Keeping the promises

Keeping the promises

Holding our governments to account

Holding governments to account on the promises they have made for children affected by HIV and AIDS, is a major focus of World Vision’s work. We take every opportunity to do this, combining lobbying at international, national and community levels to ensure that tangible progress is made.

One such opportunity came in June 2006, when representatives from UN Member States met together for a high level meeting in New York, to review the progress made in achieving the commitments set out in the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. This Declaration included policy commitments for governments and the international community to respond to the needs of orphans and vulnerable children, and provides a means by which world leaders can be held accountable to a clear timetable of action.

World Vision was actively involved in lobbying government representatives from Africa, the UK, EU and the UN in the lead-up to the meeting, and believes that the final Political Declaration represents substantial progress on policy commitments for children affected by HIV and AIDS.

You can read the Political Declaration from UNAIDS here

In addition, World Vision was a key player at the Technical Consultation for the 2006 Global Partners Forum on Children Affected by HIV and AIDS, hosted by UNICEF and the UK Department for International Development (DfID). The Forum brought together representatives from governments, non-governmental organisations and international institutions, and led to a set of recommendations for children affected by HIV and AIDS.

Another key event was the XVI International AIDS Conference, held in Toronto in August 2006. Titled, ‘Time to Deliver’, this conference focused on the promises and progress made to scale-up treatment, care and prevention. As well as giving presentations at the conference, World Vision’s Senior HIV and AIDS Adviser, Dr. Stuart Kean, chaired a session on behalf of the Canadian International Development Agency entitled, ‘Stigma, Discrimination, Violence, Exploitation and Abuse of Children Affected by HIV and AIDS: A Children’s Rights and Protection Perspective’.