Indian NGOs demand say in AIDS report to UN

[Guest guest]

Indian NGOs demand say in AIDS report to UN

By Papri Sri Raman, Chennai: Several Indian NGOs have complained

that the government is sidestepping them in the preparation of a

progress report on the control of HIV/AIDS to be submitted to the UN.

The UN had asked all countries to send a progress report for 2005

and engage civil society " at each step " for putting the report

together. However, NGOs say they were not engaged in preparing the

progress report. They said they were kept away from the process in

2003 and 2004 as well.

Workers of various NGOs participating at the fifth international

AIDS India conference that ended here Monday said they were not even

aware that the UN review process was underway.

" I feel angry because this is the third time India is sending its

progress report and still we are not being informed or engaged, "

Neil Rawat, of the Naz Foundation International, told IANS.

Among the other groups that took part in the meet were South India

AIDS Action Programme, Service for NGOs (Chittoor), Women's

Initiatives (Tirupati), Udaan Trust (Mumbai), Orissa Urban Rural

Service, Samaraksha (Karnataka), Centre for Positive People

(Kerala), Hum Saaya Welfare Sanstha (Mumbai), Tenali Bala Tejassu

(Guntur) and Adarsh Samaj Sewa Shiksha Samiti (Gwalior).

The progress report for 2005 is to be submitted to the UN by

December.

" Civil society organisations should organise themselves to hold

governments and institutions accountable for failing to prevent

deaths. It is not possible otherwise to put a check on this, " said

Vijay Nair, the president of Network of Indian People with Alternate

Sexualities living with HIV and AIDS (NIPASHA).

According to the UN, India has 5.1 million HIV/AIDS cases, the

largest number in the world after South Africa. Some reports fear

the number of people afflicted in India could reach 20 million by

2010.

At the UN general assembly special session on HIV and AIDS in 2001,

all member states, including India, had signed a Declaration of

Commitments to meet specific goals making explicit time-bound

commitments to control HIV/AIDS.

http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews & id=41271

[Guest guest]

Re: Indian NGOs demand say in AIDS report to UN

The best monitoring mechanisms for any " Country report " prepared by the

governemnt agencies is for all civil society organisations to get together at

the state, regional and sub-regional levels and prepare small documents on the

same areas of concern as prepared by the governments. This would be on the same

lines as the " alternate reports " submitted at the International Conferences for

Women etc.

This will bring into the forefront the regional problems as well as national

level issues across cross sections of population that are affected. This effort

has to be done alongside so the final reporting is made available to the UN and

the media when govt releases their report. This would ensure that at best both

documents either support or consolidate the others findings or at the worst

contradicts each other resulting in a healthy debate.

If civil society organisations want to express their opinions on government

report we will otherwise be left behind or express opinions too late

Dr. Negi

E-mail: <efnegi@...>