UN declaration on AIDS challenged by discriminatory practices

June 17, 2009

UNITED NATIONS, June 16 (Xinhua) -- With only a year to go before the United

Nations declaration on HIV/AIDS expires, world leaders have a duty to overturn

discriminatory practices against people living with the disease, the UN

secretary-general and the director of UNAIDS told reporters here on Tuesday.

" Leaders of the world to have a political responsibility ... to support those

millions of people without a voice, " Director of UNAIDS Michel Sidibe told

reporters after attending the General Assembly's review of the UN Political

Declaration on HIV and AIDS.

In June 2006, United Nations members made a commitment to significantly scale up

their response to AIDS by providing universal access to HIV prevention,

treatment, care and support by 2010.

But " unfortunately, we are far from reaching our goals, " said Sidib, who warned

against using the economic crisis as an excuse " to abandon those 4 million

people who are on treatment ... or the14 million orphans who are expecting

access to services. "

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he has been meeting regularly with UN

staff members who are living with HIV/AIDS in an effort to lead by example and

include those who are often stigmatized.

" Unfortunately, we have to fight against this kind of prejudice, discrimination

and stigma, " Ban told reporters on his way to the World AIDS Campaign.

The General Assembly review on the UN declaration comes as the International

AIDS Society (IAS) announced last week its interest in convening the

International AIDS Conference in 2012 in Washington, D.C., making it the first

time since 1990.

However, the final decision depends on whether the U.S. drops its 22-year old

ban on the entry of foreigners living with HIV into the country. Despite

Congressional repeal in July 2008 of the HIV entry ban, the actual regulatory

policy that puts the ban into practice is caught up in government bureaucracy

and remains in force, according to IAS.

The United States is among 13 countries in the world that still bans foreigners

from visiting and migrating specifically on the basis of an HIV-positive status.

The others are: Armenia, Brunei, Iraq, Libya, Moldova, Oman, Qatar, Russia,

Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Sudan

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