High Level speakers in the opening included the President of the General Assembly and the United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon gave remarks to the almost 700 civil society organisations attending the meeting.

Mark Heywood of the International Council of AIDS Service Organisations was the Civil Society speaker for the opening and reiterated the need to ensure the AIDS response does not violate human rights.

Among other civil society speakers invited to speak, Winnie Sseruma of the World Council of Churches addressed the focus area of Women and Girls. Sseruma emphasised that in addition to the fact that nearly one half of the world’s new HIV infections are among women and girls, women are still the ones who face the additional burden of care for positive persons. “Winnie shared her experience of feeling invisible in meetings where decisions about HIV positive persons were being made. She also pointed out very strongly that HIV is virus and not a moral issue. It is an illness and not crime,“ said Icilda Humes, World YWCA Board Member who attended the civil society hearing.

Stephanie, a positive teenager from the Global Network of People Living with HIV also shared her experience of surviving in a world of stigma and discrimination. Stephanie was a presenter at the World YWCA Young Women’s Leadership Forum in Nairobi, Kenya 2007 and her message in New York was equally as powerful. “Youth deserve the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. Social stigma is an unacceptable barrier to empowering HIV positive youth,’ was Stephanie’s message to the Civil Society Hearing.

The World YWCA has attended several intergovernmental meetings of financing and has been lobbying strongly to ensure women and HIV are included in the discussions. The delegation consists of World Board Member Icilda Humes, World YWCA General Secretary Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda and World YWCA HIV an AIDS Coordinator Sophie Dilmitis.

Related Links

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