World AIDS Day Statement -

[Guest guest]

World AIDS Day Statement -

*For Immediate Release*

Please find attached and below the text of the World AIDS Day statement by

, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa.

The text is available for immediate distribution and may be freely posted,

circulated, quoted and published.

To contact Mr. in Ireland, please call Ms. a Donovan, Senior

Advisor, Mobile: +1-718-266-7187.

Regards,

Magill

Executive Assistant to

TEL: +1-416-657-4458

FAX: +1-416-946-1371

clmagill@...

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World AIDS Day Statement issued by , UN Special Envoy, HIV/AIDS

in Africa, during a seminar on Women, HIV/AIDS and the Role of the United

Nations under the auspices of Irish Aid Friday, December 1, 2006, 15:00,

Dublin, Ireland

This is my last World AIDS Day in the role of UN Envoy for HIV/AIDS in

Africa. When I look back on the last five years, the single most intractable

dilemma has been the excruciating vulnerability of women, the huge and

disproportionate numbers of deaths they face, their overwhelming

responsibilities for the sick and orphaned, and the apparent inability of

African Governments or the international community to do anything decisive

about it.

Therefore, the single most important multilateral initiative during

the last five years was the recommendation announced on November 9th, by a

High-Level Panel on UN reform, to create a new, independent, international

agency for women. I see it as an unparalleled step forward in the march

against the pandemic.

As soon as this agency really materializes, as soon as it gets the

support of the General Assembly, -- provided that it is given the leadership

and resources necessary to perform the job -- it will finally do what the

United Nations has never done before: it will provide substantive and

compelling support to the daily struggles of more than fifty percent of the

world's population. Let's be frank about it: the United Nations` record on

women is abysmal. It's been abysmal for sixty years. Both internally and

externally, the United Nations has continuously failed the women of the

world. At long last, change may be in sight.

But that change depends on three factors, all of which were

encompassed by the report of the High-Level Reform Panel.

First, the new agency must have sufficient resources, commensurate

with the urgent, wide-ranging, difficult and universal crises it will

address . in the words of the panel it should be " fully and ambitiously "

funded. That means, at minimum, a billion dollars a year. Nothing less will

do. I note, for purposes of comparison, that even at a billion dollars, its

budget would amount to less than one per cent of global Official Development

Assistance, and to only half of what UNICEF spends annually.

Unhappily, amongst some, even amongst some strong, activist women

there's an automatic willingness to settle for much less . something in the

vicinity of two hundred million dollars (a figure that was bandied about by

the panel and then abandoned for the very good reasons that it a) was

preposterously low and could be seen as a ceiling).

Now it's time for all of us to refuse inadequate funding. It's high

time for everyone who believes in equality between women and men to reject

crumbs from the donor table. Either governments will prove serious about

this agency or they won't. But on no account should we capitulate in

advance. If we settle for some paltry financing, we can write off the

capacity to work at country level, which is exactly what will make it

possible to transform, to secure and to save the lives of millions of women.

Second, the process of choosing the new Under Secretary-General will

begin before the end of this year, and it must be as " transparent and

global " as the Reform Panel recommended. Indeed, they went even further to

signal that revolutionary change is needed; they made it clear that the

choice should be " demonstrably " open to candidates from outside the United

Nations as well as to internal candidates. There can be no assumption made

by anyone, that any particular person is entitled to the job. A huge amount

rides on the choice of the incumbent: she will be the first leader of the

most powerful women's agency in the world. This cannot be a case of simple

bureaucratic elevation. The candidate selected must be the best possible

mobilizer, fundraiser, manager and visionary the world has to offer, from

any corner of the globe.

Third, since gender equality hasn't been achieved in any nation on

earth, the new agency must have a powerful presence at country level. This

is the sine qua non for success, and that's why significant resources are

crucial. The new women's agency must be able to carry out targeted

programmes for women within countries, and have enough staff and heft to

influence and aid government policy, and equally to advise and influence the

rest of the UN team within developing countries.

In my experience in Africa, the UN's support for the needs and rights

of women at country level has been little more than a sham. How could it be

otherwise, with no staff and no money and such thinly spread expertise?

My closest colleagues and I have of course been preoccupied with

HIV/AIDS these last several years. We believe real progress is possible:

that when this women's agency comes into being, it will significantly reduce

the carnage of the pandemic. It will turn the corner for women at the

grassroots by supporting the activist groups in every country, and their

participation as partners on policy and programmes. It would confront all

the most grievous issues, from sexual violence to onerous burdens of care

and the desperate need for facilities to prevent mother-to-child

transmission. It would be a growing salvation for the women of Africa,

including those whose voices are so seldom heard; the young and the old.

But there's much more to it than that. The new agency, according to

the recommendations of the High-Level Panel, would help to implement the

Beijing Platform of Action and give impetus to 'Resolution 1325', the

landmark UN Security Council resolution that - in theory -- gave to women

their rightful roles in peace talks and peace building.

We're talking about what could be the most dramatic breakthrough for

women in the history of the United Nations. It should galvanize activists

around the world. The proposal of an international agency for women is not

so much an idea whose time has come, as an idea whose time is sixty years

late in coming.

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