Issue: 37
The Deputy Governor of Diyarbakır, Suat Seyitoğlu, opened the exhibition where giftware and souvenirs for the New Year and other products made by handicraft trainers were put on sale. ÇATOM products exhibition, held at the exhibition area that Diyarbakır Babil Shopping Center donated to support the project, ended on 31 December 2008.
“Innovations for Women’s Empowerment in the GAP Region” pursues a multi-dimensional approach focusing on enhancing institutional capacities and women’s labour market participation, branding of the Southeast Anatolia and developing new sales and marketing opportunities. Project focuses on producing value added products through product development and design assistance, and the sales and marketing of these products. This project aims to empower women in Southeast Anatolia in social and economic life through innovative production-marketing related strategies and re-branding. Through the Project, it is aimed to increase women employment in the Region which also offers technical equipment and training, besides design and marketing support.
This is a follow-up to the UNDP-GAP joint project, “Strengthening Regional Development and Reduction of Socio-Economic Disparities in the GAP Region, Phase II”, which was concluded in November 2007. “Innovations for Women’s Empowerment in the GAP Region” is executed by GAP Regional Development Administration with financial support of Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) and technical assistance provided by UNDP Turkey.
“Welcome Me to Your Digital World” is a digital inclusion program to reach rural and low income boys and girls and local youth councils through Social Media. The aim of this Project is to bridge the divide between young people who lack and cannot afford home access to computers in rural Turkey. It is aimed at including digitally excluded 1,600 poor school-age boys and girls in digital life by equipping them with computers, and enabling them to access and contribute to online knowledge creation.
The "Welcome Me to Your Digital World" portal is in partnership with Intel, UNDP, Youth for Habitat and The Turkish Informatics Foundation. The strategy involves the distribution of new and used computers to poor boys and girls by building a bridge between the donors and beneficiaries through the social media portal. The portal is rich in educational content and also fun to access. Coached by their teachers, students can place essays, artwork, photos or similar content to express themselves.
The portal will operate initially as a pilot project in 11 schools at the primary, secondary and high school levels. It is currently running at four primary schools, with seven to 10 teachers and 60 to100 students actively participating at each school.
The end result of this new portal will be the creation of an infrastructure and a management model for the expansion to all digitally excluded communities in Turkey.
“Development Marketplace”, a competition program executed by the World Bank globally, regionally and locally, is being implemented in Turkey this year in order to support innovative ideas of young people. Within the frame of the programme, with the support of UNDP Turkey Office as well as many other partners, Turkey Development Marketplace will be organized.
Under the Development Marketplace competition “Youth in Turkey: Shaping Our Future”, USD 20,000 funding will be provided for the projects that will create new forms of idea and new beginnings for today’s young people.
While the competition is open to all civil society organizations, project groups, youth communities, vocational schools, city councils and municipalities, the target group of submitted projects must be between 15-24 years old.
Project proposals will be accepted until February 15, 2009.
Development Marketplace competition invites proposals for projects to help improve the lives of youth in Turkey. Projects may be focused, for example, on around one or more of the following thematic areas:
Starting Our Work-life: More and Better Jobs for Young People
E.g.: creating jobs, learning about jobs, entering jobs, and young people in business, etc.
Building Our Skills: More and Better Education for Young People
E.g.: transforming what we learn and how we learn, from school to work, vocational training, learning “on the job”, etc.
Raising Our Voices: Participation, Inclusion, and Engagement of Young People
E.g.: empowering girls and young women, raising awareness in the community about youth needs, youth engaging in their community, supporting vulnerable or disadvantaged youth, forming leaders of tomorrow, etc.
Building Bridges to Our Future: Engaging with Partners
E.g.: creating partnerships across countries, regions, cultures, or generations for volunteering, art, business, entrepreneurship, leadership etc.
For Contact:
Tel.: 0 312 419 87 31
Fax: 0 312 446 24 42
E-mail : bilgi@yaraticifikirler.org
January 2009 presentation program for “Development Marketplace Turkey, 2009” Youth in Turkey: Shaping Our Future funding program is as follows:
Muş
Meeting Date : 05.01.2009
Meeting Place : Governership of Muş Conference Hall
Meeting Time : 10.00
Batman
Meeting Date :06.01.2009
Meeting Place :Batman Municipality Conference Hall
Meeting Time :10.30
Diyarbakır
Meeting Date : 07.01.2009
Meeting Place : STGM Diyarbakır Local Support Centre
Fabrika Cad. Sümer Park Kampusu
Kent Gönüllüleri Binası Kat:1
Şehitlik-DİYARBAKIR
Meeting Time : 13.00
In the scope of the Inclusive Civic Engagement to Legislation Making Project, a joint initiative of UNDP, Prime Ministry, the Association of Legislation and the Parliamentary Advisers Association, manuals for consultation developed both for the public organizations and parliamentary advisers, were introduced to relevant stakeholders for their feedbacks. Upon the completion of this process, trainings on the basics of consultation were held both for the advisers and relevant public officials from ministries and the Prime Ministry. Realized by an interactive approach, trainings enabled vivid discussions on the possible challenges and advantages of consultations in legislation making in the context of Turkey.
This process went in parallel with the kick off meetings for the pilot consultations, which have been carried out in the selected provinces, namely Çorum, Mersin, Bursa and Mardin and on two draft pieces of legislation, namely draft law on Data Collection, and draft law on the Fruit and Vegetable Trade. Arranged as two-day-practice, these kick off meetings enabled the meetings with various local stakeholders including the public officials, municipalities, mukhtars, civil society organizations and interested citizens. Participants were briefed on the Project, notion and scope of the consultation and expected benefits of the consultations in legislation making. In addition, mechanisms through which the stakeholders in the provinces can contribute, were also introduced to the participants. Following the presentation of both draft legislation by the representatives of respective ministries, the floor was opened for debate to take the opinions of the participants about the draft laws. Consultation process commenced by these kick offs will be completed by late January.
The experience is highly exciting for both UNDP and the project partners. It is observed that the local stakeholders are highly enthusiastic and owned the idea of civic engagment in legislation making. As a very first step of the process, this is important and encouraging as civic engagement can be possible and sustainable when the organized and unorganized civil society has the ownership, regardless of the enabling environment.
[BAGLANTILAR]
Members of the parliaments, political parties, representatives of non-governmental organizations, academicians and many researchers from all around the world, particularly from Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) participated in the conference. They shared their own experiences and knowledge as well as successful practices and strategies on empowering women to increase their participation in politics.
The opening ceremony of the conference included speeches of the Vice President of TİKA, the United Nations Resident Coordinator, the Prime Ministry Deputy Director General on the Status and Problems of Women and the Director of UNDP Gender Team.
Vice President of TİKA Mustafa Şahin outlined the importance of this conference on women and governance as it was held before the upcoming local elections in Turkey and stated that TİKA, which has gradually increased the effectiveness of its development aid to other developing countries, aims to make sure that the experiences in the region are shared in the conference.
United Nations Resident Coordinator Mahmood Ayub said that gender equality is one of the most important issues in the countries that want to be more democratic. Pointing out that women in Turkey obtained suffrage rights around 75 years ago with the help of Ataturk, Ayub stated that Turkey made significant progress on law making concerning the status of women, yet more steps are needed as regards women’s participation in economic, social and politcal spheres. Indicating that the ratio of Turkish women members of parliament doubled in the last elections to 9 %, Ayub desired the same success to be repeated in local elections in March 2009. Ayub also informed that women’s participation in local governments is 2% in Turkey.
Deputy Director General on the Status and Problems of Women at the Prime Ministry Leyla Coşkun stated in her speech that women’s empowerment is an important aspect of the modernization during an age when the development indicators are interpreted again. Coşkun pointed out that the desired point is not reached despite the developments aiming gender equality in legislative system and practice. She added that the media has high responsibility in communicating the gender equality correctly.
Director of UNDP Gender Team Winnie Byanyima stated in her speech that the ratio of women’s participation in politics has increased to 18% with an 8% increase in the last ten years. Indicating that the increase results from the cultural change in political parties and from women’s participation in decision-making processes, Byanyima added that the easiest way of involving women into politics is to make women participate in local governance. Byanyima also said that through the quota allocated for women in local councils in India, more than one million women have started to be presented in village councils.
During the conference other academicians and politicians as Mirjana Dokmanovic, Vlidimir Osipov and Marivi Monteserin gave speeches as well.
The Network of East-West Women (NEWW) International Council’s member Mirjana Dokmanovic stated in her talk that as women become more successful in politics, the media’s criticism becomes harsher. She gave the aggressive news about Hilary Clinton during the last presidential election as an example and added that it is important for women to be presented in an accurate way.
The National Institute of the Equality of Opportunity Lawmember, Vladimir Osipov stated in his talk that academicians and NGOs participate in the legislation making, but noted women organizations should also participate in the implementation process of the law to create public awareness.
The Socialist Party member of the Spanish Parliament, Marivi Monteserin stated that the adjustments in the gender equality law will not be sufficient and added that gender equality should be reflected to laws regarding employment, election, education, environment and agriculture.
Jens Wandel, Deputy Director and Regional Center Director gave a presentation on Regional Trends during the conference. In his presentation he talked about the women’s political participation in different years and also gave information on HIV (for full presentation, please click here).
IKNOW politics was introduced by Anita Vandenbeld (for full presentation, please click here).
Thematic sessions
During the conference thematic sessions were held on the mechanisms to promote women’s political participation, women’s participation in policy making, enabling environment for women’s political participation and gender equality law.
Session I: Mechanisms to promote women’s political participation
During the session UNDP was recommended to support a regional strategy as empowering women in political parties to bring more women into political positions/parliaments, ensuring that women are well placed on party lists, forming coalitions of women working on gender issues across party lines, working closely with women’s movements and NGOS, maintaining continuity of women in parliaments to build a consistent gender equality agenda. UNDP was also suggested to promote the use of mechanisms such as quotas throughout the EE and CIS region and to provide the human and financial resources for the education of the public and government to support women in governance by building greater political will for women’s participation in politics.
Session II: Women’s participation in policy making
In this session, firstly it was pointed out that support is needed for further strengthening of governments and CSO capacities to integrate gender into policies, strategies, laws and regulations on all governing levels in accordance with international frameworks. (CEDAW, Beijing Platform, MDGs) Secondly, it was stated that weak institutional gender mechanisms that lack resources, experts and development, implementation and together with gender policies should be supported. Thirdly, it was noted that the role of women’s organizations that monitor and implement gender policies, should be strengthened.
During this session UNDP was recommended to incorporate gender into all its programs of democratic governance and to advocate that gender mainstreaming experiences of UNDP present entry points for the governments and support integration of existing national gender legislation, policies, and strategies on gender equality and integrate it into programs and project activities and field interventions.
Also the international organizations supporting countries in the transitional processes and in EU accession processes were recommended to ensure high visibility of gender equality concept requirements towards Governments (such as Acquis Comminautaire, EU Directives ect)
Session V: Enabling environment for women’s political participation
In this session, it was stated that global and regional policies are required for action, structured discussion on gender issiues should continue, media campaings are needed for better presentation of women and that electoral issues and campaigns should be consolidated for equal presentation of women.
Session IV: Gender equality law
During this session some recommendations were made on the preperation, content, implementation of the Gender Equality Law. It was stated that during the preperation of the law, it should be worked with academia, civil society and private sector, and should be benefited from the international models. The content of the law was advised to be general to serve as reference and include modification of other laws.
UNIFEM’s Report on ‘Progress Of The World’s Women 2008/2009: Who Answers To Women? Gender and Accountability’
On the last day of the conference The United Nations Development Fund for Women’s (UNIFEM) report on Progress of the World’s Women 2008/2009: Who Answers to Women? Gender and Accountability was launched. The report, which is the flagship publication of UNIFEM, shows that accountability to women begins with increasing the number of women in decision making positions. According to the report, women must be included in oversight processes and advancing women’s rights must be a key standard. It says that implementation still has a long way to go as the indicators show; women are outnumbered 4 to 1 in legislatures around the world, 60% of the family workers are women but they earn 17% less than men. UNIFEM, Bratislava Programme Specialist, Erika Kvapilova, in her presentation of the Report pointed out that gender gaps are symptomatic of an accountability crisis and governments and multilateral organizations have a responsibility to do a better job of answering to women. Expert panelists Julie Ballington from the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Gender Partnership Programme (Geneva), and Richard Matland, Professor of Political Science at the Loyola University Chicago, in their reflections on the Report stressed that women change the way politics is done and bring different priorities to the political agenda. The report states that good governance needs women and women need good governance as women have a different perspective on accountability, but experience accountability failures. It says that corruption is one of the failures women experience. The Report also notes that women are extremely vulnerable to shifting patterns in global markets due to lack of measures that protect them.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) emphasizes capacity development in all its policies and programmes. In November 2008 Jens Wandel, Deputy Regional Director and Regional Centre Director, was interviewed about capacity development.
UNDP Turkey: What does capacity development mean to you? How would you explain the concept of capacity development to someone who has never heard of it?
Jens Wandel (J.W.): Capacity development is an approach to development that respects the abilities that already exist in a country, even though they may not be formal. We insist on taking the time to understand the assets that exist and find ways to build on them, and make them stronger.
Culture and societies are always complex, and to really understand a country and how it operates, you need to speak with people from that country. They are the ones who can provide real solutions to development challenges that will work, and last over time.
We insist on taking the time to understand the society of a country and its institutions and organizations and its people – what they know, what they do, how they work together, and why, how one level may affect another – and work with them to figure out what they need. Capacities in an organization operate within a society and can be affected by such considerations as laws, the economy and education levels.
UNDP has the world’s best expertise at our disposal; we can bring experts and governments together. Expertise has its place and has the potential to contribute significant positive change, but it has to take experience into consideration. People are the real wealth of nations. They have the answers to their development solutions, and UNDP helps to bring those answers to the surface.
We also have an obligation to make sure that when we leave, changes are sustainable. Development programmes need to be owned and led by a country because the support we provide will eventually end. So, capacity development is closely associated with the concept of sustainable development. And sustainable development relies on national ownership.
This should not be confused with crisis support, which addresses an immediate problem – where the UN provides emergency food or financing. We are not talking about the capacity to survive, but rather to thrive.
On a related note, sometimes we fail terribly, because we helped a country build an institution, or invested in developing the capacity of a specific group of people and then a civil war sets in again, and the whole thing unravels. Or you have, like now, a financial crisis that can set us back.
However, human capacity, especially if it is built based on the people who are there, it tends to be resilient. With strong capacities, it is possible to recover more quickly from a temporary crisis.
UNDP Turkey: The more you examine the concept of capacity development, it starts to appear quite revolutionary and demands a change in the way UNDP, and other international and national partners do business. How do you see UNDP changing because of the focus on capacity development? What is our main challenge?
J.W.: For too long traditional development assistance relied solely on outside expertise, and development organizations and donor countries decided the course of a country they may have known little about. There was a ‘we know best’ mentality.
There has been a shift in thinking, and the importance of developing national capacities is now widely accepted.
As UNDP we are changing because of this realization. We have to provide evidence to our partners that this approach works, because at the end of the day, UNDP plays an intermediary role between a set of donors, and a set of clients – and we’re accountable to both. It is this alignment between the client’s goal and our goal that is important because we attach our success to their success.
We assist in such areas as developing the capacity for our clients to deliver social services, or to carry out a planning process that is inclusive, or to find solutions to a regional development challenge. We do not dictate exactly how it should be.
It’s an enormous leap of faith to attach your own success to your client’s success. You really have to have confidence in your approach. And success can only be achieved when our goals are aligned with the structures or organizations we are working with. Sometimes we have to say no.
But if there is a way to do it, we will. Because what can happen is that if we don’t believe in making the effort and taking the risk, then you do what, in the social sciences, is called ‘creaming’. That means that we ‘cream’ those countries and those institutions that have the biggest chance of success. And then you leave all the tough ones to somebody else.
Our job is the inverse. Our job is: we will take on the toughest and most difficult capacity development challenges in the world. We will go out in Somalia, we will go out in areas where you have total institutional collapse. We will go out in societies that change very rapidly, and still have confidence in our method. Why? Because we come from a base of human development. We will talk to the individuals. We will start from there, insisting that the capacity can be built on human societies, based on our universal value base.
UNDP Turkey: Let’s fast forward some years into the future and go to a time where the capacity development approach is integrated and applied by all national and international partners. What does this world look like? How has development assistance changed? How are international and local partners working differently?
J.W.: Now, we are still finding the right balance between expertise and experience. In a world where capacity development is acknowledged as an effective avenue to sustainable human development, we will be able to talk about this much more completely.
We are still trying to drive more content into our concept of capacity development – because capacity development does not happen in isolation. It is how we build capacity for managing climate change, how we develop capacity for building housing associations so they can better manage their residential areas, and their assets. It is how we develop capacities for regions to better manage their agricultural production. So you can tie the concept of capacity development to quite specific development outcomes. And you can really make the connection.
In a world where complexity is rapidly increasing, the capacity development approach is the only effective means of trying, in a sense, to manage ourselves. It is that willingness to surrender to an inherently democratic process, as opposed to surrender to somebody else’s advice, expert advice, that’s a deep psychological change that can take place, but it will take time.
The capacity development approach also does not say that expertise is not needed. Rather, it insists that expertise is part of that process that delivers an outcome. And expertise is not the only voice.
We have to be very careful because capacity development and capacity of a group of people is very similar to investment. So, we always have to understand that capacity development and how much we invest in that has to be commensurate with what we’re trying to achieve. That also means that more capacity is not always better. It is a focus on which capacities are necessary for what we’re trying to achieve. In other words, "fit for purpose."
Now, we are very often judged on our ability to build. If we build, we declare success and then we leave. And that’s not enough. Capacity development is an insistence that societies and societal relations are complex, and this is actually a complex response. And that’s the type of response that’s adequate for the situation. And our ability to also understand that will be a big part of our success.
UNDP Turkey: There is a growing request for a rapid capacity assessment approach. How can we ensure that "rapid" or 'light' does not mean rushed and low quality? Is the request for a light assessment or rapid approach a way around facing up to some of the more difficult issues and questions that capacity development demands?
J.W.: For capacity development to be relevant, we need to be able to provide our input to the development process in a timely fashion.
The idea that longer means better quality has little empirical basis. However, forced capacity development initiatives have been bad for development – that is the key point in many findings.
Taking longer can lead to inaction and continuation of dysfunctional relationships under the guise of doing things thoroughly. Whether initiatives are quick or longer-term has little to do with facing the "difficult" issues. Often structural change can successfully be brought about by carefully leveraged interventions - some short, some long.
The report draws on data from six countries including Turkey. According to the findings of the report, the number of people living with HIV in Turkey has been increasing. The first AIDS case in Turkey was officially reported in 1985. According to data from the Turkish Ministry of Health (MOH), the total number of reported HIV cases in the period between 1985 and 2006 is 2,544. However, the actual number of HIV cases remains unclear. It is likely to be higher than the official number of reported cases, due to low numbers of Voluntary Counseling Testing (VCT) Centers nationwide, inadequate rates of testing and a long asymptomatic period whereby HIV infection can remain undetected.
Most of the people with living HIV in Turkey are male (69%) and the percentage of females is relatively low (31%). According to MOH data, the main mode of transmission is heterosexual sexual intercourse (1343 recorded infections), followed by men having sex with men (MSM; 207 infections) and injection drug use (IDU; 120 infections). However, the mode of transmission in many reported cases is unknown (599) suggesting that these figures need further analysis.
HIV is not yet seen as an important health problem in Turkey due to the low number of people living with the disease. However, there are several risk factors related to the increasing spread of HIV in Turkey that should be taken into consideration. Sex work is considered to be the major driver of the epidemic in Turkey. It is also important to note that sex workers from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union come to Turkey on tourist visas and work as sex workers.
Although the first AIDS case was reported in 1985, HIV has not been regarded as a priority in national policy. Three commissions for HIV-related issues have been established: the High AIDS Commission in 1987, the AIDS Counsel Board in 1993, and the National AIDS Commission in 1996. Since 1987 serologic tests have been compulsory for blood and organ donors and registered sex workers, and since 2002 HIV testing has been required for couples before getting married. All health centers that perform HIV tests report their test results to the MOH. In 1994 HIV was included in the coding system of communicable diseases.
In the Constitution of Turkey, there is no clear reference to allow people living with HIV (PLHIV) to make full use of their fundamental rights and freedoms. Stigmatization and discrimination are now widespread in Turkey, making key populations at higher risk hard to reach and targeted prevention activities difficult to implement. There are no specific legal arrangements addressing the educational rights of children living with HIV and Turkish law does not currently address discrimination against PLHIV in the workplace. All aspects of treatment and health care of PLHIV are covered by various health insurance systems (i.e., Emekli Sandığı, Sosyal Sigortalar and BAĞ-KUR) in Turkey. PLHIV are guaranteed to receive HIV-related medical treatment, including antiretroviral therapy (ART), which is provided free by the state.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are the most active and devoted national stakeholders in the process of addressing HIV in Turkey. The scope of their activities is limited, however. Most engage in advocacy and information, education and communication (IEC) activities, such as publishing educational materials or conducting training programmes for adolescents, students, the general public, and specific key populations at higher risk.
Although PLHIV are represented in almost all urban areas, most are from İstanbul, İzmir, Ankara and Antalya. The main reason for the location of most known HIV cases in Istanbul is that individuals from rural areas who suspect that they are HIV-positive move out of their cities because they are afraid that their status will be disclosed. In addition to this problem, people living with HIV in rural areas have to travel long distances to receive treatment in bigger cities.
According to UNDP’s report on Vulnerability Assessment of People Living with HIV (PLHIV) in Turkey, the individual interviews revealed that PLHIV perceive high levels of stigma directed toward them and explained that the main reason is the lack of knowledge about the issue. Health professionals dealing with PLHIV also stated some institutional insufficiencies that contribute to fears of contagion among medical personnel. It is also stated that psychological treatment and support is not covered by the social security but given by physician volunteers.
The most important employment-related problem is the bureaucratic procedures of pension funds and social security. The main source of support for PLHIV is their families. They also receive support from service providers (especially infectionists) and NGOs (such as the Positive Living Association). PLHIV who contributed to the work of NGOs reported increases in their self-esteem and the problems most commonly mentioned by both the professionals and PLHIV were the invisibility of PLHIV in the country and problems such as unawareness and ignorance.
Regional conclusion: ‘The Region is Now Living with Aids’
“The region is now ‘living with HIV’ in ways similar to individual people who live with HIV”, said Kori Udovicki, UNDP Regional Director for Europe and the CIS, during the launch of the regional AIDS report. “Just as HIV transforms the lives of people living with HIV – who must come to terms with their HIV-status, identify coping and health promotion strategies, and follow life-saving treatment regimes for the rest of their lives – so too must states and societies in the region undergo transformations in the way they care for their populations and relate to each other for generations to come”.
The region of Eastern Europe and the CIS remains one of the few areas in the world where HIV prevalence continues to rise: from an estimated 630,000 people living with the virus in 2001 to 1.5 million as of 2007 – a 140 percent increase. Nearly 90 percent of newly reported HIV cases in the region are from the Russian Federation and Ukraine. In Central Asia and the Caucuses, the number of newly reported HIV diagnoses is also rising rapidly, with the highest incidence rate found in Uzbekistan.
At the same time, the epidemic is ever-changing. Increasing access to anti-retroviral therapy is allowing more and more people to live with HIV as a chronic, yet manageable disease. And HIV is increasingly associated with women and children as well as men. People living with HIV now represent the full diversity of the region. Some are teachers or students, lawyers or clients, parents or children, patients or health care workers, old, young or newborn, employees, unemployed or employers. This makes policy debates around HIV more complicated, due to the multiple ways in which the epidemic affects society. As the number of people living with HIV grows, the scale of stigma, discrimination and rights violations takes on increasing proportions, serving to undermine hard-won achievements in many countries of the region and jeopardizing prospects for meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
The report draws on data with an innovative six-country research study conducted by UNDP together with Oxford University researchers and local social research institutes and organisations of people living with HIV that looked at exclusion in the health, education and employment sectors from the point of view of people living with HIV.
The report also consults the views of people representing institutions in three key sectors that, where not properly addressed, generate much of the vulnerability that people living with HIV face on a daily basis: health care (doctors, nurses and other staff), education (administrators and teachers) and the workplace (employers and co-workers). Together, these sources provide comprehensive insights into the HIV challenges faced in the region, and the need for state responses to address these issues.
The lack of basic training on HIV epidemiology, transmission and prevention, explicit biases against patients being treated for AIDS and unclear policy guidelines are among the key factors contributing to the unpreparedness of employers, educational institutions and health service providers outside of specialized AIDS centres to accept and serve people living with HIV.
According to a teacher from Ukraine: "When asked, 'Would you like your child to be in class with HIV-infected kids?' parents typically answer, 'No, it would be better to create a boarding school for them, so that they could be educated separately.' Parents are more frightened than students and children. Like parents, health care workers who have no understanding of this issue say, 'Why should the children be together?'” Yet as the report highlights, over two and a half decades of international experience has demonstrated that exclusionary approaches in any environment, whether in school, health care settings or the workplace serves no public health benefit and can only weaken the response.
The report highlights one more troubling finding: many people living with HIV fear social stigma more than the health consequences of the disease. The fear of stigma and discrimination is a major cause of reduced up-take of prevention, care treatment and support services, even when free, by people living with HIV or at risk of infection, which in turn diminishes the effectiveness of national responses.
The report concludes that rights limitations can fuel the spread of the epidemic and exacerbate the impact of HIV. Consequently, respecting people’s individual rights and improving the status of historically marginalized populations can lead to lower rates of HIV transmission, fewer health disparities in society, and improved socio-economic and human development outcomes.
The report calls for concrete efforts focused on adjusting health, social and other services to accommodate the needs of the growing ranks of people living with HIV and of populations at risk, including injecting drug users, sex workers, men who have sex with men, migrants and their spouses and partners.
“Social inclusion for people living with HIV means that we can lead longer, more productive lives as individuals and citizens, that we can better serve our families and better help prevent further HIV transmission. I think, what is good for people living with HIV and populations at risk is good for society as a whole”, said Vladimir Zhovtyak, Head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Union of People living with HIV, one of the organizations that contributed to the report.
The analysis was based on research conducted in Estonia, Georgia, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, which represents the range of epidemiological situations in the region: higher-level concentrated, emerging concentrated and low-level epidemics.
World Aids Day Commemorated
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement on the Occasion of World AIDS Day. He expressed his views as follows:
"On this, twentieth World AIDS Day, we are at the dawn of a new era. Fewer people are being infected with HIV. Fewer people are dying of AIDS. This success owes itself to people all over the world who are taking the lead to stop AIDS. Governments are delivering on their promises to scale up universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. But this is just the beginning. There is no room for complacency. AIDS will not go away any time soon. People are still being infected with HIV faster than we can get them on treatment. AIDS is still one of the top ten causes of death worldwide, and it is the number one killer in Africa.
The challenge now is to sustain leadership. We have to build on what we have started. And we have to maintain this momentum. We have to end the stigma and discrimination that still stop so many people from learning how to prevent HIV and get treatment. And we need resources -- enough to provide services that will have a real impact in communities and on entire nations. The need to lead, empower and deliver on AIDS is as real and urgent as ever."
Recently I read about a Congolese woman living with HIV who received medicine through the United Nations. She is now part of a group called the “hope-givers team”, which helps other families dealing with HIV. On this World AIDS Day, let us all pledge to be “hope-givers” who offer encouragement and take action to create a future without AIDS. Thank you very much."
Kemal Derviş, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, also issued a statement on the Occasion of World AIDS Day. He expressed his views as follows:
"As we pause to mark the twentieth anniversary of World AIDS Day, there is some positive news. The newly released 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic indicates a drop in HIV infection rates in several countries around the world. This news should both rekindle hope and re-energize our actions. We should, however, guard against any complacency; the same report notes that despite progress in some countries, in others infection rates are still rising.
The theme for today's World AIDS Day Campaign is ‘Lead – Empower – Deliver’, aimed at renewing the focus on the need for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services. Although we have made substantial progress over the past two decades in fighting the stigma surrounding AIDS, we have much further to travel before we can say with conviction that people affected by HIV benefit from full rights and protections.
Working with other UN agencies as a co-sponsor of the Joint UN Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS), UNDP has special responsibility for addressing the connections among HIV, poverty and development, as well as advancing human rights and gender equality. UNDP tries to achieve this in a variety of ways around the world. For example, because the spread of HIV is fueled by human rights violations and by discrimination against women, men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, and sex workers, UNDP helps countries to enact and enforce laws to protect the rights of these groups.
In addition, recognizing the role parliamentarians play in setting and enforcing new laws and jettisoning old prejudices, UNDP has collaborated with the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the UNAIDS Secretariat to produce a handbook for parliamentarians that provides guidance on the vital role they can play in responding to the epidemic.
UNDP recognizes that no poverty reduction strategy is complete without addressing HIV; the loss of parents and productive citizens not only affects their immediate families, but schools, governments, agriculture and other productive sectors of societies. In the most affected countries, the impact of AIDS can undermine national economies and considerably reduces average life expectancy. Costly treatment, absenteeism and mortality, heavily concentrated among working age adults, have a direct socio-economic impact. Seeking to address this, UNDP has assisted 25 countries to integrate responses to AIDS into poverty reduction strategies and national development p