ResolutionNumber: B3
Year: 2002
Title:   HIV/AIDS: A HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS

Resolved: Therefore be it resolved that the International Secretariat of Amnesty International should:

Immediately integrate aspects of HIV/AIDS into current campaign strategy development;

Develop basic AI education materials that delineate human rights aspects of HIV/AIDS for movement-wide use;

Integrate HIV and health-related human rights concerns into ongoing research, work plan development, publications, case development and advocacy at national, regional and UN levels;

Incorporate denial of treatment into AI's ongoing work;

Strengthen capacity of researchers to develop actionable casework on these issues;

Launch preliminary internal conversations about future campaigning work on health-related rights, and/or HIV/AIDS in particular;

Convene a representative intersectional working group of HIV and human rights experts who could develop specific recommendations for further and ongoing IS and movement work;

Develop, issue, and post on the IS web site, a policy statement, elicited through appropriate AI bodies, which addresses AI's position on human rights and HIV/AIDS.


Implementation: An HIV/AIDS steering committee will be convened to coordinate implementation of the recommendations set forth in the Board-approved recommendations of the HIV/AIDS task force. Terms of reference for the steering committee are currently being drafted so that candidates can be recruited beginning late summer 2002. The HIV/AIDS task force report was circulated to the Membership Mobilization Department and the ESCR capacity-building working group so that HIV/AIDS can be integrated into ESCR training materials and considered for selection as one of the related AIUSA pilot projects. Preliminary conversations have taken place with AIUSA web staff to create an AIUSA web page on HIV/AIDS and human rights, using the information included in the pamphlet created by the HIV/AIDS task force. Preliminary conversations have taken place with the IS medical team regarding potentially linking AIUSA's work with the international pilot project on HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa. In order to build international support for advancing work on HIV/AIDS, AIUSA will follow up with the other sections who signed on to the HIV/AIDS statement that was read on the closing day of the 2001 ICM; in addition, staff and volunteer leaders involved in international issue-based networks (women, lgbt, children, and medical) will raise the goals outlined in the resolution with colleagues in other sections and at the IS.
Update: A resolution on HIV/AIDS (that incorporates the elements of the 2002 AGM resolution) was drafted and submitted for the 2003 ICM in Mexico. The resolution, along with a letter urging that greater prominence be given in the Integrated Strategic Plan (ISP) to HIV/AIDS-related human rights abuses, was sent to the ISP Committee. A recruitment ad for the HIV/AIDS working group was circulated in the fall of 2002. An initial pool of candidates was compiled by the first of the year, but because it was a small pool from which to select members for the working group, the recruitment deadline was extended to allow for additional candidates to apply. The Board has now begun to appoint members to the working group, which will be convened in May 2003. The National Field Program, Networks Program (home of the HIV/AIDS working group), and ESCR capacity-building consultant worked together to plan this year's National Week of Student Action (NWSA) around the theme of stopping HIV/AIDS-related human rights abuses. A component of the NWSA involved close collaboration with Physicians for Human Rights and the Student Global AIDS Coalition to organize an training and advocacy conference. The Networks Program collaborated with the IS Medical Team, relevant country specialists and IS researchers, and other NGOs such as Human Rights Watch, Physicians for Human Rights, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission to draft actions on South Africa (denial of access to treatment for rape survivors at risk of HIV infection, and the harassment of health care and other service providers seeking to facilitate treatment and care), India (police harassment and abuse of HIV/AIDS prevention and outreach workers), and Russia (harsh prison conditions, including sexual violence and the denial of treatment and care, that exacerbate the spread of HIV/AIDS). In addition, an action was drafted for World AIDS Day calling on the US government to immediately and substantially increase its contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The IS adapted the background statement that was drafted to accompany the AIUSA action on the Global Fund and released it as a World AIDS Day statement on behalf of the international movement. The 2002 AIUSA regional conferences featured the Global Fund action as part of the ESCR capacity-building workshops, and a number of programs, including OUTfront, Women's, the Health Professionals Network, and some of the RANs, are engaging in education and action on HIV/AIDS. During the month of March, AIUSA hosted a week-long series of webchats on women and HIV/AIDS, and in April will host a week-long series of chats on AIDS in India.