World AIDS Day 1 December 2006 - Message from Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon
30 November 2006
Most people have broken promises, but few have - however unconsciously - caused millions to die in the process.
'STOP AIDS: Keep the Promise' is the slogan for this year's World AIDS Day, and its theme is Accountability.
World AIDS Day comes of age today: it is 19 years old. And a sobering and adult message is clear: the world is strewn with half-kept promises, whose makers are at best half-accountable. Those promises are those of the international community, of governments, of civil society, of local communities - and of us all individually.
Take the international community, which promised more money and better delivery of that money. All developed countries have made moves towards the UN target of 0.7% of national income being spent on meeting the Millennium Development Goals; yet almost all still fall short of meeting it. All have made promises to make their contributions to the Global Fund for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and the Fund's stated need for US$ 9.5 billion by 2008. Yet only US$ 5.9 billion has so far been received. All have promised to harmonise their HIV and AIDS programmes in line with each other and with national programmes; yet still international and national approaches are far apart.
Take national governments, particularly in developing countries which suffer the most with HIV and AIDS. Almost all have kept the promise to develop just one national strategy, one co-ordinating body and one evaluation body. And yet, many of the strategies are lacking, especially in paying proper attention to the two groups worst hit by the disease - women and young people. This year, Commonwealth advisers have looked closely at nine national strategies across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific, and found serious deficiencies in all. National governments, meanwhile, still fail to put their money where their mouth is: in April 2001, African governments pledged to allocate at least 15% of their national budgets to the health sector. They have not done so.
Take civil society organisations, which are often the frontline providers of HIV and AIDS services in Commonwealth countries. They are also called to be global and national advocates, as we have seen so effectively in the global civil society lobby which did so much to prompt the UN General Assembly to adopt the Declaration on Universal Access to Prevention, Treatment and Care in June 2006. And yet: civil society organisations have so far to go in building strong partnerships with each other and with government.
Perhaps individuals, too, must shoulder their own responsibility for promises half-made and half-kept.
Meanwhile, we in the Commonwealth also struggle to look in the mirror. As a family of 53 nations, we have tried to hold to our own commitments.
We promised to keep the issues of HIV and AIDS at the centre of our work when our Heads of Government pledged in Durban in 1999 to lead the fight against the 'global emergency' within our countries and internationally.
We promised to support our member countries in the development of their national strategies for fighting AIDS. In particular, we encouraged them to focus on the situations of girls and young women, on losses of doctors and nurses either by death or migration, and on trade-related intellectual property issues (TRIPS) on access to affordable medicine.
Finally we promised to help on a human scale and to celebrate human responses to HIV and AIDS. Hence the work of our Commonwealth Ambassadors for Positive Living, a group of over 200 remarkable young people across member countries. All are HIV-positive, and all work day-in and day-out - talking to schools, scouts, junior football teams and more, and bringing messages of prevention, positive living, compassion and acceptance.
Overcoming HIV and AIDS requires leadership from all parts of society. Without accountability and the full and active commitment of governments, civil society organisations, communities and individuals, we cannot confront and defeat a pandemic that threatens us all.
'A promise made is a debt unpaid', wrote the Canadian poet Robert Service exactly 100 years ago. Some of our debts have been paid; but more haven't, and they are mounting - with interest.
This December 1st, we must reflect on our unpaid debts and unmet promises. No group of countries cares more about that than the Commonwealth, which is home to one-third of the world's people, but two-thirds of its cases of HIV and AIDS. To all Commonwealth countries, I ask: have you done your part to 'Stop AIDS'?
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