UNGASS Blog 9: From Inclusion to Leadership

I am on my way back to Washington, rolling away from the rollicking clatter of New York City and the seat of international administration at which over the past week, dozens of brilliant young activists have made their presence felt as profoundly as possible. As didactic and occasionally enthralling as the meeting was, I can’t seem to shake the lingering sense of disappointment at the ultimately mediocre strength of the session’s results. The final political declaration to come out of the 2006 UNGASS review was a mixed bag; encouragingly, it included the strongest youth language ever seen in such a document, as well as a demand for national targets (if not specific quantitative nor global ones) and some mention of putting life before intellectual property rights through access to generic drugs.

Paragraph 26 reads: “(Therefore, we) commit to address the rising rates of HIV infection among young people to ensure an HIV-free future generation through the implementation of comprehensive, evidence-based prevention strategies, responsible sexual behaviours, including the use of condoms, evidence-and skills-based, youth specific HIV education, mass media interventions, and the provision of youth friendly health services.”

Though it fails to mention comprehensive sexuality education, which would have undoubtedly been preferable to “youth specific HIV education,” this paragraph at least allows civil society and non-state actors to push national governments as close to full accountability as possible.

On a less positive note, the declaration fails to make explicit mention of specific at-risk communities, including Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), preferring to use the politically ambiguous term “vulnerable groups.” It also makes mention of “cultural values” in a warping of their original use, in order to allow particular regimes to continue to ignore and repress groups based on ideology, rather than public health or human rights. The declaration does not commit states to reaching the necessary goal of $23 billion USD by 2010, merely calling for signed states to “ensure that new and additional resources are made available.” Finally, the document does not make mention of universal access, a visionary step pushed by the UN since 2001 which is deserving of full political support.

Despite these setbacks, and make no mistake, these are definite setbacks whose exclusion will certainly hinder a truly effective response to global AIDS, I have been filled with a sense of optimism that Harriet, the middle-aged fabric designer I met at a diner across from the UN, considers simply youthful naiveté.

It is an optimism that I derived in-part after speaking to a young HIV-positive homosexual man from the South Bronx who got arrested inside the US Mission through an act of courageous civil disobedience, when he told me: “Now I know…I have the right to do this, and I can do this.”

It is an optimism borne from observing and participating in a number of spectacularly intense and provocative meetings of civil society: where immensely influential veteran activists—such as Eric Sawyer of Act Up and Asia Russell of Health GAP—teamed with a range of professionals from throughout the global south, to analyze, critique, and demand more from the bureaucratic process of disappointing compromise that the UN is renowned for, whilst equipped with nothing more than the weapons of tenaciousness, outrage, and moral agency.

An optimism that witnessed fellow youth advocates take media center stage with grace and aplomb, be they Deidre of Memphis, Tennessee on CNN International, or Nino Susanto of Jogyakarta, Indonesia on BBC World, entering the stage of public affairs with a vigor and intelligence that our generation may possess in abundance, but which the world continually fails to fully utilize.

HIV/AIDS is a treacherous, venomous disease, a devastatingly dark pestilence whose life-stealing enormity far outweighs that of any other phenomenon, natural or man-made, in human history. There are numerous countries, some within Sub-Saharan Africa, in which it has already reconfigured and ravaged the natural cycle of our species—robbing societies of an entire generation of young leaders and breadwinners. If HIV is to destroy us in such a way, reversing many centuries of progress in global prosperity, longevity of life, and the struggle for social justice: it will not be because of the superior biological nor mutational ability of the disease itself. It is well-known that we have effective antiretroviral therapy which allows for the prolonged, healthy life of people living with HIV/AIDS, and that such drugs can be produced for less than a dollar a day. In similar fashion, progress in the development of preventive microbicides, which are critical to the empowerment of women and girls, more potent treatments, and ultimately, a permanent cure, is well within the reach of modern medicine as well as society’s final realization of health as a human right.

No, humankind shall not be defeated by the HIV virus, but only by humankind ourselves. If we allow the unfettered greed of the pharmaceutical industry, which spends less on research than it does on advertising, whilst profiting in far greater excess than both combined; or the hateful ideology of discrimination due to sexual orientation, race, or class to persist in modern society; or the myopic trappings of political relations, mainstream apathy, and inexcusable inaction to come between humankind and the conquest of its greatest challenge to date, than it shall be a hellish self-fulfilling descent upon which humanity is tumbling.

I firmly believe that this shall not be the case.

I believe that my generation, in partnership with and in the spirit of past social movements that have come before us, shall not allow a mere lack of political will to defeat us. Over the past week, I have been blessed to partake in a bounty of inspiration and action, as youth summit members rallied their national delegations, excelled on official panels, and led the shouts of protest from within the very heart of the United Nations, the General Assembly Hall. This group of individuals: women and men; lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, still deciding, and straight; Southern and Northern, short and tall; empowered and impatient, will wait no longer for their leaders to take decisive action to prevent new infections and provide access to treatment immediately.

We are Kuntal Krishna of India, who moved Mrs. Annan to visible effect when sharing the story of a 15-year-old HIV victim from his home, whom asked him to the Secretary-General’s wife with a painting of her deceased relatives. We are Keesha Effs of Jamaica, whose blistering presentation on the feminization of HIV shook UN delegates into congratulatory reverie. And we are Naina Dhingra of the United States, whose unyielding strength of character and mastery of the political process provides young people with a true leader at the highest levels of administration. As Incia Khan, a Pakistani-Canadian coordinator for the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS so eloquently stated: “We must be the generation of change.”

Jan Eliasson, President of the UN General Assembly, issued the following call to all signatory states during the closing remarks of this week’s meeting: “Take this Declaration, and take the new spirit and understanding of these three days, back to your countries, and implement it.”

It is up to us to make sure that they do just that.

Youth Summit: Day 2 by Mark Hiew

As I write, Victor from Sweden and Edford from Zambia are presenting on message building. The group, after yesterday's intensive crush of trainings and workshops, have become much more comfortable and light-hearted. Many are adorned in beige hats with "WYP?" (What's Your Position) on the front, from a youth awareness campaign which provides condoms to youth in nightclubs in Trinidad & Tobago.

I've been sitting down with folks during breaks to talk about some of their programs on the ground. Two major themes have really struck out to me:

Firstly, the passion, inspiration and intelligence of my generation is truly phenomenal. This may sound odd, but last night an episode of the television program Law and Order featured a white supremacist who preached hate and violence toward non-Aryans. Looking around the room this morning, I am periodically moved to wonderment by the physical and symbolic beauty I find within the diversity of people in this room. Our skin colors, hairstyles and clothing possess a brilliant range of color and culture, and yet our voice rings out with such sonorous clarity. United through our youth and vibrancy, our collective commitment to defeating this epidemic and demanding our voice is heard at this UN meeting makes us a formidable force.

Not nearly as beautiful as the variety of ethnic groups on display is the common report backs from the respective home turfs. In brief discussions, I've been continually met with feelings of frustration, anger and exasperation at the continued invasion of ideology, discrimination and politics into what we see as an issue of public health. Mayindo, a peer educator and youth advocate from Nigeria, best encapsulated the general feeling when describing his emotions at receiving PEPFAR funding for peer education programs, which contains the notable requirement that Abstinence-Only education be used:

PEPFAR funding "puts us in a dire corner. Sometimes I think it is even better to not receive the funds. PEPFAR has imposed its own programs on other countries, thereby undermining Nigeria's own national strategy," which includes full comprehensive sexuality education.

Amr from Egypt faces difficulties of a domestic nature. A 26 year old recent medical graduate, he is a long-time youth civil society leader. Remaining lighthearted about the considerable bureaucratic entanglement Egyptian civil society faces, he revealed to me that recent national legislation has replaced legislation for peer education programs with a more conservative, less-reality based version, something which he describes as a "backward step." He remains militantly optimistic, however, citing Egypt's recent formation of a youth-inclusive advisory board for national regulation council.

Facing such obstacles has never been a new challenge for youth activists, which returns me to my main point: the intelligence and maturity of young people. In response to this unprecedented global adversity, we bring tools such as passion, energy, and innovation. Our imaginative quality-- a universal hallmark of young people, but one often decried as being unrealistic or overly ambitious—is perhaps our greatest strength. I was thoroughly impressed by the hyper-articulate Dikitso, who discussed adding the "D" to ABC—Abstain, Be faithful, use Condoms--in an innovative peer education campaign used in Botswana. Masturbation, which appears to have been and continues to be a taboo subject since time immemorial, is a rarely discussed but pragmatic method of preventing HIV transmission. Through this campaign, Dikitso and other educators organized focus group discussions around the subject of masturbation, and launched a campaign which added "D" for "Do it Yourself," to the existing ABC methodology, using a discussion-generating road sign messaging campaign In this way, Botswanan peer educators like Dikitso are providing knowledge in place of previous fear-based interventions.

In Wisconsin, Whitney from "Sex Outloud" organized an awareness campaign which brought out 400 community members to raise awareness concerning the Lords Resistance Army in Uganda. In Indonesia, Nino organized a queer film festival in Jogyakarta which drew over 1000 audience members, despite facing death threats demanding the event be called off. Whilst handing out hats, Carla from Trinidad & Tobago shared their "WYP?" campaign with us, in which peer educators swept through night clubs handing out condoms, t-shirts and hats with the "What's Your Position?" message: Even when enjoying yourself, protect yourself.

It was wonderful to go around the room, hearing so much creativity and thoughtfulness from fellow youth coming up with so many solutions, hand-fitted to a broad array of cultural contexts. With such intelligent, committed young activists working around the globe to curb this preventable virus, I am filled with confidence that we can win this war and really turn the tables on HIV/AIDS.

What we really need is for social conservatism and ideology to be removed from international AIDS policy as much as possible. And that's what the next three days is about. After a day of intensive lobbying and messaging training, each of us are ready to meet with our national delegations to demand youth involvement and comprehensive sexuality education for our peers.



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Hi Everyone,

I'm currently attending the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on AIDS (UNGASS) 5 year Review (from May 31 - June 2), and UNGASS Youth Summit (May 29 - 30). The Youth Summit is being organized by the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GYCA), Advocates for Youth and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). (There are too many acronyms!)

We hope to bring back lessons from the summit, to feed into youth activities for the upcoming conference in Toronto. It has been really amazing as there are over 65 youth from more than 25 countries attending the summit alone!

We had the opportunity to ask Dr. Peter Piot (Executive Director of UNAIDS) a lot of different questions and get up-to-date information on UNAIDS work around young people and HIV/AIDS; and the challenges of ensuring meaningful youth participation within HIV programming. As one participant put it, it's important to move away from having youth as merely 'accessories' or 'tokens' in programmes, but actually give the technical capacity to participate.

For me, a really important component of the day, was a presentation on evidence-based HIV prevention Interventions. (This will be part of a publication that will be launched in Toronto jointly by UNICEF, WHO and other organizations). I thought that this is particularly important as we are moving from simply documenting 'best practices' to actually stating what works, and can potentially be scaled up and have a more sustainable impact on prevention models

With half of all new infections occurring among young people and around 6,000 young people newly infected with HIV/AIDS - It is certainly time to act!