS Rights Alliance of Southern Africa
ActionAid International - Africa
African Council of AIDS Service Organisations (AfriCASO)
African Microbicides Advocacy Group (AMAG)
Central African Network of AIDS Service Organisations (CANASO)
Civil Society Network on HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (CISHAN)
CREDO for Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights
Eastern African National Network of AIDS Service Organisations (EANNASO)
Global Youth Coalition on AIDS (GYCA)
Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria
Network of African People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAP+)
Kenya OVC Network
Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWAN)
Treatment Action Campaign (TAC)
Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA)
Oxfam International
Panos Institute Global AIDS Programme
Southern African AIDS Information Dissemination Service (SAfAIDS)
Society for Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA)
World AIDS Campaign