The NGO Delegation welcomes Dr. Winnie Byanyima as the new executive director of UNAIDS. As community activists and human rights defenders, we celebrate the opportunity to partner with a leader who brings on board a history in sustainable development leadership and a lifetime of advocacy for human rights and gender equity.

From April 29 to May 1, I had the opportunity to attend the UNAIDS Asia Pacific Regional Management Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. The meeting was attended by the Senior Management Team from Geneva, country directors, and national staff from the region.

The people of Venezuela are experiencing an extreme lack of basic goods and services, including food, potable water, housing, electricity, security, and, most importantly, access to healthcare and life-saving medications, including ARV.

Both the IEP report and the Statement of the Staff Association raised extremely serious issues, some of which have been raised as far back as 2011. These issues now require swift, urgent, and robust action by the PCB and management of UNAIDS. This can be no time for rhetoric without actions or piecemeal rather than substantial and sustained organizational change.

The PCB agreed to establish an Independent Expert Panel to coordinate and complete a comprehensive review/audit on the prevention of and response to harassment, including sexual harassment, bullying, and abuse of power at UNAIDS in the past seven years.

The situation room is envisaged to show real-time HIV service delivery data, producing a comprehensive picture and understanding of the AIDS epidemic and the HIV response in the country.

After feedback received from representatives of civil society organizations following our initial statement, during late March and early April 2018, the NGO Delegation undertook and completed several key consultations, which included meetings with the UNAIDS Secretariat Staff Association (USSA), the United Kingdom in their capacity as current PCB Chair, and two civil society telephone consultationContinue reading « Update on UNAIDS’ sexual harassment policies »

The beginning of the dark age in the AIDS response in Indonesia Recently, a draft of revisions to the Book of Penal Code[1], known as KUHP, was submitted to the Parliament of Indonesia. Many civil society organizations and alliances see the revision of KUHP as an insult to the democratic process in Indonesia. If approved, theContinue reading « Revision of the Book of Penal Code »

The local HIV Indigenous conference, Know Your Status HIV Forum – From Knowledge To Action, was held on February 14 and 15, 2018, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It was organized by Saskatoon Tribal Council’s (STC) Health and Family Services, owned by the seven First Nations of STC.

With the emergence of the #MeToo movement and renewed calls for zero tolerance of sexual harassment in all sectors of society, we too, in the NGO Delegation, have had to confront our understanding of the issues, not just from afar in the arts, entertainment, media and political sectors in the United States, but closer to home, here at UNAIDS.